Preface
It is hoped that this series of short stories from A. Gellius may serve as a pleasant change to young boys after a course of Cornelius Nepos, Eutropius, etc. The language of the original has been simplified in parts, and some rare or late words and constructions cut out. The Notes have been made, with few exceptions, as short as possible; a few more lengthy digressions, such as those upon the ablative absolute and the gerundial constructions, will need no apology, if they succeed in leading boys to think out for themselves the difficulties which these constructions present. Some simple Exercises have been added at the request of the Publishers, and for these an English-Latin Vocabulary has been compiled. In this Vocabulary the words are arranged in alphabetical order, since the Exercises are intended principally for viva voce drill in form, and the Editor’s experience does not confirm the theory of some Editors, that a boy’s knowledge of a language is increased in proportion to the time that he spends in hunting for words that he does not know; he considers that the “paragraph” vocabulary makes the lazy boy take refuge in guessing, whilst it wastes the time of the industrious boy.
The Editor acknowledges his obligations to the Latin Grammars of Dr. Kennedy and Mr. Roby, and to Dr. Smith’s Dictionaries of Biography and Antiquities, and to similar works which lie at every schoolmaster’s elbow.