It provides a grounding in vocabulary, grammar and sense which allows progression through Common Entrance exams into a Secondary, or, Public School.

The course consists of a series of chapters, each of which includes stories and dialogues in Latin as well as vocabulary and grammar explained in English.

The latest edition, released in July 2022, made significant modifications and additions to the lessons in order to expand the perspectives shown of Roman life, with more representation of women and people of colour as well as a re-examination of slavery in the Roman world, and incorporate updated scholarship.

The book tells the adventures of Caecilius, a banker, and Metella, his wife, in Pompeii from the reign of Tiberius to that of Vespasian.

Sometimes the book deviates to talk about Caecilius' two slaves, their cook Grumio, and Clemens, and their frequent humorous mishaps.

The book ends when Mount Vesuvius erupts, and Caecilius, Cerberus, Melissa, and Metella are killed in Pompeii.

However, the book leaves the reader wondering whether Caecilius' son, Quintus, survives, as he indeed does, along with the slave, Clemens, and (in the fifth edition) Lucia.

This book introduces the nominative, dative, and accusative cases and different verb tenses including the present, perfect and imperfect.

The book starts by introducing a new family, a Roman aristocrat, Salvius, who is a successful lawyer and senator in Rome.

In the second half of the book, Quintus tells King Cogidubnus about his journey to Alexandria, where he met Barbillus, a friend of his father.

Quintus is absent, and the main characters are Salvius, his ally Haterius, and several other Roman aristocrats, as well as some ordinary citizens.

In the remaining chapters, the writings of several poets (particularly Martial and Ovid) and historical figures replace the narrative.

When Mount Vesuvius erupts, Caecilius returns to attempt to save his family, but is killed when a wall of his house falls on him.

In Alexandria, he lives with Barbillus, who on his deathbed urges him to find and make amends with his son Rufus, a soldier in Britannia.

Clemens' efforts to establish his business and his initiation into the worship of Isis form a significant sub-plot in Book 2.

The ancillary characters Caecilius, Metella and Quintus in the Doctor Who episode "The Fires of Pompeii" are loosely based on those from the Cambridge Latin Course.

[10] In the opening episode of series four of Being Human, the "Vampire Recorder" blurts out words from Book One of the Cambridge Latin Course ("Caecilius est in horto!