Salvete Discipuli

     “Salvete Discipuli” - this was the greeting we received every morning at the start of Latin I class – it means “good health Students” - and we responded “Et tu Magistra, salve!” which is “and you, Teacher, good health!” I forgot this when writing the post about Latin I and then remembered when reflecting on Latin II and III.

        Miss Collins was my teacher for high school Latin. She was not very tall and we loved to tease her – thus there was barely control of the class. And Miss Collins did not teach in a way that I was used to – she spent a lot of time telling the mythology stories – not only the ones about the Trojan War and all its players – Helen, Paris, Agamemnon, Cassandra, Electra, but also the story of Atalanta and the Golden Apples, about Medusa, Romulus and Remus, Medea, the underworld.

       The stories were so plentiful that I worried we were not learning enough Latin – and the Latin II final exam was a state regents test – we would have to learn as much as the rest of the New York State Latin II students. There would be the battles of Julius Caesar on the final, but not the mythology.

       Somehow, though, we did learn – and again, what I myself learned was a whole lot of English – the passive and active tenses, subjunctive - all news to me! – I started writing in English, sentences that began with the word lest. I memorized how to spell colonel and lieutenant because it was easier when doing translations of Julius Caesar to just write the words correctly than worry about looking them up in the dictionary afterward each time for spelling.

        Miss Collins said she would buy dinner for anyone who got above a 90% on the regents final! She believed in us even when I was not so sure.

       The next September, at the beginning of Latin III, four or five of us went to an Italian restaurant in downtown Buffalo, and Miss Collins treated us to dinner – I can't remember the name of the place now – but it was lovely.

        Lest I seem like an ingrate after all this time, I would like to now state unequivocally that I am indebted to Miss Collins for the stories, the new English skills and the old Latin.

        Et tu Magistra, salve!

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