By Laura Gibbs

Description

This intermediate Latin reader allows students to review grammar and syntax and increase their knowledge of Latin prose style while they read eighty Aesop’s fables in Latin prose, taken from the seventeenth-century edition illustrated by Francis Barlow. These Latin prose fables are ideal for Latin language students: simple, short, witty, and to-the-point, with a memorable moral lesson that provides a jumping-off point for discussion. Forty original black-and-white Barlow illustrations and 129 pertinent Latin proverbs are featured, spurs for classroom discussion. Selected fables include many that have become proverbial, such as “The Tortoise and The Hare” and “The Dog in the Manger,” along with lesser known fables.

This is the perfect ancillary for intermediate students, to increase comprehension, confidence, and enthusiasm for reading Latin.

Laura Gibbs teaches online courses in Mythology and Folklore for the University of Oklahoma. She joined the OU faculty in 1999 after completing her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, where she taught both Latin and Polish. She has translated Aesop’s Fables into English for the Oxford World’s Classics series, and developed an ancillary online library of Aesop’s fables in English, Latin, and Greek at www.Aesopica.net. She is also author of Latin Via Proverbs: 4000 Proverbs, Mottoes and Sayings for Students of Latin and a follow-up volume, Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible. You can find out more about Laura’s teaching and web publications at www.MythFolklore.net.

To see Aesop's fables come to life with quizzes, podcasts, and more, click:
http://aesopus.ning.com/forum/topics/de-pastoris-puero-et-agricolis

For a sample crossword puzzle based on an Aesop fable, click:
http://aesopus.pbwiki.com/barlow059crossword

For sample audio and video, please click:
http://aesopus.ning.com/video/12-de-pastoris-puero-et-1

View Sample Pages

Special Features

• Introduction, covering Aesop’s fables in the ancient world, the Latin-language sources for the fables, and Aesop’s fables in early modern England
  
• Latin Reading Guide, including study tips and strategies to increase student reading confidence—helps students read, not just translate
  
• 80 Aesop’s fables in Latin prose, with - introductory comments with references to other versions of the fable - engaging grammar overview for review and to increase comprehension - opposite-page vocabulary notes for less familiar words - same-page grammar notes
  
• 40 black-and-white illustrations by Francis Barlow
  
• 129 thematically relevant Latin proverbs
  
• 4 Appendices: - glossary of grammatical terms, with references to fables containing specific grammatical features - vocabulary frequency list - English vocabulary-building list based on the Latin vocabulary - annotated listing of online
  
• Bibliography for further reading
  
• Digital Materials: aesopus.ning.com/

This book and its companion online components are perfect for doing Latin-language warm-ups before class, assigning fables as fun homework, or to use after students have taken their AP exams as a break from Classical Latin authors.

Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers took some time to ask the author, Dr. Laura Gibbs, about what makes this book special:

Bolchazy-Carducci: What gave you the idea of writing a textbook on Aesop's Fables in Latin? Didn't Aesop write in Greek?
Laura Gibbs: Aesop was a Greek storyteller – but his stories were famous in Rome, too. The oldest collection of Aesop's fables that has survived from the ancient world is actually a collection of Latin poems by Phaedrus, a freed slave from the household of the Emperor Augustus – but since poetry is usually harder to read than prose, I really wanted to find a collection of Aesop's fables in Latin prose. What got me especially excited about this particular collection of Aesop's fables in Latin prose is that it has illustrations, too!

BCP: How is the textbook organized? How is each fable presented to the reader?
LG: There are a total of 80 fables in the book. In terms of actual length, it adds up to something about as long as Book IV of Vergil's Aeneid – but each fable is a separate little unit of its own, and you can read them in any order you like. There is an introduction for each fable that explains something about the theme and history of the fable, along with some comments about grammar and style. Then there is a vocabulary list for the words in the fable, along with a line-by-line commentary explaining any difficult constructions in the Latin. We were able to include illustrations for half of the fables (40 illustrations in all) and there are also Latin proverbs scattered throughout the book, too, matching the morals of the stories.

BCP: How do you see this textbook being used?
LG: The fables are arranged in order of difficulty, so you can work through the book from start to finish as a basic course in Latin prose. Alternatively, since each fable can stand on its own, the book can provide a great source of supplementary reading for any Latin course. The fables are also a fantastic way to do Latin prose composition. Substitute different animals, change the moral, even invent a different outcome for the plot – you'll find it very easy to write your own Latin fables based on the fables you find in the book.

BCP: Where did you find the images? Do you find that they help in making sense of the Latin in the fables?
LG: The fables come from a book published in 1687, and there are only a few copies of the book to be found anywhere in the United States. One of those copies is in the Rare Books Collection at Michigan State University; the illustrations you see in the book come from that copy. Unlike the simple woodcut illustrations that were used to illustrate Aesop's fables in the 15th and 16th centuries, these 17th-century illustrations are really wonderful works of art. My favorite is the illustration to the war between the birds and the beasts, where you can see imaginary animals like unicorns and gryphons fighting with barnyard animals like cats and roosters. There's even a little hedgehog trying to nose his way into the fight!

