On Tuesday 3 March, eight students from the Fifth Form and Lower Sixth travelled to Bryanston School to take part in the annual Latin and Greek Reading Competition. The event was judged by the distinguished classical linguist Tristan Franklinos of Wolfson College, Oxford, and the organisers were particularly pleased to see St Mary’s Calne so strongly represented, with entries across four different categories.
It was a pleasure to spend the afternoon immersed in the spoken performance of classical literature, texts that the Greeks and Romans themselves would most often have experienced aloud rather than on the page. The judge’s feedback was both thoughtful and insightful, highlighting the delicate balance performers must strike between preserving the rhythm and metre of Greek and Latin poetry while also conveying its meaning clearly and expressively.
Our students brought a remarkable range of classical voices to life. Among the pieces performed were Hector’s moving appeal to Andromache as he explains why he cannot turn away from the battlefield; Cicero’s sharp and spirited dismantling of the prosecution’s case as he defends Caelius; and two contrasting selections from Ovid. One captured Ariadne’s impassioned lament to Theseus after he abandons her despite her help in defeating the Minotaur, while the other, taken from The Art of Love, offered the poet’s rather tongue-in-cheek advice on how to find a girlfriend at the chariot races.
All of the girls performed superbly and represented both themselves and the Classics department with great distinction. Particular congratulations go to Heidi A (UV), who won the Intermediate Greek category; Myra Z (LVI), who achieved second place in the Senior Latin Prose category; and Jemima J (LV), who was awarded third place for her reading taken from Ovid’s Heroides.
Mrs Lucy Weeden
Head of Classics
