Ioannes - Introduction

salvete! χαίρετε! nomen mihi est Ioannes (Anglice=John), sive Magister Burghesius. Not a name you see a whole lot in Latin, though it is in the motto of Puerto Rico.

It is more than a honor and a privilege to teach at GLA this summer. It is my first year with the team, but the fama of the program reached me long before I knew I would ever live in Virginia. One of my best friends in college still likes to chant rem tene! verba sequentur!, the 2014 motto. My five years of teaching have had a number of pleasant surprises, but it is still crazy to me that I'll heading from Fairfax County to Ashland, centrum (umbilicus?) mundi, in just a few weeks.

In addition to GLA, other things I'm looking forward this summer include attending a spoken Latin workshop in Charles Town, WV, and managing my fantasy baseball team, the Worcester Worcesters, a franchise I resurrected from the nineteenth century. Last year's commissioner quit, and I was the only one who stepped up to be the league's imperator. Because there are only six teams, and I didn't want the rostered players to consist only of all-stars, I limited the pool to National League players, though my favorite team, the Boston Red Sox, is in the American League. My tenure has not been a very accomplished one, but at least no one has commented on the message board saying capax imperii nisi imperasset.

My course is based on Lucian of Samosata's Verae Historiae, a novella that, despite its name, is filled with lies. In the end, he says that there will be sequels, which naturally turns out to be yet another falsehood. Or is it? Others could come along, call themselves Lucian, and pick up where the author left off. Is it really dishonest if lying is the foundation of the book? For all we know, the Homer who wrote the Odyssey might have done the same thing.

​I look forward to meeting you all. Good luck with finals!

Si valetis, valeo.
John Burgess

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