Phaedrus was one of the main transmitters of the beloved animal fables traditionally attributed to Aesop. He rendered these Greek fables, ancient already by his own day, into Latin verse. Given the prominence of Aesop’s Fables even into the modern era, Phaedrus’ impact on the literary canon is quite significant, and yet often underappreciated. A first-century AD Roman poet (not to be confused with Socrates’ Athenian friend), his pithy, entertaining, and surprisingly profound poems have long been a mainstay of Latin education. Since the fabulae are short and use relatively straightforward vocabulary and syntax, they are an ideal text to introduce authentic Latin literature to the intermediate student.
Titus Livius, known also as Livy, was one of the greatest historians of Ancient Rome. His account of the imperial city, Ab Urbe Condita (From the Founding of the City), begins with the earliest legends — of Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, the rape of the Sabines — and continues chronologically well into the reign of Augustus. While large sections of the work were lost, much still remains, from the very beginning of the work, through the monarchy, and well into the early Republic at the time of the Third Samnite War. The other surviving section then picks up again at the time of the Second Punic War and continues to the conquest of Macedon. For this course, we’ll be reading a student’s edition of Livy prepared by the renowned Latin teachers and scholars Milena Minkova and Terence Tunberg, which contains both selections from Ab Urbe Condita as well as excellent Latin paraphrases, which help students read and understand whatever portions of Livy they find difficult.
Together, these two authors give students the opportunity to read both authentic Latin verse and prose extensively, and to discuss both in spoken Latin in class. All students will also receive access to a digital vocabulary learning platform custom-built for intermediate-level students.
Course details:
- Class sessions last 1 hour
- 1 class session per week
- School year runs Aug. 31, 2026 – June 5, 2027
- ALI classes are completely risk-free: Get a 100% refund anytime before your second class session
How our Kids Courses work:
- Classes run on a normal academic calendar year: September – June.
- Classes are live, online classes run by ALI Latin professors. Learn Latin from anywhere. All you need is a wifi connection and computer enabled with microphone and video.
- We have separate tracks for elementary, middle, and high school students. While they move at different paces and use a variety of materials, they all end up in the same place: Giving your student the tools to read Latin texts with ease.
- Register now, pay a 50% deposit to reserve your spot, and pay the rest later. We want to make sure you and your child absolutely love your Latin class before you pay for all the classes.
- You can skip the academic calendar system. With one-on-one Tutorials, you can set up your own class schedule with an ALI professor.
- Signing up with ALI is risk-free. We want to make sure you’re completely satisfied. If you don’t love your first Latin class, we guarantee a 100% refund. After that, in weeks 2 – 4, refunds will be made on a pro rata basis, based on however many class sessions you’ve attended. We cannot issue refunds after the fourth week of classes.
