Fabulae Ab Urbe Condita: Latin Text with Facing Vocabulary and Commentary

Dr Steadman, a high school Latin teacher in Ohio, presents what he describes as "heavily adapted" Livy (from Books 1 and 2) and further adaptations from the 18th century French philologoist Charles Lhomond, originally published in one text at the beginning of the 20th Century. The result is an excellent, accessible, GCSE-level [ages 15 - 16, assuming the reader started Latin aged 11] Latin reader. Steadman expresses his hope in his introduction that it is the sort of book that students might "keep a copy by their bedsides," and to his credit, he has produced an accessible volume which the enthusiastic student might just keep as he suggests. His "house style" of a core vocabulary (at front and back), supplemented with additionally vocabulary and grammar commentary at the foot of a page of just 10 lines or so of text presents the student with a perfect learning environment: a manageable amount of text, and just enough help to enable continuous reading, but without spoon-feeding the reader. Dr Steadman gives proper credit for the readily accessible Latin to Sanford and Scott, but he deserves equal credit for the student-friendly presentation and extremely affordable format. The subject matter is as interesting as any Latin reader could be and I devoured this book on my daily commute by train; it paid no small part in re-building both my Latin vocabulary and my confidence to read something more challenging. Background to the Review: By way of background: I am now in my late 30s, hurtling towards 40. As my new year’s resolution in 2018, I resolved to improve my Latin to the level at which it had been when I was 18, before I went to University. I studied Latin between the ages of 11 and 18, up to and including A-Level (the academic pre-University exams in England and Wales). After a couple of months of relentlessly drilling noun, pronoun, adjective and verb endings, recommitting “hic, haec, hoc” and the imperfect subjunctive to memory, I started casting around for things to read. I knew I wasn’t ready for an Oxford Classical Text, but happily, there are far more accessible Latin textbooks, far more readily available than there were in 1998. These reviews deal with what I discovered, and what I thought of what I discovered.

This is a famous text for intermediate level Latin learners. Buy it, read it ten times, and your Latin will dramatically improve! This is a super book.

very pleased

Lecturas perfectas para bachillerato, para preparar César. Añadiría como sugerencia las fabulae faciles de Ritchie antes de leer este libro ;) Texto con vocabulario y comentarios en inglés, con episodios breves que se pueden trabajar en un par de clases, siempre que no se analice todo el texto. lo recomiendo para después del familia romana, antes de leer autores. Y si tienes un buen grupo o quieres algo más difícil, sigue después con Ad Alpes, a tale of roman life. you're welcomed

This is an intermediate Latin reader of the highest quality. The readings consist of short, manageable sections - one or two paragraphs - all on one page. Also on that page is a list of vocabulary for the reading, as well as grammar helps. I especially like that the *content* is worthwhile reading. Besides improving my Latin, I'm learning about Roman history. I plan to read and re-read this book until I've practically memorized it, which will greatly help my Latin. Few of my other Latin books motivate me to read them this much. Another great intermediate reader from this same editor is Ritchie's Fabulae Faciles: Latin Text with Facing Vocabulary and Commentary .

The book has an essential basic vocabulary. New words are on the same page as the story for easy lookup - no wasting time turning to the back of the book for the vocabulary. Explanations of grammar points are also included on the same page as the stories. Altogether a wonderfully planned and laid out book telling the fascinating history of Rome in bitesize pieces. Highly recommended.

Utilissimo per esercitazioni nelle sezioni IGCSE, ma anche soltanto per letture plurilingue nelle sezioni tradizionali

Les histoires sont relativement intéressantes (c'est quand même beaucoup du réchauffé, forcément) et permettent de se familiariser avec la lecture cursive du latin. Le lexique est en anglais, ce qui impose de connaître déjà cette langue avant d'attaquer cet ouvrage. Si on le sait quand on l'achète, il n'y a pas de problèmes. Non, le problème, c'est les macrons. Il en manque plein : plusieurs par page, au point que ça peut être gênant pour l'apprentissage des mots. Peut-être que la version électronique ne présente pas cet inconvénient grâce aux correctifs successifs, mais la version papier est vraiment problématique de ce point de vue.