Cambridge Latin Course Book 1 4th Edition

Cambridge Latin Course #1

by Cambridge School Classics Project

The leading Latin course worldwide Book I begins in the city of Pompeii shortly before the eruption of Vesuvius. Book I is full colour throughout, with a clear layout of stories and language notes. Featuring a glossary for quick reference and comprehension questions, the book also includes a full explanation of language points and grammar practice exercises.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Classics, Reference, Family

204 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 1993

Reviews

[tayla williams]

caecilius est in horto

[Brendon · Rating 5 out of 5]

talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it.

[katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apart from the fact that they all died, it was a good book, with well-developed characters and settings. The plot-twist ending had me in tears. Recommend to anyone who can speak Latin, but remember to have a box of tissues with you, as the tears will flow freely.

[Cassidy Chellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Working through this was an incredible journey. Somehow, one grows attached to the characters in this textbook. The stories one has to translate are witty, fast-paced, and at times genuinely emotional. I understand how odd it sounds, I certainly felt the same way when I read similar reviews prior to starting. Do yourself the favour, and work through this book.

Also, you'll learn Latin which is cool I guess.

[Tabitha · Rating 1 out of 5]

FUCK YOU FOR MAKING CAECILIUS, METELLA, AND QUINTUS DIE RIP 💔💔💔
EGO EST IRATUS
ARGHHHHHHH

[phoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caecilius est in hortō!
(Shhh I know pompei explosion at the end happened, just let me imagine that Caecilius is still in the hortō)

[Addie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great reader, language builder, and history book for learning Latin. I love the building of and use of new words and how they are utilized in the format Cambridge uses here. A small comic line with easy sentences that introduce the new words, followed by short stories that increase the vocabulary and reinforce the words from the comics. And those are interspersed with historical context insights that help you understand what was actually occurring to bring it all together. Definitely a great resource for my Latin library!

[Taylor Swift Scholar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t know I could love a textbook this much or be devastated by the ending 😭

[Kristian Wong]

A tear-jerker!! RIP caecilius. Better than the Oxford one.

[graig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I initially, like many others, came to this book because of my school insisting learning a new language was necessary for a good education. Despite many saying to not judge a book by its cover, as soon as i caught sight of the picture printed on the front, of a person carved intricately in stone with elaborate patterns swirling throughout his glorious, bald head, I knew that this book would be special. But any amount of preparing could not have been enough for this completely enthralling, life changing, inspiring piece of literature I was about to experience. Mere words could not express the beautiful nature of this book. From the illustrations, each picture nothing short of a masterpiece that deserved to be displayed in the most prestigious art galleries in the world. But the words, one could tell that each sentence was carefully constructed with such care and precision to fully entice the reader, you could easily spend hours simply staring and pondering all the possible deeper meanings that the stories held. The characters were engaging and relatable, the plot truly reflects society as a whole. I implore you to read this book and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

[Michael Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit it, the ending really moved me.

[Anna C · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Caecilius est MENDAX."

"Oooohhhh.... mendax."

RIP Caecilius, et Metella, et Cerberus. For 9th grade me, this book was the bomb.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keep calm quod Caecilius est in horto

