Leader: Joe McDonald

Organiser: Ann Fitchett please contact Ann using the Group Leader link above 01428 653487

1st and 3rd Mondays 12.30-14.30pm (All 3 terms)

Private venue.

We have a varied programme studying and translating various Latin authors and poets (Ovid, Pliny, Virgil and Suetonius amongst others), with a liberal dose of Roman history too. This year we have added Roman satirists to our programme. Generally we prepare some passages beforehand and work in groups on others. Translation into Latin is really testing our proficiency and improving our grammar. We are a very convivial group, with lots of laughter and varied interests to broaden our discussions.

THE RELEVANCE OF LATIN TO ‘PEOPLE OF A CERTAIN AGE’

Latin literature, like many literatures, abounds in references to the passage of time, to the urgency of 'getting things done' before it's too late. Members of U3As across the country are of an age where this impulse is strong and Latin offers the following two reflections, out of many that it could provide, on this age-old sentiment:

'Sed fugit interea, fugit inreparabile tempus'

'But meanwhile it is flying by, irretrievable time is flying by'

From 'The Georgics' of the poet Vergil

'Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero'

Seize this day, trusting as little as possible in the next one'

From one of the Odes of the poet Horace

5/1/26 JF