Two Latin Plays for High-School Students   By: Susan Paxson

TWO LATIN PLAYS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

By

SUSAN PAXSON

Instructor in Latin in the Omaha High School

GINN AND COMPANY Boston · New York · Chicago · London Atlanta · Dallas · Columbus · San Francisco

Copyright, 1911, by Susan Paxson All Rights Reserved 522.10

The Athenæum Press

Ginn and Company · Proprietors · Boston · U.S.A.

CUI BONO?

If this little entertainment shall give pleasure and be of profit to any who have set out on their toilsome journey into the realm of Latin Literature, the writer's aim will be accomplished

PREFATORY NOTE

I am greatly indebted to Mrs. C. H. Beeson and to Professor Frank J. Miller, of the University of Chicago. To the former, for her most scholarly and generous assistance in the correcting of the manuscript and for her many valuable suggestions throughout the work; to the latter, for his painstaking reading of the proof and for his kindly and helpful interest. In fact, it was largely due to the helpful uplift that came to some of my advanced classes, as well as to myself, from the presentation of Professor Miller's "Dramatizations from Vergil" that these little plays were written.

SUSAN PAXSON

CONTENTS

Page

INTRODUCTION ix

A ROMAN SCHOOL 1

COSTUMES 16

A ROMAN WEDDING 19

COSTUMES AND SUGGESTIONS 37

INTRODUCTION

In response to the invitation of the author and publishers, I am glad to stand godfather to this little book of original Latin plays. They are the product of an enthusiastic teacher coöperating with students whom she has, in part by this means, inspired with a genuine interest in Roman life and its expression in the Latin tongue. They offer a helpful contribution to the solution of the ever present and vexing problem which teachers of Latin in secondary schools are meeting: How can we make this Latin interesting to our pupils? How can we compete with departments which more easily hold the pupils' interest because their subject matter touches more nearly the various phases of modern life? It is, indeed, true that any subject well taught by a live teacher will interest pupils. But, even where this condition is realized, the need is being felt more and more of something which will vary the deadly monotony incident to the learning of the technique of a language, especially one which makes its appeal largely to the eye alone through the medium of the printed page.

It is one of the most encouraging features of our present day classical work that teachers more and more are inventing ways of vitalizing their teaching without weakening it. For this must always be borne in mind: that we are not seeking to gain mere interest . What we want is interest in Latin . We want our students to be so interested that they will cheerfully endure all the hardships incident to this study because they have discovered that it is worth while in itself, because it has come to mean something to them, because it actually touches their own lives.