BCP: You created a cornucopia of online supporting materials for this textbook for a blended, 21st-century approach to learning Latin. Are these for teachers, students? How do you see them being used? What do they provide that a textbook cannot?
LG: This book actually started out as a project on the Internet, so I've been working on the web-based materials even longer than the book! I hope that the materials at the website, LatinViaFables.com, will be useful to teachers and also to students at all levels. There are audio and visual materials at the website, along with additional grammar commentary, quizzes, and other learning materials. Best of all, the site is interactive – so students and teachers can publish their own materials at the site, too. For example, if you write your own version of a fable in Latin, you could publish it at the site. It's also possible to create study groups at the website, so independent learners, for example, or homeschoolers could use the website to "meet up" and work through the fables with other students anywhere in the country, or anywhere in the world, for that matter!

BCP: What was your favorite part about doing this project?
LG: Well, this may sound strange, but my favorite part of this project has been a kind of imaginary dialogue I have had in my mind with Francis Barlow, the artist who did the illustrations and arranged for the original publication of this book over three hundred years ago. He invested years of his life in the project, creating the illustrations, choosing the Latin text, finding the investors to back the publication, and so on. They didn't have publishing houses back then the way we do now, so Francis Barlow had a lot of work to do just to bring the book into existence. Well, here we are now, hundreds of years later, and we are putting his book into the hands of readers again. I don't believe in ghosts, but I have thought a great deal about how very pleased Mr. Francis Barlow would be to know that we have published his fables and illustrations once again, now in the 21st century!

Reviews

AESOPUS VIVIT!

Laura Gibbs' recent book, Aesop's Fables in Latin: Ancient Wit and Wisdom from the Animal Kingdom (ISBN 978-0865166950) is a truly inspiring labor of love. Most of us were introduced as little children to these stories, especially the animal tales, in colorful, illustrated editions with simple language, complete with a moral lesson attached. It is likely that most of us have not picked up a copy of Aesop's Fables to read for enjoyment in years, except perhaps to our own children or grandchildren. But like the stories themselves, there is much more to this book than initially meets the eye! When you buy a copy of Aesop's Fables in Latin, you get much more than the 80 tales contained within. Gibbs' book is an open door to a rich, unbroken tradition of literature that spans the centuries, from ancient times to the middle ages and the Renaissance and on into the modern world, as well as to the incredible collection of ancillary resources that Gibbs has created online.

Aesop's Fables in Latin, is beautifully organized. Be sure to read the author's introduction, which provides a guide to all the features included in the book as well as some of the best study tips and reading strategies for reading Latin that I have ever seen in a transitional reader. While Gibbs provides a thorough grammatical overview to the fables, she encourages nascent readers to go beyond mere translation, suggesting innovative ways to experience the fables beyond simply rendering them into English. She furnishes ideas for oral and dramatic interpretations of the stories as well as suggestions for incorporating composition and creative writing. The fables themselves are presented in a graduated order of difficulty, accompanied by their own individual introductions, grammatical overview, facing vocabulary, and helpful notes. Although no morals are provided in the Latin text, relevant and pithy Latin proverbs another passion of the author) are interspersed throughout the book, providing inspiration for students to draw their own conclusions, consider different perspectives, and, hopefully, write their own morals in Latin. Other helpful features include lists of dramatis personae, a vocabulary frequency list, and a full Latin-English glossary. Forty original black-and-white illustrations by the 17th century painter and engraver Francis Barlow are included, providing additional context to many of the stories.

Latin Via Fables is the companion website to Aesop's Fables in Latin. Unlike many author's websites which exist only as bland commercial advertisements for their books, Gibbs has used her considerable technological talents to create a rich compendium of additional online content in a wide variety of media. Using the ning social networking format, she has designed a highly focused, interactive site. For each fable, Gibbs has published additional materials which were impractical or impossible to include within the confines of a traditional reader. At Latin ViaFables.com (also known as http://aesopus.ning.com) you will find simplified versions of the tales, perfect for pre-reading exercises, segmented versions of the Latin text with helpful commentary, flashcards, crossword puzzles for vocabulary retention, additional images, video slideshows, digital facsimiles from the original Barlow edition, and Perry number indices, cross-referencing the tales to other versions. By popular request, Gibbs has also added versions of the Barlow tales marked with macrons. For readers who wish to discuss the content of the fables, as well as share tips on understanding the Latin, there is a fully-functioning discussion forum. You can even follow the author's Twitter stream at Latin ViaFables.com or on her separate Twitter page (http://www.twitter.com/Aesopus). There are additional links on the site to thousands of other versions of Aesop's fables, including a "wiki" at http://aesopus.pbworks.com/, where she has chronologically listed links to retellings from the earliest extant collections by Phaedrus to relatively modern 19th century school editions. Perhaps the best place to start exploring Gibbs' sometimes overwhelming array of resources is to go to her blog, http://bestlatin.blogspot.com/, so you can efficiently keep up her daily updates.

