This book arranges simple Latin stories about famous figures in Rome’s history in such a way as to help students learn to read in phrases. The Acceleration Reader format breaks down sentences into parts that invite individual “acts of understanding.” It is important that Latin students attain the ability to register the meanings of individual words, but it is just as important that they practice learning how to see and take larger and larger units of meaning together. The translation offered here helps students learn “what means what” in a format (“pari passu”) that allows for convenient and ready reference: no time is wasted looking elsewhere for help or vocabulary assistance. This arrangement aims at encouraging students with a repeated experience of success in small victories. This style of presentation is also enormously helpful for diagnostics, that is, for pinning down the sources of difficulties. It becomes quite clear exactly where the student has trouble registering some meaning. Students need not know much of the theory and morphology before they plunge into such texts. Grammatical terms, vocabulary, and various kinds of usage are absorbed on the way and strengthened with each re-reading (re-comprehending) of the text. The swift and memorable narratives included here will also help to create a valuable framework for understanding Roman history. Total word count: above 49,700.

Nota Bene: Some of the material included here is not at all suitable for young children. These stories include graphic presentations of human weaknesses and cruelty as well as illustrations of virtuous behavior.

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