Level 3 Flashcards
Who am I? Horace said that I could play any musical instrument. I was the mother of the Orpheus by Apollo. I was the muse of epic or heroic poetry.
Bonus: What mountain served as the home to the Muses?
CALLIOPE
MT. HELICON
What is the difference between salutatio and laudatio?
Bonus: What is the difference between conclamatio and lustratio?
SALUTATIO - “GREETING BY CLIENTS IN THE MORNING” and LAUDATIO - “PRAISE OF THE DECEASED AT A FUNERAL”
CONCLAMATIO - “CALLING THE NAME OF THE DEAD AT A FUNERAL” and LUSTRATIO - “CEREMONY AT WHICH A CHILD RECEIVED A NAME”
After si, nisi, ne and num, what is the meaning of quid?
Bonus: What is the typical form of quid?
ANYTHING
ALIQUID
Responde Anglice: Post primum bellum Punicum, qua insula Romani potiti sunt?
Bonus: Who served as a corrupt governor of Sicily in 70 BC and by whom was he prosecuted?
SICILY
VERRES WAS PROSECUTED BY CICERO
Who am I? I believed that the laws of heaven were more important than the laws of man so I defied King Creon’s orders and buried my brother, who had attacked Thebes. I was eventually buried alive for my crime and I commited suicide.
Bonus: In what Greek tragedian’s play by the same name is this story presented?
Bonus 2: Antigone was part of a trilogy of the ill-fated royal house of Thebes. What was the name of the first play in this trilogy?
ANTIGONE
SOPHOCLES
OEDIPUS REX
Why was Styx, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, rewarded by being made a river by which the gods swear unbreakable oaths?
Bonus: One of the daughters of Styx was named Nike. Of what was Nike the goddess?
FOR COMING TO ZEUS’ AID WHEN THE TITANS ATTACKED
VICTORY
What is the difference in meaning between cum, dum, and tum?
Bonus: What about aut and autem
CUM - “WITH OR WHEN, SINCE, ALTHOUGH” and DUM - “WHILE, UNTIL” and TUM - “THEN”
AUT - “OR” and AUTEM - “HOWEVER”
When Philip of Macedon wrote to the magistrates of Sparta he said “If I enter your territory, I will level Sparta to the ground.” The Spartans simply replied, “If.” Is the Spartan response an example of laconic, stentorian, or thersitical speech?
Bonus: What is stentorian speech?
LACONIC
LOUD or BOOMING
In what year was Catiline killed in battle?
Bonus: In what town located “in faucibus Etruriae” did he keep his Manlian camp?
62 BC
FAESULAE or FIESOLE
Identify the common bond: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.
Bonus: Identify the common bond: Pemphredo, Enyo, and Deino.
THE FATES
THE GRAIAE
The Latin phrase Festina lente is an example of what figure of speech?
Bonus: What about Ad astra per aspera?
OXYMORON or PARADOX
HYPERBOLE or ALLITERATION (ASSONANCE?)
Which Julio-Claudian emperor was known for his scholarship, particularly in writing histories?
Bonus: One lost history of Claudius would have provided us with valuable information regarding what other Italian civilization?
CLAUDIUS
ETRUSCAN
What is epigraphy?
Bonus: What is paleography?
THE STUDY OF INSCRIPTIONS
THE STUDY OF HANDWRITING ON PAPYRUS AND TABLETS
What was the name for a stage on which dramatic performances would be held?
Bonus: What were the caveae?
SCAENA
BANKS (WEDGES) OF SEATS
Give the correct form of the relative pronoun in this sentence: Certamen, which is very competitive, is popular in Virginia.
Bonus: Every year there are several certamina in which we can participate. Give the correct form of the relative pronoun.
QUOD
(IN) QUIBUS
What torture would Procrustes inflict upon unwitting passers-by?
Bonus: Who finally put Procrustes out of our misery?
STRETCH THEM OR CHOP THEM TO FIT HIS BED
THESEUS
The English word grotesque, orginally reffering to grottos, was applied to what cavernous structure built by Nero after the Great Fire of Rome?
Bonus: In what year was this fire?
DOMUS AUREA
AD 64
By what other name whose origin lies in mythology is the strait called the Dardanelles known?
Bonus: How did Helle come to drown in this strait?
HELLESPONT
SHE FELL OFF THE RAM CARRYING HER AND HER BROTHER PHRIXUS WHILE FLEEING FROM HER FATHER AND STEP- MOTHER
Longfellow wrote in his Psalm of Life (1839): “Lives of great men all remind us/ We can make our lives sublime,/ And, departing, leave behind us/ Footprints in the sands of time.” What Latin phrase borrowed from Hippocrates reflects this spirit?
Bonus: What Horatian phrase for Robert Herrick’s: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,/ Old Time still is flying,/ And this same flower that smiles today/ Tomorrow will be dying.”?
ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS
CARPE DIEM
What mythological couple was saved from a great flood caused by Zeus and were told to repopulate the earth by throwing the bones of their mother over their shoulders?
Bonus: Who was their child, the founder of the Greek race?
DEUCALION AND PYRRHA
HELLEN
Identify the common bond: Orpheus with his lyre, Hercules with his club, Aeneas with the golden bough.
Bonus: Mortals who were not properly buried suffered what fate?
MORTALS ALLOWED TO PASS THE RIVER STYX
SOULS FORCED TO WANDER THE EARTH FOR 100 YEARS/COULD NOT PASS THE RIVER STYX
What Greek deity carries the epithet “rosy-fingered”?
Bonus: Eos’ Roman counter-part Aurora is associated with the aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere named after Boreas. What is the same phenomenon in the Southern Hemisphere, also named after Aurora and one of her sons?
EOS
AURORA AUSTRALIS
What is the meaning of the Greek exclamation “Eureka”?
Bonus: Who exclaimed it?
“I HAVE FOUND IT!”
ARCHIMEDES
Identify the common bond: quadrans, sestertius, denarius
Bonus: Of what metals was a denarius and and aureus made?
ROMAN COINS
D- SILVER and A- GOLD
What emperor typically referred to himself as “Dominus et Deus”?
Bonus: Who was Domitian’s much more popular brother whom he succeeded
DOMITIAN
TITUS
Translate the both verbs from this sentence into Latin: “If he should come, he would see.”
Distinguish in meaning between civis and civitas.
Bonus: What about the verb vivo and vito?
VENIAT and VIDEAT
CIVIS - “CITIZEN” and CIVITAS - “CITY STATE”/”CITIZENSHIP”
VIVO - “TO LIVE” and VITO - “TO AVOID”
What is the term for the group of eight Roman soldiers who shared the same tent and ate together?
Bonus: How mant contubernia in a century?
CONTUBERNIUM
TEN
What Republican era poet wrote a lengthy poem called De Rerum Natura?
Bonus: What philosophical school did this poem and poet espouse?
LUCRETIUS
EPICUREAN
Who was the man who was called the conscience of Rome for his fiercely Republican opposition to the first triumvirate?
Bonus: When Caesar defeated Pompey, Cato committed suicide after twice reading who’s work intitled Phaedo in which Socrates argues that only fools fear death.
(MARCUS PORCIUS) CATO
PLATO
What three animals would be sacrificed at a suovetaurilia?
Bonus: A sacrifice of liquid, typically diluted wine, being poured on the ground is called what?
PIG, SHEEP, and BULL
LIBATION
Pyrrhus of Epirus almost succeeded in expelling what nation from Sicily in the 3rd century BC?
Bonus: After what battle in 279 BC did Pyrrhus proclaim a “Pyrrhic victory”?
CARTHAGINIANS
ASCULUM
Identify the common bond: tenus, gratia, causa
Bonus: What does the preposition tenus mean?
PREPOSITIONS WHICH TAKE THE GENITIVE CASE
“UP TO” or “DOWN TO” or “ACORDING TO”
What mythological couple were turned into intertwining trees after their death so that they could always be together?
Bonus: Baucis and Philemon were rewarded for their hospitality to what two Greek gods?
BAUCIS AND PHILEMON
ZEUS and HERMES
What figure of speech is illustrated by this English quote: “Get a clue and a job!”
Bonus: What about “He was not affected by the expressions and faces of his opponents.”
ZEUGMA
HENDIADYS
At what event would you hear the cry “Talassio!” or “Feliciter!”
Bonus: Talassius may have been a god of marriage which the Romans created to explain the forgotten meaning of “Talassio” which they had forgotten. What does “Feliciter” mean?
WEDDING or GROOM ESCORTING NEW BRIDE HOME
“HAPPILY” or “LUCKILY”
Identify the poet: Ille mi par esse deo videtur…
Bonus: The second line of this poem includes the phrase si fas est. Translate that phrase.
CATULLUS
IF IT IS RIGHT
In the lararium, if the genius of the paterfamilias was not represented in human form, what animal was substituted?
Bonus: What is the two-word name for the protective spirit of the family?
SNAKE
LAR FAMILIARIS
In what province did Catullus serve under Memmius?
Bonus: Why was Catullus angry with Memmius when he returned to Italy?
BITHYNIA
HE HAD NOT BEEN PAID VERY MUCH
What was the term for a single lap in a chariot or foot race? It is also something you and your teachers probably follow at school.
Bonus: In modern terms, what is a curriculum vitae?
CURRICULUM
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF CAREER AND QUALIFICATIONS or A RESUME
Unfortunately, not everyone in the ancient world was beautiful, but some were down right hideous. Who had a face who could turn people to stone?
Bonus: Medusa, pregnant by Poseidon when she was slain by Perseus, gave birth to what winged creature?
MEDUSA
PEGASUS
A common inscription on tombstones was Si tibi terra levis. What does this mean?
Bonus: What about the phrase “Qui vixit annos quinque, menses novem, et dies viginti-duos”?
“MAY THE EARTH BE LIGHT UPON YOU”
“WHO LIVED FIVE YEARS, NINE MONTHS, AND TWENTY-TWO DAYS”
Who explained to the Argonauts how to pass the Symplegades, the crashing rocks at the entrance to the Black Sea?
Bonus: What service did the Argonauts have to perform to get this advice?
PHINEUS
RID PHINEUS OF THE HARPIES
Who was the wife of Hector whom Aeneas found married to Helenus in Buthrotum?
Bonus: What was the name of Hector and Andromache’s son?
ANDROMACHE
ASTYANAX
Identify the common bond: Oenotria, Hesperia, Ausonia.
Bonus: What is the phrase which describes the Greek territory in Southern Italy and Sicily?
OTHER NAMES FOR ITALY
MAGNA GRAECIA
Given the semi-deponent verb audeo, audere, what is the third person singular, pluperfect subjunctive?
Bonus: Change ausus esset to the imperfect passive.
AUSUS ESSET
AUDERETUR
Quae cum ita sint, Catilina, perge quo coepisti: egredere aliquando ex urbe; patent portae; proficiscere. What is the idiomatic meaning of Quae cum ita sint?
Bonus: What forms are perge, egredere, and proficiscere?
“THEREFORE”
IMPERATIVES
The Golden Age of Latin Literature traditionally ends in AD 17 with the death of what exiled poet?
Bonus: What year marked the end of the Augustan Age with the death of Augustus?
OVID
AD 14
Which emperor was responsible for dividing the empire between East and West?
Bonus: Diocletian named himself and Maximian “Augustus.” What did he name his subordinates Constantius I and Galerius, who were to inherit the possession of Augustus?
DIOCLETIAN
CAESARS or CAESARES
Where did the Greek fleet amass before setting sail for Troy?
Bonus: Because the winds would not blow, what maiden was sacrificed?
AULIS
IPHIGENIA
Idenify the common bond: Delos, Delphi, Cumae.
Bonus: What was the priestess of Apollo called?
ORACLES OF APOLLO
PYTHIA
What was the most common meter used by Catullus?
Bonus: The hendecasyllabic meter is completely regular except for the first foot. What three possibilities exist for the first foot?
HENDECASYLLABICS or PHALAECEANS
1) long-long; 2) long-short; 3) short- long
What Latin phrase refers to “square Rome,” the settlement Romulus created?
Bonus: What was the name of the sacred boundary of Rome?
ROMA QUADRATA
POMERIUM
What work of Vergil is a commemoration of his gratitude to Augustus for the return of his family’s farm near Mantua?
Bonus: By what other name are the Eclogues known?
FIRST ECLOGUE
BUCOLICS
What is the meaning of the Latin phrase in perpetuum?
Bonus: What other Latin phrase, containing the word from which we get “eternal,” also means “forever”?
FOREVER
AD ETERNUM
What was Horace’s monumentum aere perennius?
Bonus: What is the case and reason for the case of aere in that phrase?
HIS POETRY
ABLATIVE OF COMPARISON
What is the meaning of the mythological phrase “Argus-eyed”?
Bonus: Who lulled Argus to sleep to permit the escape of Io?
WATCHFUL or VIGILANT
MERCURY
What is the name for a tomb which holds many funeral urns?
Bonus: At what place in Rome would a person be cremated?
