Read A thrilling story
Pugio Bruti — A Crime Story in Easy Latin revolves around Terentia, whose father dies and leaves her with a dagger. The dagger holds a secret which drags the young woman out into the streets of Rome, fighting for the legacy of her father and for her own future.
Paperback & Ebook
Internalize the language: few words and high repetition.
Written in a classical style.
Read without a dictionary:Full Latin-English vocabulary.
Audiobook
Practice instant understanding.
Learn the restored classical pronunciation.
Listen to Latin anywhere and everywhere on the go.
Online course
Discover the book with video lessons in Latin.
Practice your understanding with quizzes.
Master the book with dialogues.
more than a book
- Understand without translating: A compelling story in Latin.
- Internalize the language: Small vocabulary with high repetition.
- Get used to the style of ancient authors: a Classical style.
- Read without a dictionary: Full Latin-English vocabulary.
- Immersive resources: Audiobook, E‑book, video course, dialogues.
“Optime! As usual Daniel Pettersson has done an excellent work! Highly, highly recommended along with the hard copy itself, all available at Latinitium.com.”
—Michael McMahon
“I have been looking for a Latin audiobook to improve my Latin speaking and listening. This book is excellent alongside the e‑book to read along and aid understanding, or to listen to alone for an extra comprehension challenge. I wish there were more Latin audiobooks available — make more please!”
—Rachel Plummer
Pugio Bruti
Preview book
If you want to get an idea of the level and style of the Latin, click below to dive right in to Pugio Bruti – A Crime Story in Easy Latin.
Understand it
“What can I read in Latin?” This is a common question. A crucial component of learning Latin is to read a lot of level appropriate, compelling texts. For Latin students and teachers such books can be hard to come by. Luckily, now we have Pugio Bruti!
This Latin novella is an enjoyable page-turner while also study companion to the learner and teacher.
The unique word count is less than 350 words, giving you easy Latin without compromising the exciting story. It is written as true to classical Latin as possible, while still being an accessible book to learners of Latin.
“Pure classical Latin, optimal rate. Best pronunciation I have ever heard. Recording of good quality. ”
—Richard Nagy
Listen to Pugio Bruti
If you want twice as much fun—and twice as much Latin!—there is also a studio recording of the novella available, with a runtime of 102 minutes.
With the audiobook, you can practice your listening comprehension, read along, or listen for the pure enjoyment of listening to a good story in Latin.
Audiobook
Preview chapter
Click on the player below to preview the first chapter from the audiobook of Pugio Bruti – A Crime Story in Easy Latin.
Unique words
Pages
Dagger
- Easy Classical Latin.
- Grammar is not sheltered
- Macrons on long vowels.
- Full Latin-English vocabulary.
- Stylistic features, phraseology and dialogue patterns from Plautus, Terentius and Petronius.
- 20 original illustrations.
- “Easter-egg” references to classical literature, such as famous phrases.
- Historically authentic context.
- Compelling, exciting story.
- Less than 350 unique word count.
“I also bought the online course. Both are worth every cent if one wants to learn Latin as a living language.”
—Petra Axolotl
Take the video course
So that you can get as much Latin as possible from Pugio Bruti, a course to accompany the book is available online.
- Video lessons in Latin
- Detailed grammatical commentary
- Quizzes and exercises
Pugio Bruti
Course overview
INPUT AND PRACTICE
- 29 video classroom lessons where Daniel Pettersson teaches each chapter in Latin.
- 10 Video summaries in Latin
- Extra reading material: 10 New dialogues to enrich the story.
- Reading and listening comprehension quizzes in Latin
- Recordings and translations of passages from
- Roman authors on topics connected to Pugio Bruti.
- Crossword puzzles
UNDERSTANDING
- Detailed commentaries in English for every chapter explaining lexical, morphological and syntactical aspects.
- History lessons to deepen the understanding of the historical context of Pugio Bruti.
- Study tips
- Full Latin-English Glossary of every word form in the book
- Supplemental teacher materials
Meet the characters
Terentia
This is Terentia. She is a young Roman woman who has just lost her father. He left her something on his deathbed though, something that drags her out on a search through the streets of Augustan Rome.
Clodius
This is Quintus Clodius Crescens. Clodius, for he goes by that name, is very good at finding things. Or rather; he is good at finding other people’s things, not his own. A word to the wise though — he likes wine, lots of it.
Ursula
This is Ursula. She is a slave in the household of Quintus Clodius Crescens. Actually, she is the slave of his household, the only slave. She’s a small, very brusque woman, but she has a warm heart (something she would never admit).
