For forty years, American priest and friar Reginald Foster, O.C.D.,
worked in the Latin Letters office of the Roman Curia's Secretary of
State in Vatican City. As Latinist of four popes, he soon emerged as an
internationally recognized authority on the Latin language-some have
said, the internationally recognized authority, consulted by scholars,
priests, and laymen worldwide. In 1986, he began teaching an annual
summer Latin course that attracted advanced students and professors from
around the globe. This volume gathers contributions from some of his
many students in honor of his enduring influence and achievements. Its
chapters explore a wide range of linguistic and literary evidence from
antiquity to the present day in a variety of theoretical perspectives.
If the motivation for putting together this collection has been to
reflect (and reflect upon) Foster's influences on Latin scholarship and
pedagogy, its title alludes-via the medieval folk etymology of the word
labyrinthus ("quasi labor intus")-to its theme: ambiguity in Latin
literature.