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MEDFORD, MA - March 7, 2001 - A German dissident uses a Latin mask to hide his seditious intent and escape death in the harrowing epic of Johann Gottfried Seume. An author and poet, Seume was sold into slavery, cast into prison, and ultimately disenfranchised by Napoleon's conquest of his homeland. His story is told by Peter Schaeffer, a professor of German at the University of California - Davis, in this week's AbleMedia Bronze Chalice winner Secret Code or Language of the Heart? published on the Classics Technology Center on the Web (CTCWeb, http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb). "Schaeffer provides us a glimpse into the tormented life of this 19th century German author who used the ancient past and its classical literature as a cipher to speak out against the injustices of his time," said Wendy E. Owens, CTCWeb Editor-in-Chief.

In Secrets Code or Language of the Heart?, Schaeffer relates details of Seume's brief and troubled life. The focal point of Schaeffer's work is an essay by Seume entitled Preface to Some Rather Difficult Places in Plutarch, which was written not in German but in Latin. Schaeffer reveals that Seume's essay is the "political testament" of a man who was disillusioned with the German privileged class by Napoleon's conquest of Germany. According to Schaeffer, Seume calls the German privileged class "clods and blockheads" in his commentary which he wrote in Latin because Seume knew that publication of his essay in German could lead to censorship and possibly his execution.

Schaeffer notes the many illusions in Seume's essay to the works of ancient Greek and Roman authors, such as Horace, Vergil, and Thucydides. According to Schaeffer, Seume idealized the ancient authors' patriotism and mimicked their ancient rallying cries in his work to express his own patriotism in a language few Germans could read. "As Seume profited by the example of the ancients, we in turn may profit by the example of one, who to the end of his brief life took the Classics to heart, as a guide to life and as a way of life," Schaeffer said. "Thank you for this happy notification of what will be my first electronic publication."

Each week AbleOne’s sponsor, AbleMedia, salutes contributors for outstanding submissions to the AbleOne Consortium (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/), the CTCWeb Showcase (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/), and CTCWeb Netshots™ (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots.html). Each receives the Bronze Chalice award. AbleMedia awards Silver Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the month. At the end of each year, AbleMedia awards Gold Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the year.

AbleOne serves millions of educators, students, and other users in over 100 countries and the number of users is tripling annually. AbleOne’s CTCWeb is a repository of practical tools, for classicists and other educators, to enhance the use of computer technology in Classics education. At CTCWeb, students, educators and others find the free dissemination and open exchange of practical educational materials, systems, and applications by individuals and organizations involved in the Classics community. AbleMedia sponsors CTCWeb as part its AbleOne Education Network.

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