For the present edition, I have revised Morice’s Hints to Beginners (now Hints for Reading) and his notes in accordance with modern principles in the teaching of Greek. Morice assumed students would be construing and translating these stories, rather than simply reading them. He suggested that students should begin by locating the main verb, then its subject, then obvious modifiers. This promotes the idea that Greek is a puzzle to be decoded rather than a language that can be used for actual communication. Instead, I have given suggestions about reading Greek as it is written, by phrases, in the normal Greek word order, rather than attempting to re-arrange it into something approximating English.
I have also updated several dated references, for example to sums of money, and given at least one classical (or other) source for most of the stories. Some are traditional and some may be Morice’s own inventions. Those that are classical are often told by more than one author; I have not made any attempt to produce an exhaustive list of variant forms.
Notes on the first dozen or so selections are fuller than those for the later ones. In the first 198 stories, verb forms are printed with hyphens setting off reduplication, augment, or prefixes, so that the basic root of the verb will be easier to recognize. This simplification is dropped for the remaining 65 stories, to help students get used to verbs as they appear in standard editions.
Because many Greek students have already studied Latin, and others will go on to do so, the notes occasionally draw parallels with Latin grammar. If students already know the Latin forms or constructions, this is helpful, and if not, it may make them curious about the younger classical language. Morice, of course, assumed that all his readers were more experienced in Latin than in Greek. This can no longer be assumed, so in no case is the Latin parallel the only explanation for a point of Greek grammar.
There are several ways to use these stories in the Greek classroom. Morice designed them as transitional reading, between the textbook and the class’s first unadapted Greek. Because there are so many stories, students can get as much practice as they need. The stories can also be used as a supplement in an intermediate-level class, somewhat easier than the main readings, to allow the class practice in rapid, fluent reading. They are also appropriate for sight passages on quizzes or exams, and as each numbered section is just 100 words long, it is easy to control the amount of reading being assigned.
