Latin Prose Reading Competition Winner
Congratulations to Shehryar Raza (Year 10) who has won first prize in the Cambridge Classical Association Intermediate Latin Prose Reading Competition (online category) for his rendition of a piece of Eutropius (fl. AD 363–387) describing the Emperor Trajan (AD 53–117).
You can listen to this via the following link:
Muhammad Shehryar Raza SAINT OLAVES GRAMMAR.m4a
The historian Eutropius presents a glowing picture of the Emperor Trajan.
post Nervae mortem, Traianus, in Hispania natus, imperator factus est. hic rem publicam sapienter fortiterque custodivit. gentes trans Rhenum et trans Danubium oppressit et Daciam imperio Romano addidit; Romae in novo foro aedificato columnam altam posuit ut hanc victoriam celebraret. in oriente quoque tres novas terras imperio addidit. sed Traianus semper humilis manebat. et Romae et per imperium ostendit se omnibus aequalem esse. saepe amicos veteres visitbat, saepe cenas simplices consumebat. nihil crudele, nihil malum egit. inter alia a Traiano dicta, hoc clarissimum fuit: olim amicis rogantibus cur tam communis omnibus esset, respondit se talem esse qualem ipse civis imperatorem esse voluisset. adeo a civibus senatoribusque amatus est ut mortuus et deus faceretur et, solus omnium imperatorum, intra urbem sepeliretur.
After the death of Nerva, Trajan, who had been born in Spain, was made emperor. This man protected the republic wisely and bravely. He suppressed the peoples across the Rhine and the Danube and added Dacia to the Roman empire; at Rome, in the newly built forum, he set up a high column to celebrate this victory. In the East also he added three new lands to the empire. But Trajan always remained humble. Both at Rome and throughout the empire he showed that he was equal to everyone. He often used to visit his old friends, he often ate simple meals. He did nothing cruel and nothing bad. Among other things said by Trajan, this is the clearest: once, when his friends were asking why he was so friendly with everyone, he replied that he wanted to be such an emperor as he himself had wanted when he was a citizen. He was loved so much by the citizens and senators that when he was dead he was made a god, and, alone of all the emperors, was buried within the city.