COLUMBARIUM
USTRINA
The poet Martial wrote in his Epigrams: “Let there be Maecenases… and Vergils will not be lacking.” Why was Maecenas important to Vergil?
Bonus: Maecenas was said to have inspired what work by Vergil?
PATRON OF THE ARTS/FINANCIAL BACKER
GEORGICS
Name four of the seven ancient wonders of the world.
Bonus: Name the other three.
1) PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT/GIZA; 2) PHAROS/ LIGHTHOUSE AT ALEXANDRIA; 3) HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON; 4) TEMPLE OF DIANA/ARTEMIS AT EPHESOS; 5) STATUE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA (BY PHIDIAS); 6) MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS; 7) COLOSSUS OF RHODES
In Catullus’ Carmen 34, he writes: Tu Lucina dolentibus/ Iuno dicta puerperis. Even though the poem is about Minerva, what power of Juno Lucina is being involved?
Bonus: The stanza continues: Tu potens Trivia et notho es/ dicta lumine Luna.? What other two attributes are being discussed here?
CHILDBIRTH
CROSSROADS and CHILDBIRTH
We love participles. And when we ask a participle question, we like to hear things like it’s tense (present, perfect, future) and its voice (active or passive). Keeping that in mind, from what form of the participle does our English word Orient derive?
Bonus: What is the verb and meaning from which Orient derives?
PRESENT ACTIVE
ORIOR- TO RISE
What great general of Rome, a relative of Julius Caesar, won important victories over dangerous Germanic tribes invading Italy from the north in 102 and 101 B.C.?
Bonus: Name one of the tribes defeated by Marius in these campaigns.
MARIUS
CIMBRI, TUETONES
Who forced Albinus and his Roman army to walk under the yoke in 110 B.C., but lived to regret it when Marius captured him four years later?
Bonus: Another enemy of Rome forced a Roman army under the yoke two centuries earlier after surrounding the army in a valley in the hills north of Capua. Who were these enemies?
JUGURTHA
SAMNITES
Hecate, the three-formed goddess, was the patron of witches. Which niece of Circe and daughter of Aeetes called on her powers to aid a handsome Greek?
Medea gave a magic potion to Jason to protect him from harm. At what deity’s shrine did they meet?
Bonus: What Argonaut, a nephew of Medea, led Jason there?
MEDEA
HECATE
ARGUS
What people of Italy, other than the Romans, wore the toga?
Bonus: Name the famous Etruscan city, a day’s journey west of Rome, where the sacred objects of Rome were taken during the Gallic siege.
THE ETRUSCANS
CAERE
What use of the ablative is seen in the following sentence: Puto hanc puellam pulchriorem esse illa.
Bonus: That sentence said “I think this girl is prettier than that one”. If we changed puellam to templum, what would happen to pulchriorem?
ABLATIVE OF COMPARISON
IT WOULD CHANGE TO PULCHRIUS
Jealous gods were always dangerous. What other god paid the price of Boreas’ jealousy by accidentally killing a friend during a game of discus throwing?
Bonus: Apollo’s friend was then transformed into a flower. What was his name?
APOLLO
HYACINTHUS
What is the meaning of the Latin idiom pedem referre?
Bonus: What is the meaning of the Latin idiom opem ferre?
TO RETREAT
TO BRING AID
In 197 B.C., at the Battle of Cynoscephalae, the Romans defeated the Macedonian phalanx and forever put an end to Macedon’s dreams of controlling Greece. What Macedonian king was defeated in this battle?
Bonus: The following year, the Romans surprised everyone by declaring their intention to evacuate Greece and restore freedom to the individual Greek cities and states. This famous Proclamation of the Freedom of the Greeks was delivered at the Isthmian games of 196 B.C. at what strategically located city?
PHILIP (V)
CORINTH
Achilles was famous for sulking in his tent while the Greeks were being defeated by the Trojans. An embassy from his fellow Greeks tried to persuade him to return to the fray, but failed. What usually very persuasive speaker failed to budge him?
Bonus: Who spoke last in the embassy, and most effectively, ignoring Achilles and telling Odysseus, “we are wasting our time on a man who wishes to injure his own friends”?
ODYSSEUS/ULYSSES
AJAX
Present participles in Latin sometimes took on a life of their own and became full blown nouns. What present participle, from the Latin verb “to creep,” became a noun meaning “snake”?
Bonus: From what verb did serpens derive?
SERPENS
SERPO (-ERE, SERPSI)
Where am I? I’m looking south towards the port city of Piraeus, to me rear is the Parthenon, I’m standing on the Acropolis.
Bonus: Now I’m in a large city, looking out over the ocean. I see Pharos close by, and the famous Museum is to my rear, where great scholars work.
ATHENS
ALEXANDRIA
How does Latin introduce a positive purpose clause?
Bonus: How does Latin introduce a negative result clause?
UT
UT…NON
A great scholar during the empire wrote an enormous encyclopedia before his death during rescue operations near Vesuvius. Who was he?
Bonus: Pliny the Elder also wrote a history of recent wars the Romans had conducted. What wars did this lost history describe?
PLINY THE ELDER
THE GERMAN WARS
Gotta love those participles! Translate the participle form in the following sentence: “I am about to see this movie”
Bonus: What tense makes use of this future active participle?
VISURUS, -A
FUTURE ACTIVE PERIPHRASTIC
The name of the months are nouns in English. What part of speech are they in Latin?
Bonus: The words “yesterday,” “today,” and “tomorrow” are adverbs in English. What part of speech are they in Latin?
ADJECTIVES
ADVERBS
To avenge the assassination of his adopted father, Octavian vowed a temple to what god in 42 B.C., which he built many years later.
Bonus: If Mars were a woman, we wouldn’t say Mars Ultor but rather Mars . . . what?
MARS (ULTOR)
ULTRIX
What is the present active infinitive of the verb sequor?
Bonus: What is the present singular imperative of sequor, sequi.
SEQUI
SEQUERE
If a Roman had an agnomen ending in -ianus, which did that normally tell us about him?
Bonus: Who was the first emperor to be adopted by the previous emperor?
HE WAS ADOPTED
TIBERIUS
Which of the following is not masculine? Terror, amor, ultor, arbor?
Bonus: And what is the meaning of ultor?
ARBOR
AVENGER
What mythological creatures were wild and lustful, mostly of human shape but having the horns and hooves of a goat?
Bonus: Which god, with the appearance of a satry, played the syrinx, an instrument made of reeds?
SATYRS
PAN
Which of the following adjectives is not in the superlative degree: optimus, longissimus, primus, simillimus, facilis?
Bonus: What is the comparitive degree of optimus?
FACILIS
MELIOR
What was the original name of the month of the year named in honor of Augustus?
Bonus: On what day of the month did the Ides of Sextilis fall?
SEXTILIS
13TH
What disorder does a somnambulist suffer from?
Bonus: If you defenestrated your computer, what would you be doing?
SLEEPWALKING
THROWING IT OUT OF A WINDOW or REMOVING THE WINDOWS OS FROM IT
What do these year have in common? 390 B.C., 88 B.C., 410 A.D., 455 A.D.?
Bonus: In one of these years Rome was not captured by a foreign enemy, but by a Roman general. What year, what general?
THE YEARS IN WHICH ROME WAS CONQUERED
88 BC, SULLA
Dic Anglice nomen diei quem Romani appellabant dies Solis.
Bonus: Dic Anglice nomen diei de nomine patris Iovis appellatum.
SUNDAY
SATURDAY
The Romans had many forms of marriage, each giving rise to a slightly different relationship. What form of marriage would you be entering if you were eating little cakes made of spelt? Bonus: To what class in Rome was confarreatio limited?
CONFARREATIO
PATRICIANS
Listen to the following passage. I will read it twice. Then answer the question concerning that passage. Lucius et Claudia ex Italia proficiscentes omnes res suas secum ferunt: pauca vestimenta, paulum cibi nec multum pecuniae. Praeterea Lydia parvum librum fert, quem sub vestimentis occultat. What three things did Lucius and Claudia take with them from Italy?
Bonus: What else did Claudia take with her and where did she carry it?
CLOTHES, FOOD, MONEY
A BOOK HIDDEN UNDER HER CLOTHES
Distinguish in meaning between fluo and flo.
Bonus: Sometimes pronunciation makes all the difference. Distinguish in meaning between cecidi and cecïdi.
FLOW and BLOW
I FELL and I KILLED
Give the adverbial form of the adjective gravis.
Bonus: Now give the noun form.
GRAVITER
GRAVITAS
Off of what principal part of the verb does the future active participle form itself?
Bonus:Almost all future active participles form regularly from 4th principal part of the verb, or from the third principal part of deponent verbs. But the deponent verb morior is irregular. What is its future active participle?
4TH PRINCIPLE PART
MORITURUS, -A, -UM
What poet of the Late Republic was known for a single, long poem, the fullest statement we have of the physical theory of the Greek philosopher Epicurus?
Bonus: What was the Latin title of his work?
LUCRETIUS
DE RERUM NATURA
What deity was called “Soter” and what does that epithet mean?
Bonus: What diety was called “Ennosigaeus” and what does that epithet mean?
ZEUS, SAVIOR/PROTECTOR
POSEIDON, EARTH-SHAKER
I can think of only one verb that has an irregular present participle. What verb is this and how is it irregular?
Bonus: This verb, course, has many compound forms, usually with a prepositional prefix. That being said, what is the meaning of redeuntes.
EO, IRE/IENS, EUNTIS
RETURNING/GOING BACK
Watch out - this is a double question. Who am I? I foolishly told the river god Asopus that his daughter had been abducted by Zeus. For this I was condemned to what punishment in the Underworld?
Bonus: These unfortunate souls were condemned to carry water in leaky jars for eternity. Who were they and what crime had they committed?
SISYPHUS, PUSHING A STONE FOREVER UPHILL
THE DANAIDS, THEY HAD MURDERED THEIR HUSBANDS ON THEIR WEDDING NIGHT
The first 5 emperors of Rome constitute the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Which one of these emperors, as a prelude to his planned invasion of Britain, marched his army to the northern shores of Gaul and then ordered his troops to collect seashells, which he called the spoils of the conquered ocean?
Bonus 1: Caligula was eventually assassinated in 41 A.D. and succeed by Claudius. What relation was Claudius to Caligula?
CALIGULA
HIS UNCLE
Which of the following does not belong and why: cubiculum, peristylum, tablinum, lectus, culina.
Bonus: Define these words (repeat twice if necessary).
LECTUS, NOT A ROOM IN A HOUSE
BEDROOM, COURTYARD, STUDY, BED, KITCHEN
I am of the most frequently portrayed figures in Western literature, king of Ithaca, son of Laertes and Anticleia, and father of Telemachus.
Bonus: Odysseus traveled for 10 years before reaching home, but almost 9 of those years were spent on the island of this nymph.
ODYSSEUS
CALYPSO
What year is this? Julius Caesar is deified. Octavian vows a temple to Mars Ultor. Brutus and Cassius commit suicide after their defeat by Antony and Octavian at the Battle of Philippi.
Bonus: After Philippi, the triumvirs divided the empire between them. Octavian took the West, Antony the East. Who was the third member of the Triumvirate and what did he receive?
41 BC
LEPIDUS, AFRICA
Translate this sentence: Vidimus viros domo currentes.
Bonus: If we wanted to say “We saw the men who had been killed” and only wanted to use one word for “who had been killed”, what word would we use?
WE SAW (OR SEE) MEN RUNNING FROM THE HOUSE NECATOS, OCCISOS, CAESOS, ETC.
I was born in Athens and grew up to become a great craftsman, trained by Athena herself. When I killed my apprentice Talus, I was exiled from Athen and took refuge with King Minos in Crete, where I built for him a great maze in the basement of the palace.
Bonus: After my son Icarus died, I flew to this city, where I dedicated my wings to Apollo.
DAEDALUS
CUMAE
What figure of the Late Republic had a short but disgraceful career in politics, thoroughly plundering a province as its governor, before settling down to write histories in his garden?
Bonus: What was Sallust’s full name?
SALLUST
GAIUS SALLUSTIUS CRISPUS
What emperor of the Late Empire managed to reconquer a large portion of the Western Empire, including Italy, north Africa, and the coast of Spain?
Bonus: What barbaric tribe had established itself in north Africa after the German invasions, where it’s kingdom remained for a 100 years before being destroyed by Justinian’s armies?
JUSTINIAN
THE VANDALS
Translate the verb in the indirect speech clause of this sentence: I know he is sailing to Greece.
Bonus: Now in this one: I knew he would sail to Greece.
NAVIGARE
NAVIGATURUM (ESSE)
What do these adjectives have in common: solus, totus, neuter?
Bonus 1: What other part of speech in Latin often shows this peculiar declension pattern?
Bonus 2: Give three other adjectives that behave in the same way.
-IUS IN THE GENETIVE SINGULAR AND -I IN THE DATIVE SINGULAR
PRONOUNS
NULLUS, ALIUS, ULLUS, UNUS, ALTER, UTER
Who was the father of Deicoon, Creontidas, and Thersimachus?
