Who WAS the last person to get excommunicated? How often does it happen these days?

A concrete wall covered in graffiti, some of which says "The wall will fall." On the left is a green tree, and in front of it is a wire fence with some crosses on it.

Today on the blog, Michael Taylor kicks off a new series spotlighting TAPA articles with his take on Duncan MacRae's "Capitoline Futures: The Location of Roman Futurity."

classicalstudies.org/scs-blog/mik...

I think, and hope, that this is is all hot air, as usual.

Also, I'm getting some pretty strong Croesus at the Oracle of Delphi vibes. After all, he didn't say *which* whole civilization it would be.

As a kid, I thought I wanted to be a truck driver when I grew up because I loved long car trips. It's only as an adult that I realized that I loved the long car trips *because I spent the whole time reading*

It blows my mind that kindergarten teachers are able to get ANYTHING done.

So, my wife went to the kids' elementary school for "career day" today to talk about being a lawyer. I just got this message:

👀

"I'm sorry, you're right. It does not make sense to accelerate these engines as we point directly at the" [explosion]

Today I'm making good progress on my to-do list.

Which I made yesterday.

And largely consists of things that should have been done last week.

👀

That is a huge bummer.

My newest reading accoutrement: A HAMMOCK

Hiding in plain sight: two (?) new women poets from 1589 Seven or eight years ago I was reading in the British Library a collection of strongly Protestant Latin verse published probably in Germany in 1589, dedicated to the English poet and diplomat Daniel R...

Some new Latin poetry by women (or possibly one woman using two names). Hot off the press!

My kids are old enough to play ball now, and my dad gave me his old glove (from the mid-60s). Just got it relaced.

"invito quidem Mercurio sed propitia Minerva"

Are there any scholarly publishing houses looking for a motto? (this is from the preface of Hilberg's 1918 edition of Jerome's letters)

For similar quality, I would offer "Go on" at a bargain price of 14 million.

Ack! I've been mailing them to former ambassador to the UN Samantha Power!

Message on a google doc reading: "You've reached the document limit for comments."

I'll tell you when I've had enough!!!!!!!

I LOVE the Angelica!

Not exactly the same thing, but I definitely remember pronouncing Wilamowitz with the Ws as English Ws and the "a" like in "ham."

How To Write A Nonfiction Book Proposal, July 6-17 In this course, I will walk you through a series of short assignments to help you focus your idea and teach you the basics of non-fiction trade...

lighting the bat signal for my summer book proposal course ↗️

I wrote up a short thing on tiered readers. If you teach Latin and haven't encountered them, they're a new kind of edition that helps students make the jump from basic grammar to unadapted Latin.

Yeah, I've found the DMLBS to be a real life-line here at times.

Cassiodorus is so weird-- in vocabulary but also in phrasing. It's hard to put my finger on, but it's just kind of... vague. (Though maybe this is just because of my ignorance of the period)

Idk, that actually looks kind of good!

What would be the best Latin dictionary for reading an author like Cassiodorus? He seems a little late for Lewis and Short, but a little early for most medieval Latin dictionaries?

Great to see this positive review of a tiered reader.

Tiered readers are a new concept for teaching Latin, and I've definitely seen reviews where the reviewer seems to have completely misunderstood them.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Made-up cover of a red Loeb Classical Library volume titled Latin Antarctic Literature, edited and translated by Ernest Shackleton Bailey.

Yes we can(nae)!

Sure, today is pi day. But it's not actually pi *minute* until 1:59.

Cover of the Pliny reader: 18th-century painting of an allegory of Fame. Text reads "Pliny the Younger: Epistulae 7.20, 9.3, 9.23, 9.36, with notes by Dan Conway"

As some of you know, I've made student readers for some of the IB Companion Texts. I have a new one out now: Pliny the Younger's daily routine and other musings about fame!

Like all my readers, this is FREE TO USE as you wish!

magisterconway.blogspot.com/2026/03/plin...