Oeneus
This is Oeneus. He’s the inn-keeper of the inn called “Asina” in rome. It is not a very fine establishment, but he’s got plenty of customers. Lately, it seems to him, that many of them seem to be looking for something. Lucky for him, some of them are willing to pay for information.
Free extra resources
When you read or listen to Pugio Bruti there is a wealth of additional resources in the video course such as videos in Latin, dialogues, and exercises.
There are also many free resources you can use, such as glossaries of Latin idioms and wordforms.
Pugio bruti in the Classroom
Pugio Bruti is used by many schools both as a textbook, and as additional reading.
If you wish to use it with your class, or your school, please do! It is written with that purpose in mind. The Online Course will also minimize preparation time for teaching using Pugio Bruti.
For school discounts (over 10 copies) contact us at [email protected].
“Multō post Terentia sonitū excitāta est; ad hunc sonitum oculōs aperuit. Circumspexit. In conclāvī obscūrō et tacitō erat. Nihil in tantīs tenebrīs vidēre poterat. Nōn placēbat; sciēbat enim Rōmam perīculōsam esse. Sīc pater dīxerat.
Nōn sōlem, nōn viam hominum plēnam, tenebrās sōlās ante sē iam vidēbat. Nōn placēbat.”
Pugio Bruti, p. 24
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get the book?
Pugio Bruti is available in our store
Is there an English translation for Pugio Bruti?
No, but in the book there is a full glossary list, and on the resource page there is a wordform glossary, which can be used to look up any form in the book and get an approximate translation in English. If you have the Pugio Bruti online course, there are also extensive notes on grammar and usage for each chapter. This will greatly help with understanding both the text itself, and the particularities of style and grammar.
Can I get the book from Amazon?
Not at the moment. You can get Pugio Bruti from our store.
Is there an audiobook version of Pugio Bruti?
Yes! There is a professional studio recording of the entire Latin text of Pugio Bruti. It’s available as a digital download here.
Is Pugio Bruti suitable for autodidacts wanting to improve their Latin?
Yes! It’s a perfect book for extensive reading: the full Latin–English vocabulary make Pugio Bruti very accessible for learning on your own. If you’re unsure about the level, be sure to read the first chapter above.
There is an online-course planned for the book as well, that will help you go through vocabulary, grammar, reading and listening comprehension, and history. The course will be available in early 2019.
How large is the vocabulary?
The vocabulary is approximately 350 unique words, with a high level of repetition.
Is the grammar sheltered?
The grammar is not sheltered. The full range of Latin grammar is used. However, sentences are not too long nor too difficult but kept to a level that makes grammar constructions common to Latin literature feel easy and familiar to the reader. This gives you the opportunity to practice and master your ablative absolutes, accusative with infinitives, etc., while feeling in control of the grammar, and enjoying the story.
How much Latin do I need to know to read Pugio Bruti?
That’s a tricky question. We recommend you read the first chapter above or listen to it if you’re interested in the audiobook. It does contain a full Latin-English vocabulary, so fret not, should you not understand a some words.
The book repeats words in different ways so that a word you might not understand to begin with, will become a natural part of our own vocabulary once you’ve finished the book.
If you are a complete novice to the Latin language, we recommend you read the first half of Familia Romana (the first volume of Lingua Latina per se illustrata) first and then dive into the exciting story that is Pugio Bruti.
Why should I get the online course?
In the course, you will practice your understanding of Latin and deepen your knowledge, utilize words and grammar from the book and put your listening and reading abilities to the test. You will also learn more about Rome itself and the context in which the book takes place, as well as get a taste of ”real” Latin from Antiquity.
The course also provides teaching materials so that if you’re a teacher you can take the course and then use all the materials provided in the course in your own class. No prep!
Can I use Pugio Bruti in the Classroom?
Yes. Pugio Bruti is perfect for classroom settings.
The Latin-English vocabulary provides you with all the vocabulary that you need. The chapters are kept short so that it can be easily divided into lessons. It is also illustrated to enable exercises and help students understand the text. Since the book doesn’t shelter grammar you can also use it to practice and illustrate constructions common to the Latin language.
The story is set in a historically authentic context, Augustan Rome, so that it can also be used for small history lessons and discussions about ancient Rome and Roman life. The text is sprinkled with references to famous phrases to enable even deeper discussions.
We made sure to give the characters in the book many layers so that they too can be used as discussion topics in class.
Want to reduce lesson planning? There is an online video course for Pugio Bruti, with video lessons in Latin, exercises, and detailed commentary on the language of the text. See above. We created it to minimize preparation time for teaching. You can read more about it here.
Can schools get a discount?
Yes. If you’re buying copies for a school and want to bulk order more than a 10 copies, contact us at [email protected].
