In classic abecedarian fashion A B C Et Cetera, originally published in 1985, takes from the rich Roman cornucopia more than enough to demonstrate the fact that sixty percent of our working vocabulary descends directly from the Latin. Nothing in Roman culture – and Romance – is beyond the measure and mischief of the brothers Humez: not unicorns, Vestal Virgins, and maledicta balloons; not Roman nomenclature, dating systems and numbering; not Roman religion, education, humor, law, slavery, literature, and not, of course, the gluttonous Ampersand.
