What Did Caesar Say?

In the auditorium of Winthrop College (Rock Hill, S.C.), some 1,500 high-school kids gathered one morning last week for a strange affair. They had come from all over the state, chatting and giggling as merrily as if they were about to see a circus. What they actually did see was apparently just as entertaining--even though it bore the ponderous title of Fourth Annual Latin Forum.

As everyone expected, the forum was a good show: that is one thing that tiny (5 ft. 1 in.), brown-haired Miss Donnis Martin, head of the Winthrop classics department, has always made sure of. This year she started the program off with a battle of wits, set eight quiz kids to answering such questions as: "What did Caesar say when he crossed the Rubicon? What is a Pyrrhic victory? What is the name of the three-headed dog that guarded Hades?" After that came a Latin movie about the Second Punic War, then a Plautus play called The Twins from Syracuse, and a rendering of the Marine song that no marine would ever recognize (Ab aulis Montezumae Tripolis ad litora . . .). Finally, after singing Te Cano, Patria, the audience rose to go--but not without a burst of applause for its hostess. "We love you, Dr. Martin," cried one Latin teacher. "Goodbye . . . Goodbye," shouted the kids, "see you in 1954."

South Carolina's Latin teachers have good reason to love Dr. Martin, for most of them agree that if it were not for her, there would be precious little Latin at all in the state. She has trained a third of the state's Latin teachers, has kept a whole generation of Winthrop girls flocking to the classics. "Latin," says she, "is a tough language. It's tough to learn, but it's just as tough to kill."

A daughter of a small-town Missouri banker, Donnis Martin majored in Latin, Greek and archaeology at the University of Missouri, went on to Cornell for her Ph.D., then a year of study at the American Academy in Rome. At Winthrop, where she has been since 1920, "Little Doc" is a campus fixture.

In class, she bounces about like a woman pursued; outside, she is apt to be found throwing an apiarian party, serving her guests dishes of honey just the way the Romans did. She has helped organize Latin Weeks in 30 different states, still keeps up a lively correspondence with teachers all over her own state. Last week, in a typical fit of enthusiasm, she told her forum audience: "I feel as if Latin, like the Phoenix, is arising from the ashes." In South Carolina, thanks to Dr. Martin, it apparently is.

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