I am working on a number of projects at the moment. The first completed project will be a 2nd edition of Ritchie’s Fabulae Faciles with a single-page commentary format. The pages will be 7 x 10 inch (17.78 cm x 25.4), and each page will contain 10-15 lines of Latin text (1 section) at the top with corresponding vocabulary and notes below on the same page. The resulting paperback will be as thin as the current College Caesar or Cicero’s First Catilinarian commentaries. Below is a sample:

 Sample: Perseus episode of 2nd edition of Ritchie’s Fabulae Faciles (pdf.1.8 mb, 22Apr24)

If you have an interest in this commentary, please consider looking through the pdf files linked below and recommending changes. As always, thank you for the support.

1. College Pliny and Vergil Commentary (19.6 mb pdf., 1st ed. 26Mar24)

If you have a Latin or Greek text that you would like to see as a commentary on this website and in paperback, please add your suggestion to the comments to this post.

Recent recommendations have included Euripides’ Bacchae and Thucydides Book 6, and both commentaries are now available as beta editions on this website.

Other authors have made me aware that they are working on the Timaeus and Agamemnon. If I receive any updates, I will pass them along.

I am trying to add a link on each commentary page for corrections (you can comment on a pdf in the link, and I receive an email to address the comment). If you would like to suggest a correction but such a link is not available, please let me know, and I will add the link so that you can make a suggested corrections effortlessly.

Thank you.

Teachers have contacted me and offered a number of ways that they use the pdf to enhance instruction. Below are a few tips worth passing along:

(1) Enlarge the pdf on the desktop which you are projecting to create a quick and easy presentation.

(2) Enlarge the pdf on the desktop and take screenshot images of the selected text (Mac: shift-command-4, Windows: Snipping tool) to insert in presentations, handouts, quizzes, and tests. (Enlarging the pdf improves the image resolution.) This is a very easy way to maintain formatting between the book, presentations, and handouts.

(3) Post the pdf (or a link to the pdf) on your class website and ask that students use the paperback in class and pdf at home or vice versa and not carry the book in their book bags. This method discourages daily wear-and-tear on your books and yet ensures that students always have access to the commentary.

(4) Need flashcards? Search Quizlet or Anki before you make your own. The flashcards may already have been created. If you wish to make your own flashcards, most applications allow you to copy and paste vocabulary and then ask what punctuation you wish to use to divide up the word from the definition. Choose “:” (a colon) and within seconds you will convert the vocabulary list copied from the pdf into a set of flashcards. Then, simply copy the link to the flashcard set and send it to your students.

(5) Use the search function in the pdf to find relevant grammar constructions throughout the commentary: e.g. search “subj” to find all labeled subjunctive constructions and “dat” to find labeled dative constructions.

(6) If the students have mastered the core vocabulary, copy and paste selected dictionary entries from the corresponding vocabulary sections (e.g. word occurring 3-8 times) as you read to create vocabulary lists for students to review and memorize.

If you have any other suggestions to add to this list, please let me know.