Thanks for the post Ignacio! And definitely +1 to Hans Ørberg's works, there's now even an audio version available from the publisher in both the reconstructed and Italian ecclesiastical pronunciations.
And I'd definitely agree with the sentiment of clearly distinguishing Latin from other ancient languages like Egyptian or Akkadian which despite having been deciphered, are truly extinct. Classical Latin has had an unbroken chain of transmission between teacher and student for over 2000 years due to both the Catholic Church and later medieval universities. A language after all is just a means of communication, and if Latin has been out of use as a means of communication - whether verbal or written, then I don't believe we can even say Latin is dead. Notwithstanding the over billion people on Earth that speak a Romance language, and the billions more that speak languages heavily influenced by Latin and Romance languages.
This manuscript, Latin 5763, is thought to be the oldest surviving manuscript of Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War). It dates to the first quarter of the 9th century - almost 900 years after the death of its original author. Despite the sheer magnitude of time between Caesar writing the book and a medieval copyist producing this version, it is likely that no significant changes were made during that almost complete millennium - as can be seen with virtually all other works of antiquity that were transmitted throughout the medieval period unto our time.
The work itself has continuously used by students of Latin, due to the very plain language that Caesar employed in communicating his conquests to the common people. Its first line, as seen in the image, is the famous "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur."
"Gallia" - Gaul - the region that's generally congruent with modern day France
"est" - is. 3rd person singular present indicative active form of the verb "sum" (to be).
"omnis" - all. Nominative singular, applying to "Gallia".
"divisa" - divided. Nominative singular form of the perfect passive participle "divisus" from the verb "divido" (to divide), agreeing with "Gallia".
"in" - in. Preposition.
"partes" - parts. Accusative plural form of "pars".
"tres" - three. Accusative plural form of "tres".
"quarum" - of which. Genitive plural feminine form of "qui" (relative pronoun), referring back to "partes".
"unam" - one. Accusative singular feminine form of "unus", agreeing with implied "partem".
"incolunt" - they inhabit. 3rd person plural present indicative active form of "incolo" (to inhabit).
"Belgae" - the Belgae - i.e. Belgians
"aliam" - another. Accusative singular feminine form of "alius", agreeing with implied "partem".
"Aquitani" - the Aquitani - i.e. Aquitanians
"tertiam" - the third. Accusative singular feminine form of "tertius", agreeing with implied "partem".
"qui" - who. Nominative plural masculine form of "qui" (relative pronoun).
"ipsorum" - their own. Genitive plural masculine form of "ipse", referring to the Gallic people.
"lingua" - language. Ablative singular form of "lingua".
"Celtae" - Celts. Nominative plural form of "Celta".
"nostra" - our. Ablative singular feminine form of "noster", agreeing with "lingua".
"Galli" - Gauls. Nominative plural form of "Gallus", a proper noun.
"appellantur" - they are called. 3rd person plural present passive indicative form of "appello" (to call).
"All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in ours Gauls, the third."
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