Bonus: Who was their mother?
HERCULES
MEGARA
Hannibal defeated the Romans many times during the Second Punic War, but he wiped out two entire consular armies at that battle in the summer of 216 B.C.
Bonus: In what region of Italy did this battle take place?
CANNAE
APULIA
What rhetorical device is seen in the following sentence: Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas, quod non ego non modo audiam, sed etiam videam planeque sentiam.
What rhetorical device is seen in the following clause: et pacis ornamenta et subsidia belli.
Bonus: What rhetorical device is seen here: quae me cumque vocant terrae.
ANAPHORA
CHIASMUS
TMESIS (FOR QUAECUMQUE ME VOCANT TERRAE)
What Roman historian wrote the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty?
Bonus: What historian ‹an eyewitness to the events‹ told the history of Justinian’s reign?
TACITUS
PROCOPIUS
The law still has many old rules, stated in elegant Latin. What is the basic principle that says res ipsa loquitur?
Bonus: We know what modus operandi means - a person’s “method of operation”. But what part of speech is operandi?
THE THING SPEAKS (FOR) ITSELF
GERUND
Distingiush in meaning between fasces and faces.
Bonus: Now distinguish between laetus and laevus.
BUNDLE OF RODS and TORCHES
HAPPY and AWKWARD, ILL-OMENED
We know that deponent verbs have no active forms. Or do we? Give me the grammatical names of the active forms of a deponent verb.
PRESENT+FUTURE PARTICIPLE, FUTURE ACTIVE INFINITIVE
We talked earlier about those winds placed in a bag for Odysseus by Aeolus. Why did Odysseus’ men open that bag?
Bonus: Where did this take place on the journey home?
THEY THOUGHT TREASURE WAS IN IT
WITHIN SIGHT OF ITHICA
The motto of the U.S. is, of course, e plurbis unum. The motto of Saskatchewan is similar: Multis e gentibus vires. Translate that motto.
Bonus: Paris has a nice motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur.
FROM MANY PEOPLES, STRENGTH
IT IS TOSSED ABOUT BUT DOESN’T SINK
What Roman poet revived Sapphic metere with several of his famous love poems?
Bonus: Catallus called her Lesbia, but to what more ancient woman did Cicero compare her in his Pro Caelio?
CATULLUS
MEDEA
What is the grammar of ambulantes, i.e., part of speech, number, and case.
Bonus 2: “I hope you haven’t worn yourself out by walking”. Translate “walking” in that sentence and give me the part of speech, number, and case.
PRESENT PARTICIPLE, PLURAL, ACCUSATIVE
AMBULANDO, GERUND, SINGULAR, ABLATIVE
When Cicero said to Catiline hunc mihi timorem eripe, what use of the dative are we seeing?
Bonus 1:What was Cicero urging Catiline to do?
Bonus 2: When Cicero says credo, erit verendum mihi, ne non potius hoc omnes boni serius a me quam quisquam crudelius factum esse dicat what is his use of the dative?
DATIVE OF SEPARATION
DEPART FROM THE CITY
DATIVE OF AGENT
What office in Rome went out of use after the Second Punic War, only to be revived in the 80’s B.C. with disastrous consequences.
Bonus 2: After Sulla, who was the next dictator in Rome?
DICTATORSHIP
SULLA
CAESAR
In Latin, what case is used for measurement, weight, and quality?
Bonus 1: Say in Latin “Caesar was a man of great virtue”.
Bonus 2: What other case might be used for description?
GENITIVE
CAESAR VIR MAGNAE VIRTUTIS ERAT
ABLATIVE
Who was the beautiful girl, youngest of three sisters, whose beauty incurred the jealousy of Venus. She was doomed by the Oracle of Apollo to be wed to a viper-like monster, but she ended up being the beloved of Cupid.
Bonus 1: Psyche’s final task was to fetch this from the Underworld:
Bonus 2: Cupid and Pscyhe then had a child, whose name was Pleasure. What was the child’s name in Latin?
PSYCHE
SOME OF PROSERPINE’S BEAUTY
VOLUPTAS
We all know the Great Neuter Rule - the nominative and the accusative are the same and in the plural end with -a. But give three examples of Latin words whose neuter plural form do NOT end in -a.
QUAE, HAEC, DUO, AMBO
In 249 B.C. this Roman general threw the sacred chickens into the sea when the failed to produce a favorable omen. Who was this “good looking” general, the ancestor of Tiberius?
Bonus 1: When the sacred chickens refused to eat, thus giving Pulcher a bad omen, what did he utter as he flung them into the sea?
Bonus 2: What happend to Pulcher when he returned to Rome?
[P.] CLAUDIUS PULCHER
IF THEY WILL NOT EAT, THEY WILL NOT DRINK
HE WAS CHARGED WITH SACRILEGE AND FINED
What verse pattern was typically used by ancients for their epic poems?
Bonus 1: What is the standard for the 5th foot of a dactylic hexameter?
DACTYLIC HEXAMETER
A DACTYL
The Greeks thought that this god was very well traveled, having roamed all the way to India and back before inventing wine.
Bonus 1: This god once arrived in Argos and dueled the local king, another son of Zeus. Who was this king?
Bonus 2: OK, so we know that this god’s father was Zeus. Who was his mother?
DIONYSUS/BACCHUS
PERSEUS
SEMELE
Saturninus and Glaucia were not, of course, killed in 100 B.C. That year never existed. What year were they slain A.U.C.?
Bonus 1: The great disaster at the Teutoberg Forest didn’t occur in 9 A.D. but in this year A.U.C
Bonus 2: Well, we know that the Romans normally dated their years by the names of the consuls. What scholar of the Late Republic standardized the A.U.C. dating?
654
762
VARRO
Most everyone rejoiced when Domitian was slain. What great historian of that age hated Domitian for poisoning his father-in-law?
Bonus 1: Who was Tacitus’ father-in-law, about whom he wrote a short biography?
Bonus 2: Tacitus also wrote a short description of what people, with whom the Romans waged many wars during his lifetime?
TACITUS
AGRICOLA
GERMANS
How would you translate the participle in the following sentence: Haec locutae, feminae domo exierunt.
Bonus: Translate the participle in this sentence: Hoc facto Lucius ad villam rediit.
Bonus 2: Translate the participle in this sentence: Femina virum necatura gladium sumpsit.
HAVING SPOKEN
HAVING BEEN DONE
WHO WAS ABOUT TO KILL
We call them lawyers or attorneys. What did the Romans call the people that spoke on your behalf when you were called to court?
Bonus 1: The fee that advocati could charge was regulated by law under the Republic. What was the amount of the fee?
Bonus 2: In the Empire, lawyers were allowed to collect something for the efforts. What was their payment called?
ADVOCATI
NOTHING
HONORIUM/PALMARIUM
On our brochure for this Certamen you might have noticed the phrase “qui venerunt certatum”. What part of grammar is “certatum”?
Bonus 1: With what type of verbs can the accusative form of the supine be used?
Bonus 2: I’ve heard the “supine” described as a “verbal abstract”. But the only two forms of it in use are patterned on what declension?
SUPINE
VERBS OF MOTION
4TH
To what small family of verbs do the following belong: gaudeo, audeo, fido, soleo?
Bonus 1: What are the principal parts of audeo?
Bonus 2: In the sentence “Having dared these things, Caesar rose to the height of power” translate “having dared these things”.
SEMI-DEPONENTS
AUDEO, -ERE, AUSUS SUM
HAEC AUSUS
Sallust was considered by some ancients as the equal of what great Greek historian, the author of The Peloponnesian War?
Bonus 1: Whom did all the ancients consider the Father of History?
Bonus 2: What later Greek historian wrote the history of Rome’s rise to empire?
THUCYDIDES
HERODOTUS
POLYBIUS
The gerund doesn’t really have a nominative form. What is used to express the nominative gerund, just as in English.
Bonus 1: What case of the gerund is used with causa.
Bonus 2: So how would we say, “for the sake of fighting”?
THE INFINITIVE
GENITIVE
PUGNANDI CAUSA (OR GRATIA)
What type of verb has a perfect active participle?
Bonus 1: With that in mind, say in Latin: “Having said these things, the woman left the house”
Bonus 2: How does Latin normally contract the construction futurum esse?
DEPONENTS
HAEC LOUCTA FEMINA DOMO EXCESSIT
FORE
What warlord of the late Republic, famous for being “Fortunate,” had Marius as his greatest enemy.
Bonus: Sulla fought a great war against the King of Pontus, defeating him but not removing him as a future threat to Rome. Who was this King?
SULLA
MITHRIDATES
What number is missing from the following seqence: duo, quattuor, octo, decem?
Bonus: What number is missing from this sequence: viginti triginta quinquaginta sexaginta?
SEX
QUADRAGINTA
What brother of Tiberius died while campaigning against the Germans on the Rhine frontier?
Bonus: Drusus’ son also became a famous general on the German front, quite obviously from the agnomen by which he is known today. Who is he?
DRUSUS
GERMANICUS
What did the Romans call desert?
Bonus: Now tell me the Latin words for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
SECUNDA MENSA
IENTACULAM, PRANDIUM, CENA
What use of the ablative is seen in the following sentence: Urbe capta Aeneas fugit?
Bonus: How ‘bout: Romam veniemus tribus diebus?
ABSOLUTE
TIME WITHIN WHICH
Jealous gods were always dangerous. What goddess sought to punish Psyche to whose beauty the entire world was offering divine honors?
Bonus: How did Venus plan to punish Psyche?
VENUS
CUPID WAS SENT TO MAKE HER FALL IN LOVE WITH THE MOST WRETCHED MAN POSSIBLE
What is the literal meaning of the English word agenda?
Bonus: What is the grammatical term for this word in Latin?
THINGS TO BE DONE
GERUNDIVE
By 146 B.C. the Roman Senate was becoming disturbed by the difficulty of controlling their allied and subject states. In that year, turning to terror as a technique of empire, they utterly destroyed two great cities of the ancient world. What were they?
Bonus: Both of these cities were later rebuilt and refounded as Roman colonies. Which did Caesar refound?
CARTHAGE AND CORINTH
CORINTH
What goddess has as her symbol the cornucopia?
Bonus: Venus also had a symbol, a bird. What was the name of the bird, Latin and English?
CERES/DEMETER
COLUMBA/DOVE
In the following sentence, identify the tense and voice of the participle: Femina discessura virum vidit.
Bonus: Please translate that sentence.
FUTURE, ACTIVE
THE WOMAN, ABOUT TO LEAVE, SAW A MAN
Where am I? I’m looking south towards the Palatine; to my right, high above, is the Temple of Iuppiter Optimus Maximus; to my left is the arch of Titus.
Bonus 1: If I walked straight ahead, and climbed the Palatine, and looked directly south, what hill would I see across the valley containing the Circus Maximus?
FORUM
AVENTINE
With what type of verb is the supine always used to express purpose?
Bonus: Translate this sentence: Pacem petitum ad imperatorem ivit.
VERB OF MOTION
HE WENT TO THE EMPEROR SEEKING PEACE
To what god were the oak trees of Dodona sacred?
Bonus: In what region was the oracle of Dodona located?
ZEUS
EPIRUS
A great historian of Rome chronicled the family history of the Julio Claudians year by year. Who was he?
Bonus: Tacitus also wrote on oratory, on the civils wars following the death of Nero, and a biography of his father-in-law. What was the name of his father-in-law?
TACITUS
AGRICOLA
Gotta love those participles! Translate the participle in the following sentence: “I am about to eat dinner.”
Bonus: Keeping everything else the same, make that sentence plural and translate into Latin.
ESURUS/A
ESURI/AE SUMUS CENAM
Who were the pious couple from Phrygia who unwittingly entertained Hermes and Zeus in their humble cottage?
Bonus: Into what type of trees were Baucis and Philemon transformed?
BAUCIS AND PHILEMON
OAK AND LINDEN
The 4th declension has only a few neuter nouns, and only two of them are at all common. Name them.
Bonus: But the 4th declension has a fair number of feminine nouns. Name just one.
GENU, CORNU
MANUS, DOMUS, PORTICUS, ACUS, ETC.
What is the present active infinitive of the verb hortor?
Bonus: What would be the present participle, nominative plural of hortor?
HORTARI
HORTANTES
What was the bundle of rods called that was carried in front of a Roman magistrate?
Bonus: Who were the low-level public servants who carried this bundle?
FASCES
LICTORES
Which of the following is not masculine? agricola, mons, humus, pons?
Bonus: Give the locative form of that noun.
HUMUS
HUMI
Who am I? My father, king of Thebes, was warned by an oracle that there was danger to his throne and life if I was allowed to grow up. He handed me over to a herdsman with orders to destroy me; but the herdsman, moved with pity, left me hanging on the branch of a tree. I was found by a peasant, who carried me to his master and mistress, by whom I was adopted and raised.
