Hi Aliph, you have perfectly synthesized the sense of the Latin. It is true that it is a dead tongue, today, in the 21st century, and at the same time, it is not true.
It's amazing the amount - and the quality - of the knowledge and skills that Latin manages to convey.
Never, however, approach GRAMMAR ONLY. It would be oten hard for us Italians as well.
It is the thought that you have to understand: to think like the ancient Romans. You must immerse yourself in their history, before in their language. Are not we, all of us, immersed in the English and American world in some way? so we learn the language.
Look at this short pearl of wisdom:
Musca et vespa pugnabant. Appropinquavit merula et muscam atque vespam statim voravit.
"A fly and a wasp fought. Approached a cranberry and devoured both the fly and the wasp"
Tra i due litiganti il terzo gode.
Exemplarity, the different human (or animal) types, the characters, the stories that teach a moral, Christian or pagan, the achievements in war, love for land and agriculture, great enemies like the Germans , the Carthaginians, the conquest of the Mediterranean and Europe to the Reno and Danube rivers, the incorporation of ancient Greek civilization ... in short, it is understandable that all this intimidates and slows down the desire to learn.