LATIN-FOURTH YEAR.

By Harry Ed- win Burton and Richard Mott Gummere. Silver, Burdett and Company, 1931.

Those who, either as teachers or students, have used Professor Burton's earlier edition of the Aeneid will be especially interested in its recent successor, Latin-Fourth Year edited by him in collaboration with Mr. Richard Mott Gummere, the headmaster of William Penn Charter School. The new book shows the influence of the recommendations of the American Classical League in its wider range of material for reading and translation. Books I, II, III, IV and VI of the Aeneid are included with nearly their entire text; summaries are given of the few omitted passages. Book V, the book about the funeral games, is represented only by a summary of the story, but space is thereby secured for the incorporation of a large number of the most famous passages (seventy-five pages in all) from the last six books, connected by a synopsis of the story. This is one of the most valuable features of the book; it ought to militate against the general practice in contemporary text-books of breaking off the story of Aeneas in the middle. Even if the last six books are inferior in merit and interest to the first six, it argues a fundamental lack of comprehension of the poem to leave a student with the picture of Aeneas, stranded and almost helpless on the shores of Italy.

In addition to the Aeneid, which must be the foundation of any student's fourth year of Latin and a large part of the superstructure as well, there is a large number of other selections from Latin poetry: poems by Horace, Catullus, Tibullus, Phaedrus, Lucan, Martial, Ausonius, and especially many selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses. In short, this book contains more than enough for a year's course, and a student, after using it, should have a good idea of the wide range of Latin poetry.

The book is well fortified with an introduction containing articles on the nature and technique of poetry, the history of Latin poetry, and the life and works of Vergil. There is also a useful bibliography and an appendix on the English pronunciation of Latin and Greek names.

The notes are excellent. Professor Burton has indicated in his other books that he is a master in the difficult art of annotation, in giving enough to be of real assistance in preparation but not encumbering his pages with material that is more properly the function of the teacher to supply. The notes are at the bottom of the page, where are also given the meanings of important new words as they occur. The value of this device can be debated; it reduces the demands made upon brute memory and at the same time it challenges the teacher to require an intelligent use of these helps. But this is the only point that can be questioned; this book takes front rank among fourth year Latin textbooks, commending itself not only to the teacher, but also to anyone who wishes to refresh his knowledge of Latin poetry.