In Medea et Peregrinus Pulcherrimus: a Latin Novella, Medea dreams that a handsome stranger will soon arrive to Colchis, her home. Her dream, however, lacks critical details. What does this stranger want and how far is he willing to go to achieve it? Is he peaceful or are his 50 companions as dangerous as they seem? As her father King Aeetes ponders these questions, Medea falls desperately in love with the handsome stranger, Jason, and aids him in his quest to capture the Golden Fleece. But is protecting Jason a betrayal of her family and her country? How far will Medea go to protect the people she loves? Where will love ultimately bring Medea?
Medea et Peregrinus Pulcherrimus: a Latin Novella is intended for intermediate Latin students. This novella may also be appropriate at other levels depending on the students’ years of study and intended use.
This novella is available for $11.50 on Amazon or available in discounted set through Bombax Press’s store.
About the Plot of Medea et Peregrinus Pulcherrimus: A Latin Novella
The plot of Medea et Peregrinus Pulcherrimus is adapted from the various myths associated with Jason and the Argonauts. This is not, however, a story about Jason and his travels so much as a story about Medea. The tale is set from her perspective and so we witness Medea’s, King Aeetes’, and Absyrtus’ reactions to Jason’s arrival at Colchis. The story begins with Medea praying because she has dreamed that Jason would come, and the novella’s climax occurs as Medea and Jason’s escape from Colchis with the golden fleece and Medea must confront her brother Absyrtus on the Argo. Medea’s choices are stark and heartbreaking as she is torn between her love for her family and her love for Jason.
You may review the first chapter of Medea et Peregrinus Pulcherrimus: A Latin Novella here.
About the Vocabulary and Grammar
The vocabulary is intentionally sheltered to allow for more extensive and independent reading. The novella contains 7,500 words, and it uses only 237 total unique words. Of those words, some are clear cognates, names, or glossed words that were essential to the story but appeared fewer than ten times. When those words are removed from the 237 words that constitute the novella’s 7,500 word length, a student would need a strong working vocabulary of 160 words to read this text. In addition, careful attention was paid to the frequency that words appear in Latin literature. When choosing between synonyms, for example, the more common word was chosen. I am also careful about what I consider to be a cognate and choose only words that I consider to be especially clear and in most students’ English vocabulary. After all, it doesn’t matter if a word is a clear cognate if it’s not in a typical student’s vocabulary.
Unlike the vocabulary, the grammar in this novella is not sheltered. This story is set in the past, and students will encounter an abundance of verbs in the imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect tenses. The novella, though, is rich with dialogue, so readers will also encounter a significant amount of the future and present tenses as well. Verbs in the subjunctive do appear frequently, particularly with indirect questions. In addition, students will encounter indirect statement, participles, and gerunds to express purpose.
About the Artwork
The cover of Medea et Peregrinus Pulcherrimus: a Latin Novella is a photograph taken by my neighbor, Linda Renaud, whose nature photography and watercolor wax batik artwork can be found at www.lindarenaud.net. Inside the book, the artwork is all in the public domain in the United States and the country of origin. Medea and the story of Jason and the Argonauts has inspired numerous artists through the centuries. Some of these public-domain images do contain nudity given the time in which they were created, and none would be out of place in a museum. In fact, many are in museums. Each image is accompanied with a small caption in Latin, and a bibliography with URLs is available to those who would like to incorporate the images into their lessons.
opnamedatum: 2017-09-21 
Christen Koebke (1810-1848), Medea med svaerdet i haanden, hel figur, About 1840
About the Text Features of Medea et Peregrinus Pulcherrimus
In addition to an engaging tale with sheltered vocabulary, Medea et Peregrinus Pulcherrimus has a full index of word forms. In the index, the reader can look up all unknown words. Verbs are listed separately, so a reader could independently look up both tulisset and fer without knowing the dictionary entry of the word. The index provides a general translation of the word that is grammatically appropriate and would fit the context of the sentence. This text also contains a dictionary. This dictionary offers all the principal parts. The dictionary notes how frequently the words appear in Latin Literature according to the Core Latin Vocabulary or Essential Latin vocabulary.
If you would like to review the vocabulary used in Medea et Peregrinus Pulcherrimus, the dictionary is available here.