Bonus: My adoptive parents also gave me my name. What does it mean?
OEDIPUS
SWOLLEN-FOOT
Which of the following adjectives is not in the comparative degree: melior,latior, maius, pessimus, maior?
Bonus: Keeping everything else the same, give the superlative degree of maius?
PESSIMUS
MAXIMUM
What hill gave its name to the building that houses our senators?
Bonus: Give me the names of 6 of the 7 hills of Rome.
CAPITOLINE
PALATINE, AVENTINE, CAPITOLINE, CAELIAN, VIMINAL, QUIRINAL, ESQUILINE
Distinguish between latus, -a, -um and latus, lateris.
Bonus: Now distinguish between cado, caedo, and cedo.
WIDE and SIDE
FALL, KILL, and GO
What do these year have in common? 390 B.C., 216 B.C., 105 B.C., 9 A.D.?
Bonus: After 390 B.C. Rome was never captured again by an foreign enemy until Alaric captured Rome 800 years later. In what year did this occur?
YEARS IN WHICH ROME SUFFERED DEFEAT
410 AD
Dic Anglice nomen provinciae quam Romani appellabant Helvetiam.
Bonus: Dic Anglice nomen regionis quam Romani appellabant Caledoniam.
SWITZERLAND
SCOTLAND
The Romans had many forms of marriage, each giving rise to a slightly different relationship. What form of marriage would you be entering if you were eating little cakes made of spelt? Bonus: To what class in Rome was confarreatio limited?
CONFARREATIO
THE PATRICIANS
Listen to the following passage. I will read it twice. Then answer the question concerning that passage. Niobe, regina Thebarum, erat superba. Erat superba quod septem filos et septem filias habebat. Dixit: Causa superbiae meae non est potentia familiae et amicorum, sed fama liberorum meorum. Why was Niobe so proud?
Bonus: What was the specific cause, or source, or Niobe’s pride?
SHE HAD SEVEN SONS AND DAUGHTERS
THE FAME OF HER CHILDREN
Distinguish in meaning between os, oris and os, ossis.
Bonus: Give the plural nominative of both these nouns.
MOUTH and BONE
ORA and OSSA
Who am I? I was given the epithet “twice born” because I was snatched from my mother’s womb as she was going up in flames and sewn into my father’s thigh? I later became the god of the vine.
Bonus: According to most accounts of the myth, who was the mother of this god?
DIONYSUS/BACCHUS/LIBER
SEMELE/THYRONE
The movie Gladiator was good entertainment, bad history. But at least they got some of the names right. Who was the father of Commodus?
Bonus: The movie would have you believe that Maximus killed Commodus in the arena. In fact, there was a conspiracy against Commodus in the first year of his reign; but all the conspirators, including his sister, were betrayed and executed. Commodus ruled for another 12 years before being assassinated. How specifically did he die?
MARCUS AURELIUS
STRANGLED IN HIS BATH BY HIS ATHLETIC TRAINER
Give the adverbial form of the adjective celer.
Bonus: Now give me the adverbial form of audax.
Bonus: Now give me the adverbial form of sapiens.
CELERITER
AUDACTER
SAPIENTER
Off of what principal part of the verb does the future active participle form itself?
Bonus: Almost all future active participles form regularly from 4th principal part of the verb, or from the third principal part of deponent verbs. But the deponent verb morior is irregular. What is its future active participle?
4TH PRINCIPLE PART
MORITURUS, -A, -UM
What poet of the Late Republic was known for his notorious handbook on the seduction of women? It may have been the cause of his exile.
Bonus: What was the Latin title of this work?
OVID
ARS AMATORIA
Who was the healer who overstepped his bounds by bringing Hippolytus back to life?
Bonus: Who was Asclepius’ wise tutor, whom he eventually surpassed in medical knowledge?
ASCLEPIUS/AESCULAPIUS
CHIRON
Present participles are pretty regular, but one verb has an irregular form. What verb, with what meaning, is this?
Bonus: How does eo, ire decline in its present participle form?
EO, IRE, TO GO
IENS, IENTIS, ETC.
Many mythological characters appear in groups of three. Who are the sisters Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos?
Bonus: By what name were Briareus, Cottus, and Gyes known?
THE FATES
HECATONCHEIRES/THE HUNDRED HANDED
What is the name for the dynasty of emperors that ruled following Nero’s death?
Bonus: Galba was the first emperor in the so-called “Year of Four Emperors.” Who was the last?
FLAVIAN
VESPASIAN
Which of the following does not belong and why: vulpes, boves, leones, venatores, oves?
Bonus: What does venatores mean?
VENATORES, BECAUSE THEY’RE NOT ANIMALS
HUNTERS
Hades was King of the Dead, but who was the god of death.
Bonus: Thanatos’ father was the god of sleep. What was his name?
THANATOS
HYPNOS
What year is this? Augustus was born, Cicero was consul, Catiline’s conspiracy was unmasked, Caesar became pontifex maximus.
Bonus: Catiline was a pretty bad character, if we care to believe Cicero. How many speeches by Cicero against him have come down to us?
63 BC
4
Translate this sentence: Vidimus feminas e villa currentes.
Bonus: If we wanted to say “We saw the animals which had been killed” and only wanted to use one word for “which had been killed”, give me a word that would do the job.
WE SEE THE WOMAN RUNNING OUT OF THE HOUSE
NECATA, OCCISA, CAESA, INTERFECTA, ETC.
Which god gave Odysseus an herb to protect him from Circe’s magic?
Bonus: Put the following adventure of Odysseus in proper order: the Sirens, Cyclopes, Circe.
HERMES/MERCURY
CYCLOPES, CIRCE, SIRENS
What figure of the Late Republic was tutor to Claudius, an avowed supporter of Pompey, and the longest, if perhaps not the greatest, of Roman historians?
Bonus: How many books did this historian write, of which only 1/4 of them survived?
LIVY
142
What emperor of the Late Empire managed to reconquer a large portion of the Western Empire, including Italy, north Africa, and the coast of Spain?
Bonus: What barbaric tribe had established itself in north Africa after the Germanic invasions, where it’s kingdom remained for a 100 years before being destroyed by Justinian’s armies?
JUSTINIAN
THE VANDALS
Translate the verb in the indirect speech clause of this sentence: I know that they hear me.
Bonus: Now in this one: I know the men will hear me.
AUDIRE
AUDITOROS (ESSE)
Who was Hercules’ first wife?
Bonus: Who sent Hercules on his labors as penance for killing her?
MEGARA
EURYSTHEUS
Hannibal defeated the Romans many times during the Second Punic War, but he himself was finally defeated in Africa at this famous battle.
Bonus: Carthage survived the 2nd Punic War, but couldn’t in the end survive the hatred of this famous Roman of the mid-2nd century B.C., who used to end each speech in the Senate with the advice “Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esee”.
ZAMA
CATO THE ELDER
Rhetorical devices are very useful. What device is seen in this famous quote of Caesar: Veni, vidi, vici.
Bonus: What rhetorical device is seen here: festina lente.
ALLITERATION
OXYMORON
What poet of the Silver Age was renowned for his Epigrams?
Bonus: What near contemporary of Martial wrote Satires?
MARTIAL
JUVENAL
The law still has many old rules, stated in elegant Latin. What is the basic principle that says de minimis lex non curat?
Bonus: The phrase corpus delicti does not mean the body of a murdered person, as is commonly thought. What is its true meaning?
THE LAW DOES NOT CARE FOR SMALL THINGS
THE BODY OF THE CRIME (I.E., THE ELEMENT NECESSARY TO PROVE THE OFFENSE)
Distinguish in meaning between virgo and virga.
Bonus: Now distinguish between audio and audeo.
MAIDEN and TWIG
HEAR and DARE
The motto of the U.S. is, of course, e plurbis unum. But there is another motto on the Great Seal of the United States, and also on our dollar bills: annuit coeptis. What does it mean?
Bonus: Dartmouth College has an interesting motto for an educational institution: Vox clamantis in deserto. What does it mean?
HE HAS APPROVED OUR UNDERTAKINGS
THE VOICE OF ONE SHOUTING IN THE DESERT
Who composed the original Philippics, known as the greatest of Greek orators?
Bonus: Against whom where these speeches directed?
DEMOSTHENES
PHILIP II/PHILIP THE FATHER OF ALEXANDER
Welcome to the Final Round Level III of the Ad Fontes Certamen. We’ve seen all of you all running around the campus, trying to avoid the rain. Translate running in that sentence.
Bonus 1: Now translate “trying” in that sentence.
Bonus 2: Now translate “all of you” in that sentence.
CURRENTES
CONANTES/TEMPTANTES
OMNES VOS
When Cicero said to Catiline magno me metu liberabis, dum modo inter me atque te murus intersit what use of the ablative are we seeing?
Bonus 1: What was Cicero telling Catiline in this sentence?
Bonus 2: When Cicero says egredere aliquando ex urbe; patent portae; proficiscere, what is the grammar of egredere and proficiscere?
SEPARATION
THAT CATILINE WOULD FREE HIM FROM FEAR ONLY WHEN A WALL STOOD BETWEEN THEM
IMPERATIVES OF DEPONENT VERBS
What high office of Roman government went out of use during the late Republic, to be introduced again only under the emperors?
Bonus 1: How often were censors normally elected?
Bonus 2: How long did they serve?
THE CENSORSHIP
EVERY 5 YEAR
18 MONTHS
In Latin, what case is used for price, material, and origin?
Bonus 1: What two cases may used for agency?
Bonus 2: What two cases may be used for description?
ABLATIVE
ABLATIVE, DATIVE
GENITIVE, ABLATIVE
Who am I? I was so well-known in the upper world that I was often referred to simply as canis. Hesiod said I was a child of Echidna and Typhon, and thought I had 50 heads, but most people said I had only 3. Hercules managed to drag me from my post.
Bonus 1: Cerberus had a peculiar shaggy mane that was known to sprout what creatures?
Bonus 2: Hercules captured me, and Psyche put me to sleep with drugged cakes. But how did Orpheus manage to get past me?
CERBERUS
SERPENTS
HE LULLED HIM TO SLEEP WITH MUSIC
What do audeo, gaudeo, soleo and fido have in common?
Bonus 1: Give the principals parts of audeo.
Bonus 2: Give me the principals parts of fido
THEY ARE SEMI-DEPONENTS
AUDEO, AUDERE, AUSUS SUM
FIDO, FIDERE, FISUS SUM
Who was Emperor when Christ was crucified?
Bonus 1: Who was emperor when Christ was born?
Bonus 2: Who was emperor when the Peter and Paul were martyred?
TIBERIUS
AUGUSTUS
NERO
What playwright who lived through the dark days of the 2nd Punic War nevertheless wrote some of the best Roman comedies?
Bonus 1: What writer immortalized the scandals of the Julio-Claudian emperors in a series of biographies?
Bonus 2: What writer of the High Empire stole the name of Ovid’s greatest work and told the tale of Lucius transformed?
PLAUTUS
SUETONIUS
APULEIUS
Plato thought I was the first king of Atlantis. Homer though I was the father of Calypso. Hesiod thought I lived on the edge of the world, perhaps in Africa where a mountain range bears my name. My brother Prometheus sent Hercules too me, who talked me into fetching the golden apples of Hesperides. Who am I?
Bonus 1: Prometheus, of course, had his own problems, offering an unwilling feast every day to what type of bird?
Bonus 2: Prometheus the Titan wasn’t the only one punished for stealing fire from the gods. What “gift” did Zeus have Hephaestus fashion and present to Prometheus’ brother?
ATLAS
EAGLE
PANDORA
Caesar, we say, was killed in 44 B.C. But no one connected to that event would ever have said such a thing. In what year A.U.C. was he killed?
Bonus 1: Many Romans wouldn’t even have been so literate as to count the year from the founding of the city. What was the normal method of dating years in the Republic?
Bonus 2: Well, that wouldn’t have worked well after the Republic fell. They used the year of the emperor’s rule instead. What would be, in our reckoning, the 4th year of Tiberius’ rule?
710
BY THE NAMES OF THE CONSULS
AD 18
Four verbs have irregular singular imperatives. What are they?
Bonus 2: One of them is irregular in the plural. Which one and what is its form?
FERO, FACERE, DUCERE, DICERE
FERO, FERTE
Most everyone thinks the Roman Empire “fell” in 476 A.D., but actually Roman emperors continued to rule in the East in unbroken succession until the year Constantinople was finally captured by the Turks. What year was that?
Bonus 1: There were even Roman emperors again in the West, after a lapse of about 325 years. Who was the next Roman Emperor in the West after 476 A.D.?
Bonus 2: Charlemagne saw himself as the Emperor of the Romans, but the revived Empire in the West has received a slightly different name from historians. What was this Empire, which lasted thousand years from Charlemagn’s coronation in 800 A.D. until it’s abolition by Napoleon in 1806?
1453
CHARLEMAGNE
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
How would you translate the participle in the following sentence: Suos hortatus, Caesar equum suum incitavit.
