Crest High School Latin: CCSMail

Why study Latin and Rome rather than a modern language and a modern city? Because no other language and no other city have had so much influence - and for so long a time - upon our own culture. From small beginnings, the military, political, and cultural power of Rome spread, first throughout Latium, then through Italy and over the Mediterranean. By the second century after the birth of Christ, the Romans dominated almost the entire civilized world; Rome itself was at the same time urbs et orbis - city and the world. Nevertheless, the best reason for passing through [this] arch is that you will enter a new and different world that will tell you much about your own, and will help educate you, for understanding what you owe to the past is a major part of being "educated." As the Roman orator Cicero said, "Not to know what happened before you were born is to be forever a child."