- Submit your entry using this Google entry form.
- Need a different option? Please contact Gina Soter at [email protected].
- Deadline for receipt of certamina: March 19, 2025.
Overview: There will be three types of certamina in which students can engage with their Latin: A. recitatio (recitation of a Latin passage), B. scriptio (writing of a haiku in Latin), and C. imago (depiction of a figure or scene from Greek or Roman myth). We hope that this range of artes will inspire your students to participate in at least one certamen. We also hope to recognize excellence at every level of Latin.
Petitores will each receive a praemium. Victores victricesque will receive a premium of their own as well as earn books and educational materials for their Latin program (to be selected by their magister/magistra).
We will provide hands-on support for petitores as they prepare for the certamina, including background informational resources. For the recitationes, in particular, we will also provide (1.) passages marked for word accent (here); (2.) recordings for pronunciation, delivery, and style of the passages as models (here); and (3.) optional Zoom tutoring from our graduate and advanced undergraduate students with these benefits: deeper comprehension and better pronunciation of the Latin, more creative ideas for staging a performance, and a chance to get to know a UM student. We strongly encourage petitores to take advantage of this offer.
A. RECITATIONES: The purpose of this certamen is to engage students in reciting Latin aloud. Students are not required to recite from memory; however, special consideration will be given to students who do. Students may choose one of the two passages below: a prose passage from Petronius’ Satyricon, which is viable for students at all levels, or a poetry passage: from Vergil’s Aeneid, which is suitable for students who can recite in dactylic hexameter.
The recitation should be video-recorded and reviewed for the audibility of the sound before it is submitted.
Recitatio 1: Petronius Satyricon 28-29
Context: Encolpius, the narrator of this passage, has been invited to an extravagant dinner party at the home of Trimalchio. On his way into the dining room, he sees a picture of a guard dog and mistakes it for the real thing, causing much hilarity!
Suggestions for performance: This passage offers an opportunity for comic performance by one or more participants in the recitatio. Feel free to use props, such as the famous “Cave Canem” image of a mosaic at Pompeii. The unusual vocabulary, which our tutors will help petitores “get”, can inform the fun of the performance too.
Latin Text
In aditu autem ipso stabat ostiarius prasinatus, cerasino succinctus cingulo, atque in lance argentea pisumpurgabat. Super limen autem cavea pendebat aurea in qua pica varia intrantes salutabat. Ceterum ego dumomnia stupeo, paene resupinatus crura mea fregi. Ad sinistram enim intrantibus non longe ab ostiarii cellacanis ingens, catena vinctus, in pariete erat pictus superque quadrata littera scriptum CAVE CANEM. Etcollegae quidem mei riserunt.
Recitatio 2: Vergil Georgics 4.485-98
Context: Orpheus is famous in myth for his ability to entice animals, rocks, and trees through music. He is also famous for his failed attempt to bring his wife Eurydice back to life from the realm of the dead, an exceptional opportunity granted by the underworld gods upon being charmed by the hero’s music. In the excerpt below, Vergil tells of Orpheus’ inability to adhere to the prohibition that he not look back on the return journey and of Eurydice’s deeply emotional response.
Suggestions for performance: There are several ways to bring this passage to life. For example, one student could recite the whole passage, using gestures to underscore the mood of the situation and the characters emotions. Or the passage could be divided among two or more students. The roles of Orpheus and Eurydice could be acted out. One student could recite the narrative (vv. 485-93) with another student reciting and acting out Eurydice’s lament (vv. 494-98). Inspiration may be drawn from the CLD25 ImageGallery (available on our updated website, coming soon).
Latin Text
Iamque pedem referens casus evaserat omnes; 485
redditaque Eurydice superas veniebat ad auras,
pone sequens (namque hanc dederat Proserpina legem),
cum subita incautum dementia cepit amantem,
ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere manes.
Restitit Eurydicenque suam iam luce sub ipsa 490
(immemor heu!) victusque animi respexit. Ibi omnis
effusus labor atque immitis rupta tyranni
foedera, terque fragor stagnis auditus Avernis.
Illa, “Quis et me,” inquit, “miseram et te perdidit, Orpheu,
quis tantus furor? En iterum crudelia retro 495
Fata vocant, conditque natantia lumina somnus.
Iamque vale: feror ingenti circumdata nocte
invalidasque tibi tendens, heu non tua, palmas!”
B. SCRIPTIONES: The purpose of this certamen, which is suitable for students at all levels, is to engage students writing in Latin with particular attention to the relationship between subject and form. The subject may be related to any aspect of “Classics and the Arts.” The form should be a Latin haiku (5 - 7 -5 syllable lines). Students are not required to compose their haiku in meters; however, special consideration will be given to students who do so. Students are encouraged to work with our tutors. Each haiku should be translated and accompanied by a short discussion (up to a paragraph) of the inspiration for and/or idea behind the haiku. A student may submit up to 3 haikus.
C. IMAGINES
The purpose of this certamen, which is suitable for students at all levels, is to engage students in the visual representation - an imago - of a figure or a scene from Greek and Roman mythology. A student may work with any myth. For example, the student could depict the Orpheus myth, in which case the imago may be added to our image gallery (coming soon). Or, for another example, a student could“reflect on” the myth of Narcissus staring at the image of himself in the water. Students are invited to release their inner artist by tapping into the range of meanings for imago: “a work of art, a likeness, an image, a death mask, a reflection in a mirror, a ghost, something imagined, a copy, an illustration”!
Each imago should be accompanied by a short discussion (up to a paragraph) of the inspiration for the figure or scene.
