Week 3. Vulgata: Samson. Background | Background Quiz | Starting Assumptions | Resources | Extras Vocabulary | Etymology | Grammar | Perseus Dictionary | Perseus Tool Reading Overview | Reading Quiz: English | Reading Quiz: Latin Discussion Questions | Latin Composition | Weekly Checklist

Latin Composition

A draft of your composition work (A and B) is due by Friday midnight. It will be returned to your with comments, corrections, hints and suggestions on Saturday. The final draft is due by Monday midnight. Note: This first draft is required: if you do not turn in a draft of the composition by Friday midnight, you will receive no composition credit for the week.

** If you are not an OU student, I will try to mark your compositions as well; send it to laura-gibbs@ou.edu and make sure you put MEDIEVAL LATIN in the subject line **

A. Answer the questions - in Latin...! Please make sure that your email contains both the question and the answer. If you are having trouble with this exercise, check out these Hints for Answering Questions in Latin.

B. Write a small Latin composition on your own. You will choose either to describe a picture or to write a small monologue/dialogue. If you are having trouble with this exercise, check out these Hints for Free Composition in Latin.

• When describing a picture, do not say "in the picture" or "the picture shows"... instead, imagine you are looking at the actual scene itself, and describe the scene ("the sheep are sleeping", "the fox is dead", "the woman is very beautiful"). Examples.
• When writing a dialogue, do not use indirect speech ("Samson says... Delilah says..."), but just write out what the characters say - don't worry, I should be able to figure out who's talking! Examples.

A. Question-and-answer in Latin.

1. Ubi Dalila habitabat?
2. Quot crines Dalila cum licio plexit?
3. Per quot vices Samson mentitus est?
4. Quare Samson veritatem aperuit?
5. Quare ferrum super caput eius numquam ascendit?
6. Quis eius oculos erueruit?
7. Ubi Samson clausus est?
8. Cui Philisthini hostias immolaverunt?
9. Quare Samson vocatus est?
10. Ubi Samson sepultus est?

B. Latin composition

Choose either one description or one dialogue/monologue to write in Latin.

Description: Choose one of the following images and describe the scene in Latin. You should write 3-4 sentences that are each at least four words long. Please please do not use an English-Latin dictionary. You should have plenty of vocabulary from this week's reading to write your description!

• Samson et Dalila. Jean Bondol.
• Samson et Dalila. Andrea Mantegna.
• Samson et Philisthini. Michiel van der Borch.

Dialogue/Monologue: Choose one of the following scenes and write the words you can imagine the characters saying. You should write 3-4 sentences that are each at least four words long. Please please do not use an English-Latin dictionary. You should have plenty of vocabulary from this week's reading to write your description!

• Samson in molis. What does Samson say to himself as he works grinding in the mill? What does he say about Delilah? The Philistines? His blindness? His hair? He's got a lot of time to think there in the mills. What do you think is going through his mind?
• Epitaphium. What would be the epitaph that Samson's brothers might write on his tomb? What would they say about his life? about his death? What would they want everybody to know about Samson and remember about his story?