Lectiones Antiquae
Ἐν γράμμασι καλόν
Who am I?
My name is Giovani Marchi Frizarin, and I am from São Paulo, Brazil.
My first contact with Latin and Ancient Greek was at 15 years old, when I read Schopenhauer's book The Art of Writing. After finishing it, I was in love with these languages already.
At first, I did not understand its importance. Schopenhauer said that they were much better tools in the inquiry of the things of the soul and the nature of reality. Such statements lied far from my 15 years old mind's grasp.
Now I am convinced that one of the best decisions I ever took. Even though the pursuit of wisdom does not relie on a language alone, they have been its instruments and my fellow companions in this journey. I started 12 years ago, and intend to cultivate it until I die. Forsan aliquando sapiam!
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Today, my work is to help others get where I got. After all these years, Latin has become quite familiar to me. I don't feel to be reading in another language anymore. The Romans, the Fathers of the Church, medieval scholars, Renaissance authors and even more recent intellectuals have become my friends. I don't agree with some of what they say, and sometimes they express themselves in a very obscure way—sometimes!—, but their words come to my mind as if I was reading a Brazilian writer, or a letter from a friend. The heavens have paid those hours of study without end, and now all I want is to help more and more people become able of the same. I am always learning though, so consider me a veteran fellow student too, not only a teacher.
Lectiones Antiquae
Lectiones Antiquae began as the idea of turning ancient writings into audiobooks, so that people could practice their listening and, by extension, imediate comprehension skills in Latin and Ancient Greek.
One should not underestimate the power of exposing oneself to great authors again and again: our minds become familiar with their way of expression, become much more sensitive to differences and nuances of style, and are purified from bad influences present in our cultural environments. By imitating them, either in their language our in our own, and either consciously or unconsciously, we discover our own style until balance and maturity is found.
As new doors are opened and new heights present themselves as possible, I will expand this project into Sanskrit, Coptic, Arabic and Hebrew literatures.
