A love story …

… Learning Latin by Joseph Epstein | Articles | First Things. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The love of Latin in my case is in good part love for the precision of the language. One cannot guess at the meanings of Latin words, but must know their meanings by their inflections, tenses, genders. The virtue of Latin being a dead language is that the meanings of its words do not change in the way that words in contemporary languages do. No Roman, after all, ever said that at the end of the day he was weaponizing multiple existential threats to ensure a level playing field.

I had three years of Latin high school, and one in college (or was it two?). I passed the tests, but never mastered the language. Lately I have been using Duolingo to get reacquainted with it.