But do not despair, there are courses out there and support is available for those studying alone or working with a Latin tutor. Epit­o­me His­to­ri­ae Sacrae is a 17th-cen­tu­ry Latin read­er writ­ten all in Latin with sto­ries from the Bible in an (upper) inter­me­di­ate Latin. Various acquaintances of the emperor, including Glabrio, an advisor to the emperor, are introduced, as well as the emperor himself. It covers all the linguistic requirements for GCSE Latin, providing straightforward and helpful explanations of every grammatical construction. Quintus is absent, and the main characters are Salvius, his ally Haterius, and several other Roman aristocrats, as well as some ordinary citizens.

Barbillus later dies of a wound during a hunting trip, and tells Quintus to find his son Rufus, who lives in Britain, thus explaining the reason for Quintus' visit. Each chapter ends with a bit of Roman history, told in simple, sometimes facetious, terms - intended to appeal to school-age learners and, for an adult like me, the weakest part of the book. In the second half of the book, Quintus tells King Cogidubnus about his journey to Alexandria, where he met Barbillus, a friend of his father. Someone said it's not easy, but if you take it at a suitable pace (and make sure you understand the current section *before* going to the next) there's nothing too difficult about it.

I’ve painted a picture of doom and gloom, which I still think is true of the decline of rigorous study of Latin over the last 50 years. And, while Famil­ia Romana by itself is a fan­tas­tic book, the exer­cise book pro­vides you with count­less oppor­tu­ni­ties to drill the text­book’s mor­phol­o­gy, syn­tax, and vocab­u­lary.

I think the books are a really good introduction into Rome, the Roman Empire, Roman Gaul, and also Roman Britain.

Although the style and con­tents of the book might seem rather arid to stu­dents, the result from using it is always the same: My stu­dents mas­ter the most impor­tant aspects of gram­mar and phrase­ol­o­gy inti­mate­ly.