Dan Conway
@magisterconway.bsky.social
Latin/French/IB/reluctant AP teacher. Sometimes tweets in Latin. Vergil fanboy. he/him
Reposted by Dan Conway
I'm not on here much, but I am so excited to share the cover of my forthcoming Catullus translation, featuring an amazing painting by Eduardo Mata Icasa (called "Nature of Emptiness"). As soon as I saw the painting, I knew no other work of art could more perfectly capture how I think about Catullus.
November 28, 2025 at 2:51 PM
I'm not on here much, but I am so excited to share the cover of my forthcoming Catullus translation, featuring an amazing painting by Eduardo Mata Icasa (called "Nature of Emptiness"). As soon as I saw the painting, I knew no other work of art could more perfectly capture how I think about Catullus.
Yes! Like how in the Talmud Vespasian was only wearing one shoe when he was told he would be emperor, and when he tried to get the other on, he found his feet had swollen up. But then a rabbi quoted Proverbs at him and got his feet to shrink back down.
More believable than some of Suetonius tbh
More believable than some of Suetonius tbh
November 26, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Yes! Like how in the Talmud Vespasian was only wearing one shoe when he was told he would be emperor, and when he tried to get the other on, he found his feet had swollen up. But then a rabbi quoted Proverbs at him and got his feet to shrink back down.
More believable than some of Suetonius tbh
More believable than some of Suetonius tbh
AP Latin people: "The Course and Exam Description is crystal clear: if something is not mentioned explicitly in there, it won't be on the test."
Me: "OK, so these things aren't mentioned in the CED. I assume they won't be on the test then?"
AP Latin people: "Oh no those could be on it"
Me: "OK, so these things aren't mentioned in the CED. I assume they won't be on the test then?"
AP Latin people: "Oh no those could be on it"
November 17, 2025 at 3:12 PM
AP Latin people: "The Course and Exam Description is crystal clear: if something is not mentioned explicitly in there, it won't be on the test."
Me: "OK, so these things aren't mentioned in the CED. I assume they won't be on the test then?"
AP Latin people: "Oh no those could be on it"
Me: "OK, so these things aren't mentioned in the CED. I assume they won't be on the test then?"
AP Latin people: "Oh no those could be on it"
Reading parts of Aeneid 7–12 for the first time. We'll see if nobody ever reads these books because the canon is a self-replicating cycle in which teachers, out of familiarity, teach the passages they learned themselves, or if nobody reads them because they're not very good
November 14, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reading parts of Aeneid 7–12 for the first time. We'll see if nobody ever reads these books because the canon is a self-replicating cycle in which teachers, out of familiarity, teach the passages they learned themselves, or if nobody reads them because they're not very good
AP Latin non sponte sequor
November 13, 2025 at 4:28 PM
AP Latin non sponte sequor
Would you call something that occurs 40% of the time "fairly rare"? Asking for reasons that are totally not just more kvetching about AP Latin
November 10, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Would you call something that occurs 40% of the time "fairly rare"? Asking for reasons that are totally not just more kvetching about AP Latin
AP Latin: "Our unseen passages are drawn from underrepresented and nonclassical authors! Isn't that cool?"
Also AP Latin: *doesn't give the authors for the unseen passages, so all students see is just Latin words floating in the ether*
Also AP Latin: *doesn't give the authors for the unseen passages, so all students see is just Latin words floating in the ether*
November 10, 2025 at 8:16 PM
AP Latin: "Our unseen passages are drawn from underrepresented and nonclassical authors! Isn't that cool?"
Also AP Latin: *doesn't give the authors for the unseen passages, so all students see is just Latin words floating in the ether*
Also AP Latin: *doesn't give the authors for the unseen passages, so all students see is just Latin words floating in the ether*
Reposted by Dan Conway
Laura Jenkinson-Brown’s "You are Odysseus"...sets out with a remarkable twist on how we engage with his story: what if we can intervene in some of his decisions? What if we can be author of a part of his tale?
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/11/09/m...
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/11/09/m...
Make Better Choices: You ARE Odysseus
Many of us read the Odyssey for the first time because it is part of a certain kind of cultural inheritance in the literary canon. But we remain engaged with it, I think, because the character’s fl…
sententiaeantiquae.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Laura Jenkinson-Brown’s "You are Odysseus"...sets out with a remarkable twist on how we engage with his story: what if we can intervene in some of his decisions? What if we can be author of a part of his tale?
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/11/09/m...
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/11/09/m...
talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility and picking up slack
Same vibes
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility and picking up slack
Same vibes
November 6, 2025 at 8:46 PM
talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility and picking up slack
Same vibes
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility and picking up slack
Same vibes
November 6, 2025 at 1:24 AM
The AP Latin teachers Facebook group is constantly complaining about how boring Pliny is. And I’m like, “You all read Caesar for years, and you’re calling PLINY boring???”
November 5, 2025 at 11:11 PM
The AP Latin teachers Facebook group is constantly complaining about how boring Pliny is. And I’m like, “You all read Caesar for years, and you’re calling PLINY boring???”
