Let’s Explore the Ancient World…
Welcome to grammaticus.co! Here you can join me on my journey deeper into the worlds of Ancient Greece and Rome. You can study with me the people and places of the world of Antiquity, and even learn their stories and ideas in their own languages. Come share in the cultural inheritance that Greece and Rome still offer us today.
Whether you’re here because you love Latin, Greek, Plutarch, or all of the above, I’m here to share my own learning on these topics that I love.
Plutarch
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Latin & Greek
What’s a Grammaticus?
Greek gave Latin one word that encapsulates everything I do professionally: grammaticus, or γραμματικός in the Greek. The most authoritative Greek-English dictionary defines a γραμματικός as “a teacher of the rudiments; one who occupies himself with literary texts, grammarian, critic.” The foremost Latin lexicon, Lewis & Short, adds only “philologist.” Grammaticus captures exactly what I do every day: I teach English, History, Latin, and Greek in middle and high school. I love the literature of all three languages and I can always improve as a teacher and student on the great works written in these three tongues. If you’re still curious, check out the About page.
Commonplaces – Bitesized Wisdom from the Past
Rules vs. Example
The road is a long one when learning by rules, but short and effective by way of personal example.
longum iter est per praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla. (Latin)
Wonder and Wisdom
It is through wonder that men now begin and originally began to philosophize; wondering in the first place at obvious perplexities, and then by gradual progression raising questions about the greater matters too, e.g. about the changes of the moon and of the sun, about the stars and about the origin of the universe. Now he who wonders and is perplexed feels that he is ignorant (thus the myth-lover is in a sense a philosopher, since myths are composed of wonders).
διὰ γὰρ τὸ θαυμάζειν οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ νῦν καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἤρξαντο φιλοσοφεῖν, ἐξ ἀρχῆς μὲν τὰ πρόχειρα τῶν ἀτόπων θαυμάσαντες, εἶτα κατὰ μικρὸν οὕτω προϊόντες καὶ περὶ τῶν μειζόνων διαπορήσαντες, οἷον περί τε τῶν τῆς σελήνης παθημάτων καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ ἄστρα καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς γενέσεως. ὁ δ᾽ ἀπορῶν καὶ θαυμάζων οἴεται ἀγνοεῖν (διὸ καὶ ὁ φιλόμυθος φιλόσοφός πώς ἐστιν: ὁ γὰρ μῦθος σύγκειται ἐκ θαυμασίων).
Love of Learning
To learn something is the greatest of pleasures not only to the philosopher but also to the rest of mankind, however small their capacity for it.
μανθάνειν οὐ μόνον τοῖς φιλοσόφοις ἥδιστον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμοίως, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ βραχὺ κοινωνοῦσιν αὐτοῦ. (Greek)
Freedom and Speech
This particular art has constantly flourished above all others in every free state, and especially in those which have enjoyed peace and tranquillity, and has ever exercised great power.
haec una res in omni libero populo maximeque in pacatis tranquillisque civitatibus praecipue semper floruit semperque dominata est. (Latin)
What is Philosophy For?
But Socrates first called philosophy down from the sky and placed it in the cities, bringing it even into homes, driving it investigate life, character, and the issues of good and evil.
Socrates autem primus philosophiam devocavit e caelo et in urbibus conlocavit et in domus etiam introduxit et coegit de vita et moribus rebusque bonis et malis quaerere.
Industry vs. Busyness
A delight in bustling about is not industry—it is only the restless energy of a hunted mind. And the state of mind that looks on all activity as tiresome is not true repose, but a spineless inertia.
Nam illa tumultu gaudens non est industria sed exagitatae mentis concursatio, et haec non est quies quae motum omnem molestiam iudicat, sed dissolutio et languor.
Who Am I Hurting?
The sinner sins against himself; the wrongdoer wrongs himself, becoming worse by his own actions.
Ὁ ἁμαρτάνων ἑαυτῷ ἁμαρτάνει: ὁ ἀδικῶν ἑαυτὸν ἀδικεῖ, ἑαυτὸν, ἑαυτὸν κακὸν ποιῶν. (Greek)