Ritchie's Fabulae Faciles

Hercules Fighting the Nemean Lion - Rubens

These four stories were first published by Francis Ritchie in 1884 as Fabulae Faciles: A First Latin Reader. The text here is taken from John Kirkland's 1903 revision. I have separated this text into the four separate stories and attached a vocabulary list and commentary for each facing page. Ritchie's idea was to present a series of engaging stories of increasing difficulty that would bridge the gap between text book Latin and Caesar's Gallic Wars. Therefore much of the vocabulary and very many idioms and constructions exactly match Caesar's. Ritchie succeeded in creating engaging stories; however, only that rare gifted student can proceed directly from the Ulysses to reading Caesar on his own. Nevertheless, these stories provide a marvelous way of introducing students to extended Latin passages.

Notes on the Stories:

1. Perseus assumes a complete knowledge of indicative verbs, nouns, and adjectives. There are no examples of the subjunctive, participles, or indirect statement.

2. Hercules follows Perseus and begins to integrate the subjunctive about half way through. There are still no participles or indirect statement.

3. The Argonauts assumes familiarity with Perseus and Hercules and adds participles and indirect statement from the first chapter.

4. Ulysses, including all the grammar from The Argonauts, presents more complex sentences that more nearly approximate Julius Caesar's.



The Commentaries

Important: These commentaries are meant to be used in conjunction with The 200. A list of the two hundred most common Latin words as found at the Dickinson College Commentaries.

Francis Ritchie's Perseus

Francis Ritchie's Hercules - Translation Text
Francis Ritchie's Hercules - Commentary

Francis Ritchie's The Argonauts

Francis Ritchie's Ulysses