Annus Mirabilis
is the follow-up to the successful Annus
Horribilis, broadening and deepening the exploration of Latin from
everyday life begun in the first book, and providing more intellectual
stimulation to those whose love of Latin remains unsated!
An exploration
of ‘everyday’ Latin from antiquity to the present-day, Annus Mirabilis
significantly extends the scope of topics covered in its predecessor. But the
user-friendly, unstuffy style remains the same. Ancient Roman curses from Bath
Spa and letters from Hadrian’s Wall are at one end of the spectrum, at the
other are fascinating extracts from the works of post-Renaissance Latinists
including Copernicus, Descartes, Joseph Addison and Samuel Johnson. Inbetween
you will find an exploration of Latin poetry, both sacred and profane, hymns and
verse epitaphs, and letters from Cicero, Augustus, Heloise, Erasmus, Petrarch,
Smollett and Sterne among others. All texts are accompanied by in-depth notes,
there is a grammatical index and English translations too.
