Colloquia Monacensia

A dialogue about going to school, from the "Colloquia Monacensia," edited by G. Goetz in the Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum, vol. 3 [Leipzig: Teubner 1892] pp. 644-654, trans. adapted from Joanne Shelton, As the Roman Did, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) 108-109. The text is medieval, with elements going back to the 3rd c. AD.

Ante lucem vigilavi de somno;

I awoke before dawn;

surrexi de lecto, sedi, accepi pedules, caligas; calciavi me.

I arose from my bed, I sat down and took my socks and shoes. I put them on.

poposci aquam ad faciem;

I asked for water for my face;

lavo primo manus, deinde faciem lavi; extersi;

First I wash my hands, then I washed my face; I dried off;

deposui dormitoriam; accepi tunicam ad corpus;

I took off my sleeping clothes; I received the tunic for my body;

praecinxi me; unxi caput meum et pectinavi;

I put on my belt; I anointed my head and combed my hair;

feci circa collum pallam; indui me superariam albam;

I put my coak around my neck; I put on my

processi de cubiculo cum paedagogo et cum nutrice salutare patrem et matrem;

I left my bedroom with my tutor and my nurse to say good morning to my father and mother.

ambos salutavi et osculatus sum; et sic descendi de domo.

I said good morning to both and kissed them; and thus I left the house.

Eo in scholam. introivi, dixi: Ave magister, et ipse me osculatus est, et resalutavit.

I go to school. I entered and said: "Greetings, master," and he himself kissed me, and greeted me in return.

porrexit mihi puer meus scrinarius tabulas, thecam graphariam, praeductorium.

The slave who holds my books handed me my tablet, my stylus box, my

loco meo sedens deleo. praeduco ad praescriptum;

sitting in my seat I erase. I copy a set text;

ut scripsi, ostendo magistro; emendavit, induxit;

When I have written, I show it to the teacher; he corrects it,

iubet me legere. iussus alio dedi.

He orders me to read. Having been ordered, I gave it to another.