Bonus 1: Translate the participle in this sentence: Cicero locuturus discessit.
Bonus 2: Translate the participle in this sentence: Livius fabulam de regibus expulsis narravit.
HAVING ENCOURAGED
ABOUT TO SPEAK
EXPELLED
From whom did the Roman borrow the arch, gladitorial combats, the triumph and the toga?
Bonus 1: The first gladiatorial combats were given at what kind of event?
Bonus 2: In the old-style family, who typically was responsible for making togas?
ETRUSCANS
A FUNERAL
THE MOTHER
Say in Latin “I live in Tusculum”.
Bonus 1: With what types of words is the locative used?
Bonus 2: Some regular nouns also take the locative. Give one.
HABITO TUSCULI
TOWNS AND SMALL ISLANDS
DOMUS, RUS, HUMUS
What monster lived in the ocean, between Italy and Sicily, sucking ships down into the whirlpool?
Bonus 1: What monster lived close by on the rocks, luring ships to their doom?
Bonus 2: How many men did Odysseus have to sacrifice to Scylla as he avoided Charybdis?
CHARYBDIS
SCYLLA
SIX
What is the general distinction between the pronouns se and ipse, but of which translate as “himself”?
Bonus 1: What is the general difference between suus, sua, suum and eius, both of which translate as “his, hers, its”?
Bonus 2: What is the difference in meaning between the pronoun quidam and quidem.
SE- REFLEXIVE PRONOUN, IPSE- EMPHATIC PRONOUN
SUUS-REFLEXIVE POSSESSIVE, EIUS- NON-REFLEXIVE POSSESSIVE
SOMEONE and INDEED
If Latin literature has a “father of history” it was probably Fabius Pictor. What great war did he tell the history of?
Bonus 1: What Greek historian told the history of Rome’s rise to imperial greatness?
Bonus 2: What Roman historian told the story of Catiline’s conspiracy and the War with Jugurtha?
2ND PUNIC WAR
POLYBIUS
SALLUST
What is the definition of a gerund?
Bonus 1: What declension pattern does the gerund follow?
Bonus 2: The gerund has no nominative form in Latin. What takes its place?
VERBAL NOUN
NEUTER, SINGULAR ONLY
THE INFINITIVE
When recognized perform the following command. Sta et sonum similem lupo fac.
Bonus 1: Now perform this command: Surgite omnes et cantate angilice carmen de puella quae ovem parvam habebat.
Bonus 2: Now perform this command: Surgite omnes et cantate anglice carmen de tribus muribus caecis.
STAND AND HOWL LIKE A WOLF
ALL RISE AND SING IN ENGLISH THE SONG ABOUT THE GIRL WHO HAD A LITTLE LAMB
ALL STAND AND SING IN ENGLISH THE SONG ABOUT THE THREE BLIND MICE
Third year students are comfortable with deponent verbs. Give me a quick definition of a deponent verb.
Bonus 1: English has derived a lot of verbs from the third principal part of deponents. What’s the first principal part of the verb from which we get “progress”?
Bonus 2: What’s the first principal part of the verb from which we get “patient”?
LOOKS PASSIVE BUT TRANSLATES ACTIVE
PROGREDIOR
PATIOR
The years 264, 218, and 149 B.C. have what in common?
Bonus: Which of the Punic Wars began with a dispute over the Spanish city Saguntum?
THE BEGINNING OF A WAR WITH CARTHAGE
2ND
The English word “orient,” meaning the East, is derived from what form of the deponent verb orior.
Bonus: What conjugation is orior?
PRESENT PARTICIPLE
4TH
Hercules was required in his 9th labor to recover what object from the queen of the Amazons?
Bonus: Who was this queen?
HER GIRDLE
HIPPOLYTA
Please put these battles in order: Teutonburg Forest, Actium, Pharsalus, Cannae.
Bonus: What happened at the battle of the Teutonburg Forest?
CANNAE, PHARSALUS, ACTIUM, TEUTONBURG FOREST
3 ROMAN LEGIONS WERE DESTROYED BY GERMANS
Differentiate between aestas and aetas.
Bonus: Differentiate between servo, servare and servio, servire.
SUMMER and AGE
SAVE, SERVE, and BE A SLAVE
What is unusual about the verb odi, odisse?
Bonus: What other verb, with what meaning, acts the same way?
IT ONLY HAS PERFECT FORMS BUT NO PERFECT MEANING
MEMINI- TO REMEMBER
What member of the Second Triumvirate attempted to woo Octavian’s soldiers away from him during the campaign in Sicily in 36 B.C. and was removed from power for the effort?
Bonus: Octavian was campaigning at the time against the last of the sons of Pompey. What was his name?
LEPIDUS
SEXTUS POMPEIUS
What do the following having in common? hasta, balista, saggita, gladius.
Bonus: A soldier’s shield was technically not a weapon, though clearly part of his arma. What is the Latin word for shield?
THEY’RE ALL WEAPONS
SCUTUM
What do we call the region the Romans knew as Cisalpine Gaul?
Bonus: What region was Mauritania?
THE PO VALLEY (NORTHERN ITALY)
MOROCCO
What two gods helped build the walls of Troy?
Bonus: What ancestor of Aeneas helped them?
APOLLO AND POSEIDON
ABACUS
Who issued the Edict of Milan, legalizing Christianity in the Roman Empire?
Bonus: What emperor went further and made Christianity the only permissible religion of the Empire?
CONSTANTINE
THEODOSIUS (THE GREAT)
This author is famous for many works, but was exiled from Rome by Augustus probably because of his Ars Amatoria. Who was it?
Bonus: This author’s most famous work is his Metamorphoses. What other author also wrote a work called the Metamorphoes or sometimes Asinus aureus?
OVID
APULEIUS
Identify the tense and voice of the participle moriturus.
Bonus: Using this participle, say in Latin “I know that I will die”.
FUTURE ACTIVE
SCIO ME MORITURUM (ESSE)
Distinguish between the verbs occïdo, occïdere, occïdï, occïsum and occidö, occidere, occidï, occäsum.
Bonus: Translate this sentence and tell me the tense and voice of the participle: Caesare occïso, senatores e curia exiverunt.
TO SLAY and TO PERISH
CAESAR KILLED, THE SENATORS LEFT THE SENATE-HOUSE, PERFECT PASSIVE
The first civil wars in Rome broke out in the 80’s B.C., as Rome was preparing to fight this last great king in the East, the ruler of Pontus.
Bonus: How many wars did Rome fight with this ruler before he finally committed suicide in 63 B.C.?
MITHRIDATES
3
How can a February certamen go without mention of the story of Cupid and Psyche? How did Psyche finally win permission to marry Cupid?
Bonus: The Cupid and Psyche story is probably an old one, but only one writer tells it in the ancient world. Who was this writer and what was the title of his work?
BY BRINGING BACK A LITTLE OF PERSEPHONE’S BEAUTY FROM THE UNDERWORLD
APULEIUS, METAMORPHOSES (THE GOLDEN ASS)
Odi is a defective verb, which accounts for the famous phrase odi et amo. What do these words mean and who wrote these lines
Bonus: Whom did he write them about?
I LOVE AND I HATE, CATULLUS
LESBIA
Take the number of conjugations, add the number of voices, and multiply by the number of tenses. Tell me your answer in Latin.
Bonus: Take the number of the hills of Rome and multiply by the number of the kings of Rome and give me you answer in Latin.
TRIGINTA SEX
UNDEQUINQUAGINTA
What constellation was created when Aphrodite and Eros hid in a river?
Bonus: Whom were these gods hiding from?
PISCES
THE TITANS
What was the Roman form of marriage for patricians, involving a cermony with cakes?
Bonus: This form of marriage became rare and was replaced by two more common forms. Name and describe them.
CONFARREATIO
COEMPTIO- PURCHASE, USUS- SIMPLY LIVING TOGETHER
It is often said that Latin lacks the perfect active participle, but this is not strictly true. What type of verbs, by their nature, can only have perfect active participles?
Bonus: With that said, translate this sentence: Haec locuta, Julia ex atrio exit.
DEPONENTS
HAVING SPOKEN THESE WORDS, JULIA LEAVES OUT OF THE ATRIUM
Pygmalion was the name of two famous characters in legend. Describe them.
THE SCULPTOR WHO CREATED THE LIVING WOMAN (GALATEA), DIDO’S BROTHER
Distinguish in meaning between avus and nepos.
Bonus: Distinguish in meaning between mater and noverca.
GRANDFATHER AND GRANDSON
MOTHER AND STEP-MOTHER
How and on what special day did Eurydice die?
Bonus: Orpheus himself came to a bad end. How did he die?
SNAKE BITE ON HER WEDDING DAY
TORN APART BY THE MAENADS
Who was famous for writing Odes and Satires during the Age of Augustus?
Bonus: What other poet was famous for his Satires?
HORACE
JUVENAL/PERSIUS/LUCILIUS
What is the superlative of parvus?
Bonus: What is the superlative of acer?
MINIMUS
ACERRIMUS
At what great battle in 490 B.C. did the Greeks defeat the Persians and prevent the conquest of Greece?
Bonus. Who was the Persian king who launched this invasion?
MARATHON
DARIUS
Please translate Tibi rogandus est.
Bonus 1: What participle helps form this curious verb tense?
Bonus 2: Now this: Tibi dona a me danda sunt.
YOU MUST ASK HIM
FUTURE PASSIVE
GIFTS MUST BE GIVEN BY ME TO YOU (OR I MUST GIVE YOU GIFTS)
The first 5 emperors of Rome constitute the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Name all 5 in order.
Bonus: After the turmoil of 69 A.D., what dynasty took control of Rome and who, in order, were its members?
AUGUSTUS, TIBERIUS, CALIGULA, CLAUDIUS, NERO
FLAVIAN and VESPASIAN, TITUS, DOMITIAN
Which of the following does not belong: pes, genu, pollex, avis, oculus? Avis.
Bonus: Please define those body parts.
AVIS
FOOT, KNEE, THUMB, EYE
What Trojan priest warned his countrymen to beware of Greeks, even when bearing gifts?
Bonus: How was this priest punished for this warning?
LAOCOON
A PAIR OF SERVANTS DEVOURED HIM AND HIS TWO SONS
Caesar’s wife, he said, “must be above suspicion. Well, Caesar actually had a number of wives. Which one did he divorce because of the Bona Dea scandal?
Bonus: What was the Bona Dea scandal?
CALPURNIA
CLODIUS SNEAKED INTO THE SACRED RITES DRESSED AS A WOMAN
Translate this sentence: Equus celerior quam canis est.
Bonus: Let’s switch to the superlative. How would you say “the horse is very fast”.
A HORSE IS FASTER THAN A DOG
EQUUS CELERRIMUS EST
What hero, a glory to Hera, was also known as Alcides?
Bonus: Who was this hero’s tutor in music that was killed by his pupil?
HERCULES
LINUS
What is unusual about the noun vulgus?
Bonus: What is unusual about the noun domus?
IT IS NEUTER
EITHER 2ND DECLENSION OR 4TH BUT ALWAYS FEMININE
What emperor ordered the compilation of the entire corpus of Roman law?
Bonus: What was the name of this code of law?
JUSTINIAN
THE DIGEST
What group of three has names that mean Unresting, Grudging, and Avenging Murder?
Bonus: Name any one of the three.
THE FURIES
ALLECTO, TISIPHONE, MEGAERA
What code of law was written in 451/450 B.C.?
Bonus: What magistrates drew up the laws?
THE LAW OF THE 12 TABLES THE DECEMVIRI (LEGIBUS SCRIBUNDIS)
What rhetorical device is illustrated in this sentence: Si tecum patria loquatur, bene attendas?
Bonus: What device is represented here: Moriamur et in media arma ruamus?
PERSONIFICATION
HYSTERON-PROTERON
What Roman historian told the history of the year of the Four Emperors?
Bonus: What Greek historian told the story of the Peloppenesian War?
TACITUS
THUCYDIDES
What great Roman was made sole consul in 52 B.C.?
Bonus: This man was made sole consul to quell disturbances that began in January with the murder by Milo of this great enemy of Cicero outside of Rome on the Appian Way.
POMPEY
CLODIUS
The particle ne is joined to what noun to create the word nemo.
Bonus: What were the two words, and their case and construction, that formed to create the adverb hodie?
HOMO
HOC DIE, ABLATIVE OF TIME WHEN
What relative of Medea reluctantly purified her and Jason of fratricide?
Bonus: What brother of Medea had they slain?
CIRCE
ABSYRTUS
Which emperor had the longest reign?
Bonus: Which emperor added the most territory to the Empire?
AUGUSTUS (X2)
Both of them mean “each”, but there is an important difference between quisque and uterque. What is it?
QUISQUE- EACH OF MANY, UTERQUE- EACH OF TWO
The Romans had some gods not found in Greek mythology. Who was the Roman god of beginnings and endings?
JANUS
In the sentence Audio magistrum pueris respondentem what is the case and construction of pueris?
