As you plan your summer reading, I hope that you will consider the pdfs above.

Sophocles’ Ajax and the Seneca volumes first appeared in print on April 26, 2025 with the expectation that they would appear in pdf format one year later. I am very grateful for those who decided to purchase physical copies or contribute to the website. Your support makes these free pdf copies possible. Thank you.

The Odyssey Book 5 commentary is a beta edition that will appear in print later this year. It has not been properly proofread, and so, if you bring corrections to my attention–no matter how large or small–I promise to revise the online pdf continuously until it appears as a 1st edition in print.

Now that the first year of the new AP syllabus is concluding and you have first-hand experience with the curriculum, what prose text (Teacher’s Choice) did you find works well with the required text from Pliny?

As I explained in an early post, College Pliny and Vergil contains all required readings for the AP syllabus but no teacher’s choice readings. I decided in the Summer of 2025 to add a second AP series with two volumes: (1) Vergil readings + Teacher’s choice in poetry and (2) Pliny readings + teacher’s choice prose.

College Vergil, 2nd edition now covers the Vergil’s readings + teacher’s choice (additional selections from Vergil). I plan to use this volume with my own students in Fall 2026 and use the free-standing Pliny volume in Spring 2027.

The plan is to include the same Pliny lessons from College Pliny and Vergil but add lessons for a a second prose author and completely redo the corresponding vocabulary and core vocabulary to include the 1000-word list (just as in College Vergil, 2nd edition). The pdf and ancillaries will be posted for free on this website.

What prose selections would you choose and why? (Does the difficulty of the Pliny readings affect your decision?)

Should the readings be added before, after, or in the middle of Pliny readings? The order of lessons matters.

Updates:

Suggestions so far have come in three forms: (1) letters from Pliny that complement the required readings, (2) selections from Caesar, and (3) letters of Cicero about the late republic.

The recommended letters from Pliny include among others 1.6 (Pliny, while hunting, writes to Tacitus), 4.9 (Pliny writes to Calpurnia’s aunt) to help fill out the letters about Calpurnia, and 10.96 and 10.97 (Pliny’s exchange with Trajan about the Christians).

Please feel free to respond in the comments or send me a private email with whatever is on your mind.

I highly value constructive criticism, and so, if you have a complaint, if there is a commentary that does not work well or, if there is an ancillary that is missing, I would very much appreciate your own insights. I do not bruise easily.

Update: Cicero’s De Officiis–all three books–will be available in the early summer 2026.

Update #2: Plato’s Apology and Livy AUC Book 1 are now available in hardback for 24.95 USD.

If you are trying to purchase the Herodotus Book 1 commentary, it is still available for 16.95 USD on Amazon here. Please use the link above or included elsewhere on my website.

No new paperback is more than 16.95 USD, and no hardback is more than 24.95 USD.

If you see prices higher than these on Amazon for new books, the seller is committing fraud. Just disregard that Amazon page and continue looking until you find the books at the correct price. Thank you.

College Vergil 2nd ed. is now available in pdf on this website.

College Vergil 2nd ed. (2025) has just been published in paperback and hardcover and is available in pdf on this website. College Pliny and Vergil (2023) is available in paperback, hardcover and as a pdf on this website. Both books are offered as a separate series for the 2025-26 AP Latin syllabus.

Below are the required readings for the AP Latin syllabus. Note that there are also required “Teacher’s Choice” readings (1350-word count for verse and 1650-word count for prose):

College Pliny and Vergil (2023) is designed for teachers and readers who want a single volume of required readings for Pliny and Vergil above but no teacher’s choice readings.

The new College Vergil 2e is designed to (1) cover the required readings for Vergil and the Teacher’s Choice for verse (additional selections in Vergil), (2) include a running list for College Board’s 1000-word list, and (3) give teachers the flexibility to choose which author (Pliny or Vergil) to read first.

The plan now is to offer a companion volume that draws the required AP readings for Pliny directly from College Pliny and Vergil but also includes teacher’s choice prose selections (1650-word count) in the same two-page lesson format.

Tentatively, the prose selections will include (1) the Helvetian Campaign (Book 1 1-9, 11-12, 28-29) and (2) Gallic customs on the Druids (Book 6.14), human sacrifice, and the gods (6.16-17.2). Such readings would just meet the 1650-word requirement and give teachers flexibility to add review or other readings.

Please visit the College Pliny and Vergil webpage or College Vergil 2e webpage on this website for ancillaries and more information.

After 15 years, I just added a donation button to the upper right corner of this site.

I have offered free pdf editions of the paperback editions since 2009, but as more and more secondary and university students use digital textbooks in the classroom, paperback sales have declined, and pdf downloads have increased many times over. Teachers often assign a pdf with or without a paperback, and individual readers like the convenience that comes from a digital copy.

I am determined to continue this series and offer the pdfs for free, but there has to be a viable economic model not only for me but for current and future authors who wish to offer both physical and digital copies of their work. I do not think putting the pdfs behind a paywall is the answer in my case.

If you purchased a paperback, thank you. I am compensated fairly, and there is no need to contribute.

But, if you are a teacher who assigns a pdf from this website but does not require students to buy the paperback, please consider a recurring donation ($10?) . And, if you are a reader who finds a commentary worthwhile but prefers to use the pdf, consider a small donation to support these efforts.

Thank you.