MY HIGH SCHOOL DISEASE

This is going to be about my feverish disease about the language spoken by the ancient Romans several centuries ago and in the Catholic empire (the Vatican) still today. My high school was a “scientific Liceo” where – still today – the focus in on advanced math, physics, chemistry technical drawing and one foreign language (German for me).

However a pretty solid Italian literature, Latin, history and philosophy are part of the basic curriculum to earn the graduation (maturità) at the end of the 5 years of (intense) studies.

Our teachers – professors to be exact – used to be pretty high level for an Italian college, fact is that this college (Liceo) has a very long and prestigious history and those who graduate there can usually make a difference both if work is the chosen option or if going to any university in the country (among the first ones in EU).

My Italian literature professor used to write books, usually published BUT in a very specific field, that cannot generate a vast audience, in fact his books were all about the “infiltration” of the German, French, Slovenian and Latin in the dialect (slang) used in Verona, Veronese.

This man – professor Bondardo – had an incredible knowledge of all that surrounded – historically and economically – the writers we were learning about (i.e. Manzoni, Macchiavelli, D. Alighieri, Petrarca, Montale etc. etc.) with a specific passion for the writers of ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, Virgil, Seneca etc.

To this day – about 40 years later – I clearly remember prof. Bondardo explaining that what Caesar did with his “De bello Gallico” and with the several other commentaries of wars he was part of, from the way this prof. explained it, I became convinced that since Caesar all the war reports were all done following Caesar’s example. I have it still very clear in my mind (watch Youtube) the very different words position of the beginning of the “De bello Gallico” - Gallia est omnia divisa in tres partes – instead of – Gallia divisa est omnia in partes tres – that my dad always said whenever we were talking about my studies, specifically Ancient Romans or Latin.

One time my mother met with prof. Bondardo during a parent-teacher event and she still tells me what Bondardo had said of me “Carlo is so smart and focused that I wouldn’t be surprised if in his future he’ll become a journalist for the New York Times”……… NO comment.

1. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar
2. http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub369/item2066.html
3. https://blogs.transparent.com/latin/25-latin-phrases-every-student-should-know/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentarii_de_Bello_Gallico
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_ancient_Rome