Bonus 1: In the sentence Pueri dormientes servos clamantes audiunt who is doing the shouting?
Bonus 2: Listen carefully and translate: Canis animal volans non est; animalia volantia sunt aves.
DATIVE OF INDIRECT OBJECT
THE SLAVES
A DOG IS NOT A FLYING ANIMAL; FLYING ANIMALS ARE BIRDS
What office died out in Rome between the end of the 2nd Punic war and its revival by Sulla?
Bonus 1: Only one person after Sulla held the office of this office. Who was it?
Bonus 2: Another office also fell into abeyance after 70 A.D., during the period of the Civil Wars, due to its enormous power over the composition of the senate. What was it?
DICTATORSHIP
CAESAR
CENSORSHIP
Translate the verb in this sentence: “Let’s remain at home”..
Bonus 1: Translate “at home”.
Bonus 2: Now make the sentence negative.
MANEAMUS
DOMI
NE MANEAMUS DOMI
What unusual physical characteristic did Arges Brontes, and Steropes share?
Bonus: What unusual physical characteristic did Teiresias endure?
THEY HAD ONLY ONE EYE (CYCLOPS)
TO BE BOTH MAN AND WOMAN
Translate the following sentence into Latin: He thinks that the man is fighting.
Bonus 1: Now this: “He thinks that the man was fighting”.
Bonus 2: Now: He thinks that the man will fight.
COGITAT VIRUM PUGNARE
COGITAT VIRUM PUGNAVISSE
COGITAT VIRUM PUGNATURUM ESSE
What emperor of Rome brought the Age of the 5 Good Emperors to an end?
Bonus 1: What happenstance of nature caused this group of Good Emperors to come to an end?
Bonus 2: Who was the son, who was eventually assassinated, sparking yet another round of civil wars?
MARCUS AURELIUS
MARCUS AURELIUS HAD A SON
COMMODUS
Say in Latin “on the fourth day”. Quarto die.
Bonus 1: Now say in Latin “in the seventh month”.
Bonus 2: Now say in Latin “within seven months”.
QUARTO DIE
SEPTIMO MENSE
SEPTEM MENSIBUS
What woman supposedly gave all gifts to man (or so her name would suggest)?
Bonus: Actually, after she opened that box, we need a remedy for all the ills she inflicted. What English word, formed from Greek, means a “remedy for all evils” or a “cure-all”?
PANDORA
PANACEA
We always ask a question like this: Crassus actually did not set out for his ill-fated Parthian campaign in 54 B.C. That year, of course, never existed. What year was it, counting A.U.C.?
Bonus 1: What does a.u.c. stand for and what does it mean?
Bonus 2: What kind of participle is condita?
700 A.U.C.
AB URBE CONDITA- FROM THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY
PERFECT PASSIVE
Festina lente was a favorite motto of Augustus. What does it mean?
Bonus 1: Make festina lente plural.
Bonus 2: Now make lente comparitive.
HURRY SLOWLY
FESTINATE LENTE
LENTIUS
Achilles’ special troop of soldiers, industrious, strong, and brave, were called the Myrmidons and had been transformed into men from what creatures?
Bonus 1: Who transformed these creatures into men?
Bonus 2: This god transformed the creatures of the island Aegina (named after the lovely maiden Aegina) because Hera had sent a plague to wipe out its population. What had made her so angry?
ANTS
ZEUS
ZEUS HAD HAD AN AFFAIR WITH AEGINA
Using odi, odisse, say in Latin “I hated that man”.
Bonus: Now make that future.
ISTUM VRUM ODERAM
ISTUM VIRUM ODERO
Who provided the young man from Greece (Odysseus) with special herbs and charms so that he might complete his quest?
Bonus: This woman did not learn the dreadful incantations of her magical charms by herself, but from this dark goddess, often called the three-formed goddess?
MEDEA
HECATE
With which of the following can hae not agree: naves, voces, pontes, dies?
Bonus 1: With which of the following can hi not agree: nautae, montes, milites, fabulae, scribae?
Bonus 2: With which of the following can soli not agree: deo, feminae, manus, igni?
PONTES
FABULAE
MANUS
Poor Cicero! He headed the proscription list of the Second Triumvirate (Antony insisted) and was killed while fleeing Italy. His head was brought back to Rome and displayed where?
Bonus 1: Antony’s wife Fulvia must have been quite a character. What did she do to Cicero’s head before it was displayed?
Bonus 2: What series of bitter speeches had Cicero delivered against Antony to cause such hatred?
ON THE ROSTRA
PULLED OUT ITS TONGUE AND PIERCED IT WITH HER KNITTING NEEDLES
THE PHILLIPICS
Cleopatra may have ruled Eygypt, but her ancestors were from what country?
Bonus 1: But Cleopatra was no descendant of the great Alexander. Which marshall of Alexander was her ancestor?
Bonus 2: Sometimes things are just handed to you on a platter. Alexander would never have been able to conquer the Persian Empire had the city states of Greece not been subdued first. What was the name of Alexander’s father who accomplished the task that the Persians never could?
MACEDONIA
PTOLEMY
PHILIP II
What was the Latin name for the Rhine River?
Bonus 1: What was the Latin name for the Rhone River?
Bonus 2: What was the Latin name for the Po River?
RHENUS
RHODANUS
PADUS
Watch out for case and number! In the sentence “Beware of Greeks, even bearing gifts” translate into Latin “bearing gifts”.
Bonus 1: In the sentence “Caesar saw the captured camp” translate into Latin “captured camp”.
Bonus 2: In the sentence “I saw the woman who was about to cry” the entire phrase “the woman who was about to cry” is express in Latin with one word. What is it? And, of course, watch out for case and gender.
FERENTES DONA
CASTRA CAPTA
LACRIMATURAM
What chatty imperial author left us biographies of of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, full of gossip and unsavory details?
Bonus 1: Give me the name of the Greek writer who left us many biographies of famous Greek and Romans.
Bonus 2: This Greek historian wrote a “Secret History” of Justinian’s reign, as well as a more conventional, and complimentary, history of that emperor’s life and times.
SUETONIUS
PLUTARCH
PROCOPIUS
Translate the subordinate verb in this sentence: “He said that he was walking to town”.
Bonus: Keeping everything else the same in the sentence, change the very only to “will walk”.
AMBULAVISSE
AMBULATURUM ESSE
Welcome to the Chancellor Certamen. Give the Latin for the subordinate verb in the sentence “We ask that you write the answers, students.”
Bonus: For the bonus, write the entire sentence “We ask that you write the answers,students.”
SCRIBATIS
ROGAMUS UT SCRIBATIS RESPONSA, DISCIPULI
What is located in the Roman Forum and known as “Mamertine”?
Bonus: In what part of the Mamertine were executions held?
PRISON
TULLIANUM
According to the author Suetonius, Augustus beat his head and tore his hair in dismay because what general had lost three legions to the Germans?
Bonus: Where and when did the disastrous defeat take place?
(P. QUINCTILIUS) VARUS
TUETONBURG FOREST, AD 9
What was the name of the staff entwined with snakes which was carried by Hermes?
Bonus: The caduceus replaced the staff entwined by one snake which originally represented the Greek god of medicine and healing. Who is this god?
CADUCEUS
ASCLEPIUS
Give the two active participles for the Latin verb ago, agere.
Bonus: Give the two perfect passive participles for ago, agere.
AGENS AND ACTURUS
ACTUS AND AGENDUS
We often talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. What was the mythological equivalent, experienced by Odysseus and Aeneas?
Bonus: Our heroes encountered these creatures probably in the Straits of Messina. Where are the Straits of Messina located?
SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS
BETWEEN SICILY AND ITALY
What title, bestowed in 27 BC, did Augustus prefer to be called?
Bonus: What title used by later emperors originally could only be bestowed by the troops after a military victory?
PRINCEPS
IMPERATOR
What is the fourth principal part of the verb fero, ferre?
Bonus: What is the difference between the noun latus and the adjective latus?
LATUS
NOUN- SIDE, ADJECTIVE- WIDE
Which triumvir was killed at the Battle of Carrhae in 52 BC?
Bonus: Against what foe did the Romans lose?
(MARCUS LICINIUS) CRASSUS
PARTHIANS
In the sentence “seeing is believing,” translate “seeing” into Latin.
Bonus: In the sentence “I believe that I have had enough seeing”, translate “seeing”
into Latin.
VIDERE
VIDENDI
Translate the subordinate clause in the following sentence into Latin using a purpose clause: “I am going to Rome to see the king.”
Bonus: Now translate the same clause using a gerundive.
UT REGEM VIDEAM
AD REGEM VIDENDUM
What cult, most appealing to soldiers, was represented by a man, born from a rock or tree, slaying a bull? The Romans were introduced to this cult after troops reached Persia during the reign of Nero.
Bonus: In what disgusting ritual did soldiers participate in order to become initiated?
MITHRAISM
BATHE/SHOWER IN THE BLOOD OF A SACRIFICED BULL
Who was the first Roman emperor to build a wall across Britain in order to keep out the barbarians?
Bonus: Which emperor sent a legion to Britain to gather sea-shells?
HADRIAN
CALIGULA (GAIUS)
In what city of the ancient world was the Pharos, or lighthouse, located?
Bonus: In what city of the ancient world were the hanging gardens located?
ALEXANDRIA
BABYLON
The winners write the history but sometimes the losers become national heroes. Who became a French national hero after losing to Julius Caesar and the Romans at Alesia?
Bonus: What woman became a British national heroine after losing to the Romans in AD 61?
VERCINGETORIX
BOUDICCA
Seneca, Tacitus, Martial, and Pliny are all authors from what age of Latin literature?
Bonus: Which of the authors, Seneca, Tacitus, Martial, and Pliny, is known for his witty epigrams?
SILVER
MARTIAL
Using a gerundive, translate into Latin the expression of purpose in this sentence: “They came to free the slaves.”
Bonus: Now translate that expression of purpose using a purpose clause.
AD SERVOS LIBERANDOS
UT SERVOS LIBERARENT
Translate this phrase from Cicero: Quae cum ita sint.
Bonus: What is the meaning of the Ciceronian phrase Ubinam gentium sumus?
SINCE THESE THINGS ARE SO/THEREFORE
WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE WE?
Identify the common bond: Pharae, Delos, Dodona, Cumae, Delphi.
Bonus: Which of these sites was a famous oracle to Zeus?
ORACLES
DODONA
Name, in order of their reigns, the “Five Good Emperors”.
Bonus: What historian who flourished during the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian wrote works called Historiae, Annales, and Agricola?
NERVA, TRAJAN, HADRIAN, ANTONINUS PIUS, MARCUS AURELIUS
TACITUS
What type of gladiator was a bestiarius?
Bonus: What did the Romans call the condemned criminals who were forced to fight as gladiators?
ONE WHO FOUGHT WILD ANIMALS
DAMNATI
What is the literal meaning of the Latin abbreviation H.I.S. or, in later years, H.J.S.? You would usually see it inscribed on tombstones.
Bonus: Give the Latin phrase for “May he rest in peace”.
HERE LIES BURIED
REQUIESCAT IN PACE
From what island did the paranoid emperor Tiberius rule the empire?
Bonus: What head of the Praetorian guard led a conspiracy against Tiberius to gain control of the empire?
CAPRI
SEJANUS
What sculptor, dissatisfied with the real women around him, fell in love with his own beautiful statue?
Bonus: What was the name of this beautiful, statuesque woman?
PYGMALION
GALATEA
Going to school in the mid-Atlantic region during the winter is always exciting because we often miss days due to snowfall. How do we say in Latin: “Let it snow”?
Bonus: What is the nominative, genitive, and gender for the Latin noun meaning “snow”?
NINGAT
NIX, NIVIS, F.
In the Zodiac, what sign represents the brothers Castor and Pollux?
Bonus: In the Zodiac, what sign represents Almathea, the goat who nourished the infant Zeus?
GEMINI
CAPRICORN
What modern country takes its name from the Latin word for silver?
Bonus: What Mediterranean island takes it name from the Latin word for copper?
ARGENTINA
CYPRUS
What governor of Sicily cruelly looted that province and was later exiled following bitter orations by Cicero?
Bonus: What mathematician’s tomb did Cicero find while he was quaestor in Sicily?
VERRES
ARCHIMEDES
Who was the author of the Satyricon?
Bonus: During the Satyricon, there is a comical dinner-party given by a self-made millionaire and freedman. Who gave this dinner?
PETRONIUS
TRIMALCHIO
What figure of speech is the use of a word, usually a proper noun, in place of another which it suggests?
Bonus: Which figure of speech is an exaggeration for effect?
METONYMY
HYPERBOLE
What Roman assembly regularly met in the Campus Martius and elected censors, praetors, and consuls?
Bonus: Which assembly was the chief legislative body and elected quaestors and aediles?
COMITIA CENTURIATA
COMITIA TRIBUTA
Because of the death of Androgeus, King Minos of Crete demanded what as tribute from Athens?
