Review: "De Bonis Cogitationibus," by Rose Williams

For Christian homeschoolers who would want the option of non-pagan texts for their beginning study of Latin.

The full title of Rose Williams' latest contribution to the field of Latin instruction reads A Beginning Latin Christian Reader - De Bonis Cogitationibus. It is part of Bolchazy-Carducci's extensive selection of Latin textbooks for all levels. De Bonis Cogitationibus is fit for the niche market of homeschoolers following Dorothy Sayer's trivium approach and any other Christian homeschoolers at the beginning levels of their Latin experience.

Rose Williams has written adaptations of Roman writers before. The reading selections in De Bonis Cogitationibus are also adaptations, rather than translations of actual passages from the Old and New Testament, with a sprinkling of good thoughts from pagan Roman writers. Compare (Jerusalem Bible) 65.25:

The wolf and the young lamb will feed together, the lion eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food. They will do no hurt, no harm on all my holy mountain, says Yahweh.

with Rose Williams' adaptation (which includes the macrons not shown here):

Agnus et lupus cibum partiunt; leo et taurus herbam partiunt; vipera pulverem edit. In meo sancto monte animal non occidit.

As adaptations, Williams has made them easy at first, but gradually more complex. Between a vocabulary list every couple of pages (as well as a full glossary at the book's end) and illustrations, someone familiar with the Bible should be able to guess the meaning reasonably well, at first, and then progress with more confidence to longer and more complicated passages.

Williams does a fine job of explaining just as much grammar as one needs to translate the passages. The reader is not intended to be used alone, however, but in conjunction with a beginning Latin program.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.