Latin Summer School

About

Latin : Virgil's 'Georgics' Book 4

Virgil’s four-book didactic poem about agriculture is less famous than his Aeneid but was described by John Dryden as ‘the best poem of the best poet’. Written during the turbulent years after the murder of Julius Caesar, it uses the farm as an allegory about the conduct of life and society. The climactic fourth book treats bees as an ideal citizen body of ‘little Romans’; this leads to an account of how the hero Aristaeus replaced his lost bees, with the haunting inset story of Orpheus and Eurydice.

See also our Greek Summer School, which may be attended at the same time.

About the tutor
Dr John Taylor is one of the country's foremost experts in the teaching of Greek and Latin. He is the author of numerous textbooks for learning the classical languages at all levels, including Latin Beyond GCSE and Greek Beyond GCSE, and co-author of Writing Greek: An Introduction to Writing in the Language of Classical Athens, as well as of collections of Greek Stories and Latin Stories for use alongside his own Greek to GCSE and Latin to GCSE textbooks.

Course leader

Dr John Taylor

Target group

We recommend that this is most suitable for over-18s with intermediate level Latin.

Course aim

Whether you're continuing your language studies or rediscovering ancient texts in a fresh way, this summer school offers inspiration, insight, and a deepened understanding — all under the guidance of expert tutor Dr John Taylor.

Fee info