Bonus: What was the fate of these tributes?
SEVEN YOUTHS AND SEVEN MAIDENS
THEY WERE FED TO THE MINOTAUR
What is ancient Rome was a bestiarius?
Bonus: What in ancient Rome was a naumachia?
A TYPE OF GLADIATOR WHO FOUGHT ANIMALS
A MOCK NAVAL BATTLE/A PLACE CONSTRUCTED FOR A MOCK NAVAL BATTLE
What is the comparative form of the adverb magnopere?
Bonus: What is the superlative form?
MAGIS
MAXIME
Give the Latin for the verb “send” in the sentence “I know that my father will send me a letter.”
Bonus: Give the correct form for “send” in the sentence “If my father should send me a letter, I would be happy.”
MISSURUM ESSE
MITTAT
What was the term for a priest who would prophesy the future by taking the auspices?
Bonus: What was the term for a priest who would prophesy the future by examining the entrails of sacrificed animals?
AUGUR/AUGURES
HARUSPEX/HARUSPICES
In 63 BC, the consul Marcus Tullius Cicero put down a conspiracy by what man to overthrow the government and gain control?
Bonus: What title did the senate give Cicero after successfully exposing and preventing this revolution?
CATILINE
PATER PATRIAE
Who set off on a journey to find his father, long overdue at home after the end of the Trojan War?
Bonus: What was the name of Odysseus’ dog who first recognized his master after he returned home?
TELEMACHUS
ARGUS
Give the Latin for a greeting given by gladiators to the emperor or giver of the gladiatorial games.
Bonus: How did the giver of the games give the signal for the games to begin?
(AVE, IMPERATOR) MORITURI TE SALUTANT
DROPPING A NAPKIN (MAPPA)
What Latin phrase is used to describe a habitual or typical procedure for performing some action or carrying out some activity? It is abbreviated m.o.
Bonus: What Latin phrase could be used to describe the m.o as it stands at the present?
MODUS OPERANDI
STATUS QUO
Spell the Latin name for the mountain range which runs down through the peninsula of Italy.
Bonus: What mountain range separated Gallia and Hispania?
APPENNINUS/APPENNINI
PYRENEES
Divorce was as prominent in ancient Rome as it is today. Which wife did Julius Caesar divorce?
Bonus: After 30 years of marriage, whom did Cicero divorce in order to marry a rich, young wife?
POMPEIA
TERENTIA
Qui poeta clarus Veronae natus est?
Bonus: Qui poeta clarus Venusiae natus est?
CATULLUS
HORACE
What is the adverb for the Latin adjective fortis?
Bonus: What is the meaning of the Latin word forte?
FORTITER
BY CHANCE
In AD 476, the last Roman emperor in the West was deposed. Name the barbarian who removed this youngster from the throne.
Bonus: How many years longer did the Eastern Roman Empire survive before it fell?
ODOACER
997
What festival in ancient Rome involved, among other things, scantily-clad youths running through the streets brandishing leather thongs said to promote fertility?
Bonus: What Christian holiday replaced this festival?
LUPERCALIA
ST. VALENTINE’S DAY
How many consulships did Gaius Marius hold?
Bonus: Of whom was Sulla speaking when he said, “I see in this man many Mariuses.”?
SEVEN
JULIUS CAESAR
What was the purpose of the laudatio at a Roman funeral?
Bonus: Who gave Julius Caesar’s laudatio?
TO GIVE THE EULOGY
MARC ANTONY
To what Roman orator is the phrase O tempora! O mores! attributed?
Bonus: To what Roman poet is the phrase Carpe diem attributed?
(MARCUS TULLIUS) CICERO
HORACE
What tense of the subjunctive is used for the hortatory constructions?
Bonus: What tense of the subjunctive is used for the past contrary to fact constructions?
PRESENT
PLUPERFECT
What philosophy teaches that self-control, fortitude, and detachment from distracting emotions allow one to become a clear thinker?
Bonus: Which emperor of Rome, who reigned jointly with Verus, was a proponent of this philosophy?
STOICISM
MARCUS AURELIUS
What type of accusative is found in the following sentence? Canis duas menses dormiebat.
Bonus: What type of accusative is found in this sentence: Puer dixit corpus sepultum esse?
EXTENT OF TIME
INDIRECT STATEMENT
Lately, in the news, all we’ve been hearing about are Democratic and Republican primaries. Many have suggested that a victory for Senator Clinton would actually just be a third term for her husband Bill. But Bill would have a hard time competing with which Roman general, who was consul seven times?
Bonus: Our own history has shown us that the relatives of politicians often follow in their footsteps, as our current president followed his father. Who was the man above’s nephew, who also became consul?
MARIUS
JULIUS CAESAR
Please give the use of the dative case in the following sentence: Mihi est consilium.
Bonus: Give an idiomatic translation of the sentence from the toss-up.
POSSESSION
I HAVE A PLAN
Who was the muse of comedy?
Bonus: Who was the muse of dance?
THALIA
TERPSICHORE
What two parts of speech is a participle?
Bonus: What two parts of speech is an infinitive?
VERB AND ADJECTIVE
NOUN AND VERB
In political campaigns, labor unions are often powerful forces whose endorsements are sought by numerous hopeful candidates. In ancient Rome, most difficult labor was done by slaves, who did not have the backing of powerful unions. They only had one method of protest: a revolt. Which Thracian slave led the largest slave revolt in Roman history, a force of at least 70,000?
Bonus: Politicians today negotiate with labor unions for an outcome beneficial for everyone. The Romans employed a different strategy. Which Roman general was mainly responsible for the defeat of the man above’s army? He also ordered the crucification of 6,000 slaves along the Via Appia.
SPARTACUS
CRASSUS
Of the following, which author is most well known for his comedies: Catullus, Plautus, Martial?
Bonus: What is Martial known for?
PLAUTUS
EPIGRAMS
What degree would be used to indicate that something is very short?
Bonus: Say in Latin, “the swords are very short.”
SUPERLATIVE
GLADII BREVISSIMI SUNT
In Latin, ask me if I am allowed to drink wine.
Bonus: Translate into Latin: “Does driving please you?”
LICETNE IBI VINUM BIBERE?
PLACETNE TIBI AGERE [VEHICULUM]?
Where was the famous oracle dedicated to Apollo?
Bonus: The oracle was located on the slopes of what mountain?
DELPHI
MOUNT PARNASSUS
During President Kennedy’s term, there were numerous rumors about Marilyn Monroe, and during the term of President Clinton, we heard a lot about Monica Lewinski. Who was the ruler of Egypt, who captured the attentions of both Julius Caesar and Marc Antony?
Bonus: The Roman people did not appreciate foreign queens distracting their leaders, and the person above was not welcomed in their city. This made her future plans for her son with Caesar seem less and less likely. Who was this boy, who suffered an unfortunate fate at the hands of Octavian?
CLEOPATRA
CAESARION
There are many ways to express purpose in Latin prose. Give two correct ways to translate “to see” in this sentence: “I came to see Caesar.”
UT VIDEREM, VIDENDUM, VISUM
What daughters of Atlas were assigned to guard the Golden Apples?
Bonus: To what group of the daughters of Atlas did Maia, mother of Hermes, belong?
HESPERIDES
PLEIADES
Name the priestess who resided in a cave near the Greek city of Naples.
Bonus: To whom did she give the Sybilline books?
CUMAEN SIBYL
TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS
In America, there are Republicans and Democrats. In Rome, they didn’t really have such organized political parties, but there were names used to divide various political groups. Name these two groups.
Bonus: With which group is Marius associated? What about Sulla?
OPTIMATES AND POPULARES
MARIUS- POPULARES, SULLA- OPTIMATES
Since this is a TJ certamen, a science question is necessary. Give the Latin name and English translation of the abbreviation Fe from the periodic table.
Bonus: Give the Latin and English for Na.
FERRUM- IRON
NATRIUM- SODIUM
In troubled times like these, we need a strong president who knows what to do. Perhaps we should follow the Roman example, and convince an ex-politician to leave his farm and defend the country. Who was the Roman farmer who left his plough to help defend his people?
Bonus: We do have an American example from long ago—what president is known as the American version of the person before?
CINCINNATUS
GEORGE WASHINGTON
Responde Latine: Quod erat praenomen Caesaris?
Bonus: Responde Latine: Quid dixit Caesar, cum Rubiconem transisset?
GAIUS
ALEA IACTA EST
What case do the adjectives peritus, cupidus, and plenus take?
Bonus: Define these adjectives.
GENITIVE
PERITUS- SKILLFUL, CUPIDUS- DESIROUS, PLENUS- FULL
This group of daughters were told to kill their husbands on their wedding nights; ninety-eight percent of them did. Who were these daughters?
Bonus: How many daughters killed their husbands?
DANAIDS
100
Roman authors, in particular Vergil, were influenced by what author of the Iliad and the Odyssey?
Bonus: What early 20th century Irish author wrote Ulysses, the story of the Odyssey set in modern Dublin?
HOMER
JAMES JOYCE
The Maenads followed this god. Who was he?
Bonus: The Maenads tore up this god’s cousin, who didn’t believe in this god’s divinity.
DIONYSUS/BACCHUS
PENTHEUS
A “sponsalia” was a ceremony announcing what event?
Bonus: Responde Latine: What was the Roman equivalent of the Matron of Honor?
ENGAGEMENT
PRONUBA
What use of quam is found in the following sentence? Advenite domum quam primum.
Bonus: What use of quam is found in the following sentence? Quam arborem ascendit?
QUAM+SUPERLATIVE- AS __ AS POSSIBLE
INTERROGATIVE ADJECTIVE
Sadly, the triumvirate plan is not a viable option, as Hugh Laurey is in fact British. So, yet another idea to free us off our numerous problems: resurrect Cicero! To do so, we’ll have to go to his birthplace to pick up his clothes. Where was he born?
Bonus: Now, to resurrect Rome’s greatest orator, we must go to the place of his death. Where did he die?
ARPINUM
FORMIAE
We’re known as an elderly couple associated with oak and linden trees.
Bonus: We’re known as a couple repopulating the earth, one rock at a time.
BAUCIS AND PHILEMON
PYRRHA AND DEUCALION
Responde Anglice: How many animals were sacrificed in the Roman religious ceremony suovetaurilia and what were the animals?
Bonus: After the animals were sacrificed, their organs were inspected to see if they were favorable. What type of person in ancient times held this position?
THREE- PIG, SHEEP, BULL
HARUSPEX
Translate the following sentence: Si te videam, laeta sim.
Bonus: What type of conditional clause is used in this sentence?
IF I SHOULD SEE YOU, I WOULD BE HAPPY
SHOULD/WOULD OR FUTURE LESS VIVID
Poor Phineus, stuck on an island constantly being annoyed by these creatures; at least he was eventually rescued by the Argonauts. Who were these creatures?
Bonus: The leader of the harpies was known as ____.
HARPIES
CELAENO
Which of the following words is not derived from the same Latin word as the others: Equestrian, equator, equitation, equine,?
Bonus: From what Latin adjective is this word derived?
EQUATOR
AEQUUS, -A, -UM
We have just been notified that the government refuses to finance our proposition of resurrecting Rome’s greatest orator. So, we must find yet another way to deal with our problems. Maybe a dictator is in order? Someone to delay our enemies with guerilla tactics. The Romans had such a leader in the second Punic War. Who was he?
QUINTUS FABIUS MAXIMUS
The Romans were fortunate to have many great leaders during all three of the Punic wars. During the first Punic war, who was the consul, captured by the Carthiginians and sent to Rome to negotiate a peace treaty, who advised his fellow Romans to continue the fight. He honored his agreement with the Carthiginians by returning, and there, he was executed. They placed him inside a spiked barrel and rolled it down a hill. Who was he?
REGULUS
I’m one of the sons of Priam, one who lived after the Trojan war. I’m a seer by trade, and ended up marrying my brother’s wife.
Bonus: Who was the said wife?
HELENUS
ANDROMACHE
What does it mean if a Roman tombstone says, “Dis Manibus”?
Bonus: Who co-ruled with Marcus Aurelius, for part of his rule during the reign of the 5 emperors?
TO THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD
LUCIUS VERUS
Give the 3rd person singular, pluperfect active subjunctive form of the verb: Scribo, scribere.
Bonus: Change that to the imperfect subjunctive, keeping same person.
SCRIPSISSET
SCRIBERET
In General, it’s not a good thing to challenge the gods. What satyr challenged Apollo to a musical duel with Tmolus as judge?
Bonus: What other satyr challenged Apollo to a musical duel judged by the Muses, lost, and was consequently flayed alive?
PAN
MARSYAS
During whose rule did Mount Vesuvius erupt?
Bonus: The Arch of this man in Rome commemorates his conquest of which city in 70 C.E.?
TITUS
JERUSALEM
This man, king of the island upon which the box containing Danae and Perseus landed, wanted to take Danae as his bride.
Bonus: This man, a fisherman and brother of the man above, had rescued Danae and Perseus from the box in the first place. He was instated king after the man above met his demise.
