The greening of Ancient Latin

 Some newspaper articles suggest that ancient Latin should

    be restored to the high school curriculum sensitive to " cultural

    literacy " - which, I agree, is the very glue of Western Civilization.

              But the subject should be introduced NATURALLY. And I mean

    this literally. Instead of afflicting adolescent minds with the

    military tyranny of Caesar - his bloody adventures in Gaul, chopping

    off heads, chopping off hands, crucifying this or that would be

    fugitive from the Roman yoke - or afflicting them with bombastic

    sentences of the greatest political windbag of all time, Mr.Eloquence

    himself, Cicero - why not let the gentle, good natured naturalist

    Pliny introduce the  students to what we still have in common 2000

     years later - the fascinating world of NATURE ?

                 It is easier to make contact with an ancient soul when

    he  is talking  about the stars and the moon and the planets... and

    the ocean and rivers and mountains and earthquakes... and the birds

    and the bees and flowers and trees ... and fish and whales, and lions

    and tigers and bears , jungles and deserts...  beautiful and precious

    rocks and minerals. And all in simple sentence using thousands of

    IMAGE words in a memorable and pleasing way !

                And what's more , we can LAUGH at all the nonsense in

    Pliny. Did great Caesar or pompous Cicero ever make you laugh ?

                We must make ancient Latin ecologically correct - if

    not politically correct.