Below are videos designed to introduce and guide AP Latin students through understanding, reading, and translating Pliny, Epistulae 6.4.4-5. Although these videos are aligned to my tiered reader Darkness Over Pompeii, they are useful for any textbook or curriculum.

For more AP Latin video resources, check out the AP Resources page.

Letter 1B Video: PictureTalk introducing the vocabulary, events, and themes of Pliny, Epistulae 6.4

Letter 1B – Picture Talk Script

Calpurnia, uxor Plīniī, abest in Campaniā. Calpurnia absens aegrotat. Eā absente, omnia Plīniī sunt incerta. omnia metuit. Plinius absentiam Calpurniae metuit. Plīnius ergo uxōrī hanc epistulam scrībit:

Tē absente, nunc ego vērō omnia metuo. Ego rationem absentiae metuo. Quid est ratio absentiae tuae? Tu est absens, quod tu infirmitatem habes. Ego infirmitatem tuam metuo. Infirmitas est incerta. Absentia est incerta. Quā dē causā timor meus est incertus et varius.

Ego omnia vereor, quod multa sunt incerta. Ego omnia imāginor. Ut est nātūra omnium eōrum quī metuunt incerta, ego omnia vereor. 

Ego fingō multa dē tē. Fingō dē tē ea quae maximē vereor. Fingō dē tē ea quae maximē metuō.

Quā dē causā, ego tē rogō, ō Calpurnia mea: consule timori meō. Quōmodo tu potest consulere timori meo? Scrībe mihi epistulam. Scrībe mihi multās epistulās. Scrībe mihi singulās epistulās vel etiam bīnās epistulās cotīdiē.  Sine epistulīs tuīs, ego omnia metuenda fingō. Sī ego epistulās tuās legam, erō enim sēcūrior (dum ego legō). Cum autem ego epistulās tuās lēgerō, statim ego rūrsus timēbō. Quā dē causā, scrībe mihi litterās cotīdiē (singulās vel bīnās) et timōre meō consūle.

Letter 1B – Tiers 2&3 Video – A Reading, Discussion, and Translation of Tiers 2 and 3.

Purchase Darkness Over Pompeii: A Tiered Latin Reader here.

How have these videos helped you in your AP classroom? What types of videos would you like to see? Leave a comment below and let’s chat about it! Or contact me directly!