Exelauno Day: A Distinctly RL Celebration of the Classics

Quisque est victor! Roxbury Latin students and faculty gathered in Rousmaniere Hall on Tuesday to celebrate a distinctly RL tradition: Exelauno Day. The tradition dates back over 130 years, when Classics master Clarence Willard Gleason inaugurated a celebration of the Classics, in which Greek students would be exempted from homework for the day. Today, the event allows for the singular annual pleasure of hearing from declaimers of every age and level of exposure to Latin and Greek. Gleason chose March 4th as a punny reference to Xenophon’s Anabasis and its use of the verb “exelauno,” meaning “to march forth.”

During the morning’s special Hall, boys in Class VI through Class I competed in this year’s David Taggart Clark Competition in Greek and Latin Declamation—reciting ancient words from classic texts that brought to life scenes such as “Ovid’s ‘rizz’ advice: play it cool,” “Atreus psyches himself up for vengeance,” and “Trygaeus rides an enormous dung beetle up to the palace of the Olympians.” Classics Department Chair and Exelauno Hall emcee, Mrs. Morris-Kliment, welcomed Dr. Victoria Pagán, Professor of Classics at the University of Florida, to the lectern to announce the results. This year’s winners were Bobby Beeston of Class VI (Lower School Latin), Alan Archerman of Class V (Intermediate Latin), Tom Pogorelec of Class II (Upper School Latin), and Aspen Johnson of Class II (Greek).

RL extends its heartfelt gratitude to this year’s Exelauno Day judges, the aforementioned Dr. Pagan; Dustin Brownell, teacher of Classics at Boston Latin School; and Mark Alonge, Classics and History Teacher at Boston University Academy.

View a video of the morning’s Exelauno Day Hall in its entirety.

You can also view a complete gallery of photos taken in the morning by Evan Scales. Congratulations to all of the day’s declaimers for impressive performances across the board.