The 2023 meeting of the DCC Editorial Board centered around the creation of a wish list of texts that you, the discerning and valued DCC user, would like to see on the site. Quite a bit, including all of Eutropius, is in the pipeline. To get you thinking, here are some of the ideas we discussed. Please add your own thoughts in the comments here, send them to the DCC email account, (dickinsoncommentaries at gmail.com), or contact us via Twitter (@DCComm) or Facebook.
We began with the evident need for second-year Greek texts that are easier to read than, say, Plato. The lack of such texts results in much frustration at the lower intermediate level.
- Aesop’s fables.
- Selections from Apollodorus’ Library for the high-interest mythological content and the abundance of participles.
- Short and self-contained mythological narratives to be found in the Greek scholia. Much of the Homer and Euripides scholia are already online.
On the Latin side, much interesting Neo-Latin is right there for the editing:
- Rusticatio Mexicana as an excellent text both for its vivid descriptions of Mexico and because it is the first source for certain Native American legends.
- Sepulveda’s De Orbe Novo treats its subject in excellent Latin.
- Latin by women: the phenomenal Elizabeth Jane Weston, et aliae
- Latin translations of Greek classics, many of which exist in high quality early modern translations. Erasmus, for example, made verse translations of Greek tragedies that are excellent.
- Bilingual Latin editions of the Chinese classics, or the Koran.
We’re all for expanding the canon, but site analytics show that canonical authors are the most popular. What about:
- More Vergil. All of the Aeneid? Eclogues and Georgics? (Some are in the pipeline)
- Some Plato. He’s as relevant as ever, but we have none. There are many public domain editions from which to draw notes.
- Catullus. Some have found that even Garrison’s student-friendly edition does not provide enough help.
By far the most popular part of the site is not the commentaries but the reference works, like the core vocabularies, and above all Allen & Greenough’s Latin Grammar, which gets about 40% of our traffic. Should we go for more higher quality re-packaging of hard-to-use Perseus content, like
- Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
- Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
- Goodwin’s Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb
Please do send us your thoughts, and when the time is right I will report back with the results in this space. There’s no telling what we will actually have the ability to produce, but with so many options, it will be very helpful indeed to have your suggestions.
Attendees of the 2023 DCC editorial board meeting.
For Greek post rank newbies, have you considered Palaephatus’ Peri Apiston? Amusing and not difficult. I have used some of these when teaching Greek at the Villanova Children’s Classics program.
For Latin, I love Erasmus Colloquia. He’s got some really fun dialogues and the Latin shimmers!
Ix-nay on translations of Greek texts to Latin. I’ve only read the fake Homer, and it was simply awful drek. My two asses.
Thank you so much, Faye, these are excellent suggestions!
Faye, since this post, Peri Apiston is in the works. Stay tuned!
Appreciate the call for more diverse representations in the canon, like works by women and Neo-Latin texts. Including texts such as Rusticatio Mexicana and contributions from figures like Elizabeth Jane Weston can broaden students’ perspectives and enrich their understanding of Latin literature.