Reposted by Dan Conway
The book I have been waiting for! So many congrats to the amazing Kim Bowes on the publication day of _ Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent_ ⚒️💜 press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
November 4, 2025 at 11:36 PM
The book I have been waiting for! So many congrats to the amazing Kim Bowes on the publication day of _ Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent_ ⚒️💜 press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Mildly interesting: the French word “chalumeau” (blowtorch) isn’t related to “chaleur” or the other heat-related words, it comes from “calamus” (reed)
November 3, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Mildly interesting: the French word “chalumeau” (blowtorch) isn’t related to “chaleur” or the other heat-related words, it comes from “calamus” (reed)
Yesterday I sat through some PD about using AI to simplify texts. I tried it out and the results were... not fantastic
October 31, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Yesterday I sat through some PD about using AI to simplify texts. I tried it out and the results were... not fantastic
Normally I'm not a guy who insists on pedantic plurals for loanwords, but basing the English plural of "axolotl" on its Nahuatl plural "axolomeh" is really cool and I'm going to start doing it. Especially because I'm seeing a lot of axolomeh in kids' stuff recently, I think it's a trend
October 31, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Normally I'm not a guy who insists on pedantic plurals for loanwords, but basing the English plural of "axolotl" on its Nahuatl plural "axolomeh" is really cool and I'm going to start doing it. Especially because I'm seeing a lot of axolomeh in kids' stuff recently, I think it's a trend
Update: I’ve learned that the new syllabus doesn’t get into this level of detail, so all this hair-splitting is totally needless
The AP Latin Facebook group is like 70% anxious posts asking which use of the subjunctive Pliny is using, and I don’t enjoy it tbh
October 22, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Update: I’ve learned that the new syllabus doesn’t get into this level of detail, so all this hair-splitting is totally needless
Reposted by Dan Conway
In Catonem: Reject the Spirit of Cato
stanfordreview.org/in-catonem-r...
stanfordreview.org/in-catonem-r...
In Catonem: Reject the Spirit of Cato
Cato-worship is all the rage. For the indirectly eponymous Cato Institute, Cato the Younger is “an honest, wise, and prudent” defender of liberty. For other libertarians, he is “uncompromisingly hones...
stanfordreview.org
October 21, 2025 at 6:44 PM
In Catonem: Reject the Spirit of Cato
stanfordreview.org/in-catonem-r...
stanfordreview.org/in-catonem-r...
Nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare passurum
October 18, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare passurum
When I’m old, I can hope they call me “ille acriculus senex”
![ācrĭcŭlus , a, um,
I.adj. dim. [2. acer], somewhat sharp, testy: “ille acriculus senex Zeno,” Cic. Tusc. 3, 17, 38 (cf. acerbus, and the passage there quoted fr. Cic. N. D. 3, 31).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vpepa7tkir7iaia3risvyjc6/bafkreic2tbfj2onpz66zwhpry66z2vrsif3w7qlbmunb3yemdkyozx7ik4@jpeg)
October 17, 2025 at 12:20 AM
When I’m old, I can hope they call me “ille acriculus senex”
I asked the AP Latin Facebook group "Umm this is a lot of content, how can I possibly cover the syllabus texts and the teacher's choice material?" and the best response I got is "Just choose not to do the teacher's choice material" lol
October 15, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I asked the AP Latin Facebook group "Umm this is a lot of content, how can I possibly cover the syllabus texts and the teacher's choice material?" and the best response I got is "Just choose not to do the teacher's choice material" lol
Reposted by Dan Conway
Bit of self-promotion: I have published a commentary on a selection of Martial's epigrams, so if you are a Latin teacher/instructor...or a fan of having Latin grammar and rhetorical devices analyzed...feel free to check it out.
a.co/d/e1FBrHH
a.co/d/e1FBrHH
Where A Poet Might Rome: The Eternal City of Martial's Epigrams: Smith, Christopher: 9798269037523: Amazon.com: Books
Where A Poet Might Rome: The Eternal City of Martial's Epigrams [Smith, Christopher] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Where A Poet Might Rome: The Eternal City of Martial's Epigram...
a.co
October 13, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Bit of self-promotion: I have published a commentary on a selection of Martial's epigrams, so if you are a Latin teacher/instructor...or a fan of having Latin grammar and rhetorical devices analyzed...feel free to check it out.
a.co/d/e1FBrHH
a.co/d/e1FBrHH
There is not enough Japanese Tevye on Bluesky. So here is some Japanese Tevye. Please enjoy.
youtu.be/YpxHJsal7ao?...
youtu.be/YpxHJsal7ao?...
Fiddler On The Roof “L’Chaim ‘To Life!’” In Japanese.
YouTube video by Mat Cauthon
youtu.be
October 13, 2025 at 1:23 AM
There is not enough Japanese Tevye on Bluesky. So here is some Japanese Tevye. Please enjoy.
youtu.be/YpxHJsal7ao?...
youtu.be/YpxHJsal7ao?...
Mash faciunt cuncti—monstrorum mash videamus!
Cerne sepulcralem, vir mulierque, chorum!
Cerne sepulcralem, vir mulierque, chorum!
Thei did the Mash; thei did the Monstere Mash.
The Monstere Mash: beholde, sepulchral smash!
Thei did the Mash, and it kaughte on moost fast -
Hark, heare the Mash! Forsooth, the Monstere Mash!
The Monstere Mash: beholde, sepulchral smash!
Thei did the Mash, and it kaughte on moost fast -
Hark, heare the Mash! Forsooth, the Monstere Mash!
October 11, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Mash faciunt cuncti—monstrorum mash videamus!
Cerne sepulcralem, vir mulierque, chorum!
Cerne sepulcralem, vir mulierque, chorum!
Sure, you have anxiety, but did they write a monograph about your anxiety?
October 9, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Sure, you have anxiety, but did they write a monograph about your anxiety?