162 pages later

Caecilius expiravit

[Budge Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am seriously impressed by this book and the skilful techniques it employs to get you reading and understanding Latin. Buying it had been an act of retribution for me, although I did rather expect it to be a submission to purgatory.
Go back 60 years and Catholic Marist Brothers tried to teach me Latin. I hated school, I particularly hated Latin. I was a working class child in a very middle class school, a dayboy from the town and therefore a minority in what was predominantly a boarding school, and a Protestant (I wasn’t going to tell them I was an atheist) in a seriously Catholic school. Of course I hated school … but I could see some point in learning maths or history or even French. But Latin … yeah, that was really going to come in handy.
We sat in class conjugating the verb, chanting out interminably “amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant” or declining “mensa, mensa, mensam, mensae, mensae, mensa”. Seriously, having to sit and chant these words probably murdered what little interest I had in school. I don’t actually have nightmares, but just sitting looking at those ‘mensas’ and a dark mist begins to deaden my mind. I was eventually expelled for truancy at 16 … for me it felt like being released from a life sentence.
And, having reached an age where I have the free time to indulge myself in exploring Scottish history, I felt I should brush up my Latin. I’ve looked at several books, they’ve had interesting points, they’ve proved of some use.
But this Cambridge Latin Course is actually a delight – which is not something I imagined I’d ever say about the teaching (or learning) of Latin!
It’s a ‘dead’ language, and here we are learning Latin by looking at dead people! The course is set in Pompeii just before it is buried. It’s a real world, these people had real lives – they owned slaves (overwhelmingly white ones), the book makes this abundantly clear. Pompeii had different classes of freemen, some were rich, most were poor, women had limited rights, slaves even fewer.
Excellent course, building the language, building a relationship with the characters like watching actors on a stage. Very accessible (I’m amazed how much I could remember, how much of the vocabulary came back to me from the horrors of my childhood).
Logical learning of language, slowly expanding your skill in understanding the daily conversations of real people, building in complexity, expanding vocabulary. Excellent layout – separate little sections explaining grammar and usage, conjugation and declination are explained rather than chanted.
If I’d been offered the use of this book when I was 11 I might well have passed my ‘O’ level (it’s the only exam I ever failed – I was so bad at Latin I wasn’t even allowed to sit the exam).
Full colour pictures and lots of line drawings to bring the subject visually to life, builds slowly and dynamically (take it at your own pace), page by page it inspires your confidence and interest. First class!

[Fulmen Imp. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the characters and the stories provided. It's amazing how the texts were so touching provided that they use so simple grammar structure and basic vocabulary. I learned a lot of words and began to understand Latin with this book and that's why I love it so much. The only huge disadvantage for me was the lack of explanation of grammar and the very slow progress grammarwise. That's why I moved to another system. But still I love this book so much that I couldn't give it less than five stars.

[Tyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Latin story that runs through each of the chapters was surprisingly entertaining, informative, and at times, rather funny. I was using this book to provide supplemental comprehensive input for LLPSI, and it served excellently for this purpose, this did mean I focused more on reading the Latin story and skimmed the grammar explanations. The story is more entertaining than that story running through Familia Romana (LLPSI). The background information provided on Roman and Pompeian culture was interesting.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great teaching resource for anyone teaching Latin to beginners. I think it could have a little more variety in the activities (eg. more on sentence manipulation and students creating their own sentences and reading passages, research activities, etc.)... of course, most would be doing that already as alternative activities to break the monotony of reading/translating and comprehension activities.

[C Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Caecilius est in horto.” Easily one of the most iconic lines in any piece of literature. I read this masterpiece in Latin class. Together, my class laughed and cried, but we all fell in love with this book. This book sparked a wide range of emotions from all of us. We got mad at Clemens when he stole his bud’s girl (we also laughed). We got mad at Caecilius when he let the best dog in the world die. Cerberus died for his master, and he died for you too. I highly recommend this inspiring book, as it is the superior Latin text book. It was a gift to the world. May Ceberus live on in our hearts. Valete omnes.

[Angelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean…it was fine. It’s a vaguely fun story told in particularly pithy parts that don’t have enough repetition for a reading method language book to actually get you to learn the vocabulary or grammar very well. There is a lot of neat information about Pompeii throughout that is told in English, which again, is fine, but doesn’t much help in teaching you Latin, which is the point of the book.

[Armin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to Latin, especially if you already speak a romance language. The stories of the Iucundii are also interesting. The tidbits about roman life are quite informative and original as well.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

fucked this baby up and now i teach it

[eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

crying tbh

[Oskar Kinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caecilius in his garden with his dog was peak literature, can’t wait to see what happens in the sequel. Hard to read without the dictionary though.

[Judi Mckay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great way to start to learn latin as you are straight in there without having to learn any declensions etc. However, at some point, you might have to if you want to continue with Latin. But, as a fun way to learn a brilliant language, it is the best introduction you could wish for, in my view.

[Frankie Ku]

its good for classes

[Morgan Stout]

Cambridge Latin Course 1 Student's Book

[Pamela McLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting stories that made it easy and fun to start learning Latin