Etched in the memories of generations of Latin scholars will almost certainly be the phrase “Caecilius est in horto”.
But now Caecilius is in trouble with school textbooks featuring the Roman character being rewritten following complaints about his ownership of “happy slaves”.
The Cambridge Latin Course books have been used in classrooms for five decades, but will now be revised as portrayals of ancient life have proved jarring for modern pupils.
The activities of Caecilius could be toned down by Cambridge University Press as scholars rewrite course material amid concerns about the didactic character appearing to exploit slaves – a common feature of Roman life.
Good as in, a reminder that the Atlantic slave trade was merely the last major such movement of people into slavery, not a unique one.
I entirely hated doing Latin. Partly because I’d not done any until the age of 10, at which point it was assumed at a new school that I’d already been doing it for a few years. Deep end isn’t fun. I’d done Italian instead – for the logical reason that I’d been in Italy for a couple of years.
Which did mean that I had a certain fondness for Cambridge Latin, even as I hated the subject. For, it starts out with the family in Pompeii (or, at least, the course we took did) and talks about bits around the Bay of Naples. Which is where I’d been. Then the family moves to Britain. To Aquae Sulis – which is where I was from. So while I could do bugger all Latin, had a very bastard understanding through the Italian, the background scenery was always something close to home.
Nowt important about all of that of course….