Drūsilla et Convīvium Magārum

Drūsilla et Convīvium Magārum (Drusilla and the Witches’ Dinner Party) is a sheltered-vocabulary Latin novella published by Lance Piantaggini in 2018 as part of the Pisoverse series. It tells the story of Drusilla, a Roman girl who suspects her friend’s mother may be a witch. It is notable for its low core word count and relatively simple sentence structure, making it an accessible choice for novice learners. It is also one of the longer novellas at such a low word count.

Available from the author's website (bulk discounts available), from the CI Bookshop (Europe), or from Amazon.

Reading level

The author’s introduction states that this novella is for learners in their first or second year of study. Comprehensible Antiquity puts this novella at Level C.

Diverse & Multicultural Identities

For information about how representation of multicultural and diverse identities is analyzed in LNDb, see here.

Parallel cultures

No depictions identified.

Gender

Features one cis female main character (Drusilla). Features no cis male main characters or transgender main characters. It briefly mentions gender roles for Roman women and men; these themes are covered more thoroughly in other books in the series (e.g. Agrippīna Māter Fortis).

Sexual identity

Features a depiction of heterosexual identity: Drusilla has a father and mother.

SES/class

No depictions identified. In another book in the series (Drūsilla in Subūrā), it is established that Drusilla’s family is middle-class, but this is not explicitly addressed in Drūsilla et Convīvium Magārum.

Religion

No depictions identified.

Disability

No depictions identified.

Language Statistics

Vocabulary

Word counts may differ from the author's advertised figures. See here for information about how words are counted in LNDb.

Word List

A complete word list for Drūsilla et Convīvium Magārum can be found here.

Glosses

This novella contains glosses in the form of both footnotes with English translations and pictures.

Of the 90 unique words (not counting proper nouns) used in the text, 35.0 of them (38.9%) are glossed at their first appearance in the text. Of the 3341 total words in the text, 203 of them (6.1%) are glossed.

Glossary

This novella contains a Latin-English glossary, with every form of each word listed separately. The glossary is complete.

Syntax

The ratio of compound sentences indicates what proportion of the total sentences are compound sentences, on average. A compound sentence is defined as a sentence with multiple T-units.
The ratio of complex sentences indicates what proportion of the total sentences are complex sentences, on average. A complex sentence is defined as a sentence with one or more subordinate clauses or verb phrases.
See here for more information.

Summary

The graph above shows the vocabulary and syntax of the novella relative to the other novellas studied. A higher position on the graph means that this novella scores higher than average in this criterion. These scores are not necessarily tied to reading level; this graph is descriptive of the novella's language rather than predictive of its difficulty.

Genre & Sources

This novella is in the genre of historical (Classical).

It is not an adaptation of any particular piece of Classical literature.

Complete Plot Summary

CONTAINS SPOILERS
Drusilla is a Roman girl who has convinced herself that the mother of her friend Quintus is a witch who cooks snakes. One day Drusilla sees Quintus’s mother giving snakes to Sextus, Drusilla’s brother. When Drusilla goes to investigate, Quintus’s mother has vanished. Later, she hears a hissing sound coming from Sextus’s bedroom. She again goes to investigate and sees nothing. She concludes that Sextus is in possession of invisible snakes. Another time, a peacock gets loose from the kitchen. Drusilla chases the peacock into the woods, where she sees three animals transform into witches, one of whom is Quintus’s mother. They invite Drusilla to their banquet; she accepts and dines with them. After dinner, Quintus’s mother gives Drusilla some bread to give to Drusilla’s family. Then, both Quintus’s mother and Drusilla vanish. Drusilla reappears in the Roman Forum, where she chases the peacock into the bathhouses, but the peacock gets away. Drusilla goes home to find Sextus making dinner. Drusilla confronts him about the invisible snakes. Sextus explains that Quintus’s mother told him to go to Greece and give the snakes to Quintus there, because there is something bad there. The story ends with Drusilla’s family hosting a dinner party, and they wait for the guests.

First 100 Words

Underlined words are glossed in the text. See also the preview found here.

Drūsillae placet cēna.
Drūsillae placet cēna optima et magna!
Drūsilla mātrem videt.
Līvia est māter Drūsillae.
māter, Līvia, cēnam parat. Līvia cēnam optimam, sed nōn magnam, parat. cēna magna est multīs Rōmānīs. hodiē, cēna est Drūsillae et Sextō. Drūsilla et Sextus nōn sunt multī Rōmānī. hodiē, cēna nōn est magna.
iam, Drūsilla est in culīnā. aliquid bene olet. Drūsilla videt mātrem parāre cēnam. Drūsilla cēnāre vult. Drūsilla cēnam magnam cēnāre vult.
Drūsilla: “māter, cēna bene olet! volō cēnāre!”
Drūsilla cācabum videt. cācabus nōn est magnus. probābiliter cēna nōn est pāvō. Drūsillae placet cēnāre animalia. pāvō est animal optimum ad cēnandum.

Studies show that a reader should understand 98% of the words in a text in order to have a good chance of comprehending it. One rule of thumb is to read the first hundred words and count the number of unfamiliar words. If there are two or fewer unfamiliar words, it can be read without much difficulty. Three to five unfamiliar words is possible to read, but may be difficult. If there are six or more unfamiliar words, the text may be too difficult.

Supplementary Materials

The author has created supplementary materials, including an audiobook.

Presentation

Illustrations? yes
Illustrator Lauren Aczon
Macrons? yes
Font Verdana
Pages of story 67
Total pages 103
Chapters 17

Key Information

Publication date February 15, 2018
Publisher Poetulus Publishing
ISBN 1984383191
ISBN-13 978-1984383198