If you find that you are so inspired by Gibbs' online empire that you would like to design your own educational site, you will definitely want to visit her technological design site, SchoolhouseWidgets (http://www.schoolhousewidgets.com), where you will find all sorts of pre-designed "applets" to add to your pages, plus instructions for adding your own content to create your own widgets. More nifty tricks of the trade can also be found at the How-To Technology Tips Blog (http://howtotechtips.blogspot.com).

—Sharon Kazmierski
Classical Outlook 86.3, Spring 2009

I just finished reading Laura Gibbs, Aesop's Fables in Latin: Ancient Wit and Wisdom from the Animal Kingdom (Mundelein: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc., 2009).

I am acquainted with Dr. Gibbs. Although we have never met in person, I owe much to her help and encouragement over the past few years. She translated Aesop's fables for the Oxford World Classics series (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002; rpt. 2008), and her web site Aesopica: Aesop's Fables in English, Latin & Greek is an indispensable resource. She also somehow finds time to blog on classical topics.

This book consists of eighty fables in a Latin version by Robert Codrington (1602-1665). These fables were originally illustrated by Francis Barlow and published in various 17th century editions. Most of the fables can be traced to ancient collections attributed to Aesop, but some of them (numbers 23, 37, 41, and 76) appeared for the first time in the fable collection of the Renaissance Latin author Laurentius Abstemius (Lorenzo Bevilaqua).

Laura Gibbs has surrounded the Latin text of each fable with useful aids to understanding — an introduction, a grammar overview concentrating on some syntactical point, a vocabulary, a list of dramatis personae, and grammar notes. Barlow's delightful illustrations accompany many of the fables. Also scattered throughout are Latin proverbs which summarize the point or moral of certain fables. Besides the vocabulary lists accompanying individual fables, the book contains a "List of Most Frequently Used Words" (pp. xxvii-xxxi) and a complete glossary (pp. 325-356). Long syllables are marked in the glossary but not elsewhere in the book.

The book is intended primarily for intermediate Latin students, but it is also suitable for those out of school who want to refresh and improve their knowledge of Latin. Many students, unfortunately, never make the transition from memorizing amo, amas, amat to being able to read a page of Latin. It is one thing to read a simple sentence in isolation, and quite another to understand the connections between more complex sentences in a paragraph or other extended passage of Latin. The fables of Aesop in Latin are uniquely well suited for crossing this bridge. They are short, self-contained, and intrinsically interesting.

In ages past, the fables of Aesop were standard fare for young Latin students. They are mentioned, for example, in the children's books of C.A. Stephens — A Busy Year at the Old Squire's, chapter I, and A Great Year of Our Lives at the Old Squire's, chapter XIII. In a sense, Laura Gibbs is returning to an old and honorable pedagogic tradition by teaching intermediate Latin through the medium of Aesop's fables. But she also makes use of the most up-to-date technologies in a web site supplementing the book.

William Hazlitt called Aesop "the greatest wit and moralist that ever lived."

He saw in man a talking, absurd, obstinate, proud, angry animal; and clothed these abstractions with wings, or a beak, or tail, or claws, or long ears, as they appeared embodied in these hieroglyphics in the brute creation. His moral philosophy is natural history. He makes an ass bray wisdom, and a frog croak humanity. The store of moral truth, and the fund of invention in exhibiting it in eternal forms, palpable and intelligible, and delightful to children and grown persons, and to all ages and nations, are almost miraculous.

(Hazlitt, On Wit and Humour.)

It was a pleasure to read this book and meet old friends — the city mouse and the country mouse, the boy who cried wolf, the wolf in sheep's clothing, the fox and the grapes, the tortoise and the hare, the lion saved by the mouse, the sun and the wind — in Codrington's vigorous Latin versions. I also learned much from the explanatory materials. The grammar notes are especially copious and helpful.

The book is well printed and handsomely produced. I searched diligently, but managed to find only two minor misprints — preesrve for preserve on p. 288, and obuicio (obuicere) for obiicio (obiicere) on p. 318. Cross references abound, and where I checked, they were accurate. I did note one small oddity in the cross references. The Grammar Overview for Fable 4 deals with "Relative Pronouns and the Previous Sentence," and the Grammar Overview for Fable 19 covers "Initial Quod." In explaining "Initial Quod," Laura Gibbs writes:

You have already seen how a relative pronoun at the beginning of a sentence can have its referent noun in the preceding sentence (see the notes to Fable 4). Likewise, you will also encounter Latin sentences beginning with the relative pronoun quod, a generic neuter pronoun that does not have a specific referent in the preceding statement but that instead refers to the entire situation that has been described.

This "generic" use, of course, also extends to oblique cases of quod. I noticed several cross references to the Grammar Overview of Fable 4 where it seemed to me that cross references to the Grammar Overview of Fable 19 would be more appropriate, for example on pp. 81, 93, 97, 145, 149, 181, 257, 269, and 305.

But these are insignificant quibbles. Aesop's Fables in Latin is a excellent book. The author's enthusiasm and learning are evident on every page. I highly recommend it.

Michael Gilleland
http://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com/