PRINCIPIA LATINA.-Part III.

AN

INTRODUCTION TO LATIN POETRY.

CONTAINING

I. EASY HEXAMETERS AND PENTAMETERS,

II. ECLOGAE OVIDIANAE.

III. LATIN PROSODY AND METRE.

IV. FIRST LATIN VERSE-BOOK.

For the Use of the Lower Forms in Public and Private Schools.

BY WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D.,

CLASSICAL EXAMINER IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

THIRD EDITION.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1865.

HARVARD

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

047*172

DR. WM. SMITH'S LATIN COURSE.

(This Series is now complete.)

PRINCIPIA LATINA, PART I. A FIRST COURSE. Con-

taining a GRAMMAR, DELECTUS, EXERCISE-BOOK, and VOCABULARIES.

12mo. Eighth Edition, with a Short Syntax. 3s. 6d.

PRINCIPIA LATINA, PART II. A READING-BOOK. Con-

taining Fables, Anecdotes, Mythology, Roman Antiquities, and History.

"With Notes and a Dictionary. Fourth Edition, with a New and Improved

Dictionary. 12mo. 38. 6d.

PRINCIPIA LATINA, PART III. A POETRY-Book. Con-

taining-1. Easy Hexameters and Pentameters. 2. Eclogae Ovidianae.

3. Prosody and Metre. 4. First Latin Verse-Book. Third Edition.

12mo. 3s. 6d.

PRINCIPIA LATINA, PART IV.

PROSE COMPOSITION.
Containing a Systematic Course of Exercises on the Syntax, with the
principal Rules of Syntax, Explanations of Synonyms, and an English-
Latin Vocabulary to the Exercises. Third Edition. 12mo. 3s. 6d.

DR. WM. SMITH'S GREEK COURSE.

INITIA GRECA:-AN INTRODUCTION TO GREEK. Con-
taining a Grammar, Delectus, Exercise-Book, and Vocabularies. 12mo.
3s. 6d. On the same plan as DR. SMITH'S PRINCIPIA LATINA.

LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,

AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.

THE following Work is the Third of a short Series which I

have undertaken with the view of facilitating the study of

the Latin Language. It contains a Poetical Reading-Book

suitable for Beginners, the chief laws of Latin Prosody,

with an explanation of the structure of the Hexameter and

Pentameter Verse, and a First Latin Verse-Book. It thus

presents, in a single volume of moderate size, subjects

usually distributed over two or more separate works; and

there. can be little doubt that a pupil who has mastered

the book will have been well grounded in Latin verse, and

will thus be able to enter upon the study of Virgil and

Ovid with greater advantage than if he had attempted to

read those authors without a similar preparatory training.

The Poetical Extracts are taken from the Tirocinium

Poeticum' of Siebelis-a work extensively read in the

German Gymnasia, and which has gone through several

editions. They are arranged in a systematic progression;

and care has been taken, in the selection of passages, that

the matter should be suitable for boys, and free from any

special difficulty; while the Notes give such explanations

as the pupil will be likely to require in the preparation of

his lessons. Appended to the Eclogae Ovidianae are some

verses on the difference of quantity and meaning in cer-

tain words, as well as upon other subjects, which the pupil

should commit to memory.

The plan of the First Latin Verse-Book, which is taken

from Seyffert's excellent work on the same subject, will be

sufficiently understood by a list of its contents. The

Exercises, like the Poetical Extracts, are so arranged as

gradually to train the pupil in Latin Versification; and it

is believed that a boy who has gone through these Exer-

cises will be able to enter at once upon original composition

in Verse.

January 1st, 1863.

W. S..

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