Latin
‘If you steal this book I’ll beat your brains out’
Curses on the book thief from Latin and Old English sources range from the venomous to the sadistic to the mind-twistingly gruesome
What British voters could learn from the Romans
When the forthcoming election result is announced, the triumphant party will presumably proclaim: ‘The British people have spoken!’ That will…
Gentle genius
Dissatisfied with his unfinished epic, the dying Vergil called for his scrolls to be burned, but was fortunately overruled by the Emperor Augustus
A home between worlds
When asked what it is we do, translators often resort to metaphors. We liken the act of translation to performing…
Low life
My days pass largely in a state of inanition. The fit and able-bodied express their sympathy, claiming it’s much the…
Barking up the right tree
The government’s promise to fund a pilot scheme promoting the teaching of Latin in secondary schools is music to the…
Letters
Uncivil service Sir: The elephant in the room in the handling of the pandemic (‘A tragedy of errors’, 29 May)…
Greco-Roman wrestling
Can the Classics escape the grip of their past?
Scaffold
Whenever I turned on the news last weekend, my husband took to humming the March to the Scaffold from the…
N.M. Gwynne’s diary: Old names worth dropping
As I get older (and my 74th birthday is now close), I get deeper and deeper into nostalgia. I do…
How the Romans taught Latin
Barely a week passes without someone complaining about the teaching of English or foreign languages, usually because it involves too…
Letters
Beyond the law Sir: In your leading article of 28 June you make the point that the hacking trial demonstrates…
The Spectator’s Notes
David Cameron is said to want a woman to be chairman of the BBC Trust, now that Chris Patten has…
The essential vade-mecum
After Zorba the Greek, here comes Horace the Roman. The peasant Zorba, you’ll remember from the film, releases uptight, genteel…
