My study of Latin has benefitted me immensely, introducing me to the rich and diverse world of Rome’s greatest writers.

As someone keen to learn for learning’s own sake, the combination of detailed grammatical study with the study of Cicero’s Philippics and Virgil’s Aeneid, one of the cornerstones of western literature, has been incredibly fulfilling. The Philippics were a series of undelivered speeches against Mark Antony, and reading the Second Philippic provides an insight both into the politics of Rome after Caesar’s death and into the art of oratory. Its counterpart on the course, the Aeneid, is an epic poem of epic proportions which I have loved studying, and which has motivated me more than anything else to read Classics at university.

As a student myself, I cannot recommend it enough, be it as a route into Classics or to complement other studies; the formulaic nature of Latin grammar will appeal to students of maths and the sciences, while students of English and the humanities will appreciate the depth beyond that. Most of all, it grants an understanding of the building blocks of language, and teaches students to think deeply and critically about their studies.