POLYDECTES
DICTYS
What is the name for those nouns for which the genitive plural ends in ium?
Bonus: Which of the following nouns does not have a genitive plural ending in –ium: Nox, as, hostis, os, mons?
I-STEMS
OS
In the Roman army, who were the sagittarii?
Bonus: What was a scutum?
ARCHERS
SHIELD
Who constructed the Pantheon, under Augustus’ orders?
Bonus: Which Roman emperor added the dome to the building?
AGRIPPA
HADRIAN
Using the verb capio, capere: Translate just the verb in the following sentence: “The conspirators were seized in Philippi.”
Bonus: Now translate “in Phillippi”.
CAPTI SUNT
PHILLIPIS
Complete the analogy: vox is to vocis as tempestas is to ____.
Bonus: What is the meaning of tempestas, tempestatis?
TEMPESTATIS
WEATHER
From what Latin verb, meaning to touch, do we get the English words integral, contiguity, and attain?
Bonus: What English adjective meaning “real or actual, rather than imaginary or visionary” comes from this word?
TANGO
TANGIBLE
Heracles killed this music tutor by hurling the teacher’s own lyre at him.
Bonus: Brash and impatient and capable of feeling incredibly guilty, Heracles wrestled Death to bring back this wife of Admetus. She had died for her husband in order to extend her husband’s life.
LINUS
ALCESTIS
Enough of these boring history questions. Now for something more interesting. Let’s talk about mothers. Mothers are often very doting on their children, and love them very much. This was true in ancient Rome. The Roman woman Cornelia called her two boys her “jewels.” Who were her two boys?
Bonus: When did Tiberius die? 133 B.C.E
TIBERIUS AND GAIUS GRACCHUS
133 BCE
Welcome to the Cinema Romana! What current movie would the Romans have called “Erit sanguis”?
Bonus: What current movie would the Romans have called “Nova silva”?
THERE WILL BE BLOOD
A STRANGE WILDERNESS
You will all be very happy to hear that the history questions in this round will follow a theme of movies and TV-shows. “300,” is the Hollywood version of a handful of Spartans, armed with only spears and protected solely by leather loincloths, fighting to the death against all odds. This incorrect but nonetheless enjoyable depiction of the Spartans’ fight against the Persians is actually based on the story of which battle in history?
Bonus: When did this battle occur?
THERMOPYLAE
480 BCE
While drama was originally invented by the Greeks, like many aspects of Greek culture, it was imitated by the Romans. Which Roman comic playwright wrote about a “haunted house”?
Bonus: What later Roman writer, known primarily for his letters, wrote to his friend about a supposed haunted house in Athens?
PLAUTUS
PLINY THE YOUNGER
Give the Latin noun and its meaning from which we derive the English verb “fluctuate.”
Bonus: Now give a Latin verb from which we derive the English noun “fluidity.”
FLUCTUS- WAVE
FLUERE- TO FLOW
What was the name given to female followers of Bacchus?
Bonus: Who are we? We sisters scorned the rites of Bacchus, so he turned us into bats.
MAENADS
MINYADES/MINYAE
Using the Latin noun for ‘step’, translate the following English sentence into Latin using a dative of possession: “I have the best grades.”
Bonus: Again using a dative of possession, translate into Latin: “My friends have better grades than me.”
OPTIMI GRADUS SUNT MIIHI
MELIORES GRADUS SUNT AMICIS QUAM MIHI
Give the name of the city that was the home of Orestes, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia, and Agamemnon.
Bonus: This city is said to have been founded by what hero of legend?
MYCENAE
PERSEUS
Roman poets would often imitate Greek works as models for their work. Virgil’s Aeneid, for example, follows Homer’s Odyssey. What Greek poetess does Catullus imitate in his poem 51?
Bonus: What literary term is used to describe Catullus 64, a short, “mini-epic”?
SAPPHO
EPYLLION
Listen to the following passage, and respond in
English to the question that follows. Vir praeclarus in historia Romae erat Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Semper vim in proelio vim dicendi vim mentis praestitit. Ei cognomen “Magnum” a Sulla datum est. Deinde piratas tres menses pugnabat, et eos superavit. Cum Crassa Caesareque prīmum triumviratum finxit, quamquam postquam a Caesare ad Pharsalam vincitur. What were two strengths which Pompey had?
Bonus: How long did it take for him to defeat the pirates?
IN BATTLE, OF SPEAKING, OF THE MIND
THREE MONTHS
Give the use of the dative in this sentence: Omnia mihi simul agenda erant.
Bonus: Now translate that sentence
AGENT
EVERYTHING HAD TO BE DONE BY ME ONCE
What province bordering the Black Sea was home to the cities Nicomedia, Chalcedon, Cius, Nicaea and Apamea? It is also where Catullus spent a year on the staff of Gaius Memmius.
Bonus: Memmius was governor of this province around 57 BC. What Roman writer/ politician served as governor of this province from 103 – 105 AD?
BITHYNIA
PLINY THE YOUNGER
The popular TV show, “House M.D.” features a blatantly sarcastic and manipulative doctor who ensures that no one leaves his presence without a snide remark. House’s only friend is Princeton Plainsboro’s unfortunate head of oncology, Wilson. House’s characteristics also seem to be shared by Cicero, Rome’s greatest orator. Who was Cicero’s close friend, to whom he wrote quite often?
Bonus: Cicero, like House, was unable to hold his tongue, and often offended people he would have been better off praising. In the end, Cicero’s offenses caught up to him, and he was killed. Where and when did this occur?
(December 7,) 43 B.C.E at Formiae
ATTICUS
DECEMBER 7, 43 BCE; FORMIAE
Which of the following authors did NOT write during the “Golden Age”: Propertius, Livy, Ovid, or Quintilian?
Bonus: What subject did this author primarily concern himself with?
QUINTILLIAN
RHETORIC
Give the two possible tenses and moods of loquimini?
Bonus: In school, teachers are much more likely to say ‘Don’t talk’ than ‘Talk!’. How would you render that in Latin, using the verb loquor?
PRESENT INDICATIVE, PRESENT IMPERATIVE
NOLI/NOLITE LOQUI
Who was the goddess of the rainbow?
Bonus: This goddess took whose form in book 12 of the Aeneid??=
IRIS
JUTURNA
The Pythian games were held in honor of which god?
Bonus: At the same site as the Pythian games, there was a stone thought by Greeks to be the center of the universe. Give the name of this stone.
APOLLO
OMPHALOS STONE
The new Rambo movie, starring Sylvester Stallone, is in reality two hours of senseless killing, explosions, and death. Some people have suggested that such movies are just making our society more violent, but, violence has been part of human nature for thousands of years. Which Roman ended every single speech he gave with the hardly peace-promoting phrase “Carthago Delenda Est?”
CATO THE ELDER
The Rambo movies also seem to suggest that no matter how long you fight or how long people shoot at you, you will never die. Real life works a little differently. Who was the Roman general, during the 3rd Samnite war who blindfolded himself and charged into battle, ensuring his death and the victory of his troops?
DECIUS MUS
Name the three poetic devices used in this line from book 1 of Vergil’s Aeneid: “Illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis//circum claustra fremunt;”
ONOMATOPOEIA, ANASTROPHE, ALLITERATION
What do the following have in common: Haliai, Oreades, Hamadryads, Nereids, Naiads?
Bonus: Which two of the previous are beings of salt water?
TYPES OF NYMPHS
HALIAI AND NEREIDS
The last history question of the round will connect to The Sopranos, a television show which recently aired its last episode. Like in the TV show, gangs were also present in ancient Rome. The most famous occurrence of gangs was during the late Republic with the conflict between Clodius and Milo. Which of these men died first?
Bonus: In what year did Clodius die?
CLODIUS
52 BCE
What verb does not belong for reasons of grammar, and why: Parco, noceo, servo, persuadeo?
Bonus: Of those 4 verbs, which has a reduplicative perfect stem?
SERVO, THE OTHERS TAKE THE DATIVE CASE
PARCO (PEPERCI)
During the first Punic war, the Romans were pestered by the notorious pirates of Illyricum. Illyricum’s queen ignored Roman complaints. In a few days, she was greeted by nearly 200 Roman ships, and was forced to abandon all her nation’s claims to any islands, renounce her conquests in Greece, and cut her naval forces. Who was this ruler?
TEUTA
Ancient poets named a certain metrical foot after their finger, because fingers have a long bone followed by two short bones. What was this type of foot called?
Bonus: If you wanted to write a poem in dactylic hexameter, how many feet would be in each line, and which foot has to have a dactyl?
DACTYL
6 METRICAL FEET PER LINE, THE 5TH FOOT HAS TO BE A DACTYL
We all know that “ut” is a word that often followed by the subjunctive, but when used with the indicative how would one translate it?
Bonus: “Dum” is a word that means “while” or “as long as” in the indicative, but when used with the subjunctive how would one translate it?
AS/HOW/WHEN
UNTIL
Complete this analogy: Self-restraint is to stoicism as pleasure is to ____.
Bonus: Which emperor, who wrote a series of essays known now as “Meditationes,” strongly embraced Stoicism?
EPICUREANISM
MARCUS AURELIUS
As you might have guessed, the history questions in this round will discuss powerful women in Roman history. Who was the queen of Palmyra who revolted against the Romans?
Bonus: Who was emperor during the revolt?
ZENOBIA
AURELIAN
Publius Ovidius Naso was a prolific writer, and apparently, lover, in ancient times. What was his lover’s name in the “Amores”?
Bonus: Ovid was exiled due to his “Carmen et error”. To what place was he exiled?
CORINNA
TOMIS, ON THE BLACK SEA
Toss Up 8. Differentiate in meaning between the Latin verbs “ pereo, perere” and “perdo, perdere.”
Bonus: Differentiate in meaning between the Latin verbs “pendeo, pendere” and “pando pandere”.
PERERE- TO PERISH, PERDERE- TO DESTROY
PENDERE- TO DEPEND, PANDERE- TO REVEAL
Quis sum? Filius sororis Daedali eram, et Daedalus me necavit.
Bonus: Quis sum? Daedalus necavit me in thermis.
PERDIX/TALUS/CALUS
MINOS
Which Roman province on the Black Sea has a name that means literally “sea?”
Bonus: With which king of this region did Sulla fight?
PONTUS
MITHRIDATES
Another powerful woman might as well have been the empress of Rome. Don’t think Agrippina here, although there are some similarities. This woman’s son became emperor at the age of fourteen, and she took the reigns from him until the end of his rule. Who was this woman, the mother of Severus Alexander?
Bonus: Who was Severus Alexander’s predecessor, an extravagant young man who thought of himself as an Oriental Sun God?
JULIA MAMAEA
ELAGABALUS
How many elisions are there in this line of poetry, which I will read aloud as prose: “Conticuere omnes, intentique ora tenebant
Bonus: What is the term, meaning a “yawning”, for the pause between words that would normally be elided but are not?
TWO
HIATUS
Which of the following words is not an I-stem: bos, vis, pars, mare, civis?
Bonus: Decline vis in the singular:
BOS
VIS, VIS, VI, VIM, VI
Which Roman value, meaning roughly “duty,” is associated with Aeneas?
Bonus: What other value, meaning “prestige” or “worth,” is associated with Cicero?
PIETAS
DIGNITAS
Who am I? My husband, the king, had willed my kingdom to the Romans. They confiscated our farmlands and raped my daughters. But I sought revenge by collecting an army and capturing the colony of Camulodunum. I then proceeded to march on Londinium where I ordered the massacre of 70,000 Romans. After being defeated by another Roman legion, I took my own life.
Bonus: Who was the Roman general who defeated this queen’s forces?
BOUDICCA
SUETONIUS PAULINUS
What does the phrase Mirabile dictu! mean?
Bonus: What grammatical construction is seen in the phrase, and what gender is it?
MARVELOUS TO SAY!
THE SUPINE, NEUTER
Complete the following analogy: participles are to adjectives as gerunds are to what?
Bonus: Complete the following analogy: participles are to adjectives as gerundives are to what?
NOUNS
ADJECTIVES
This sorceress, after killing her two sons, escaped in a carriage pulled by dragons.
Bonus: A play of the same name was written by the Greek playwright Euripides, but also by what Roman author of the Silver Age?
MEDEA
SENECA
Often the last question in a round asks students to perform a silly command or moo like a cow. We are much more grown up in the upper level, right? So instead, after being recognized, please imitate what Aeneas does in the following line from Book I of the Aeneid, which I will read in prose: ingemit et, duplices, tendens ad sidera palmas.
Bonus: Have one team member display the emotion felt by Aeneas in this line, from the end of book II: Obstipui, steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit .
STRETCH BOTH HANDS TO SKY, GROANING
LOOK AMAZED, SCARED, HAIR ON END, GRABBING THROAT, ANYTHING SIMILAR TO THAT EFFECT
The history theme for the third round is rulers, battles and laws. During the Civil war with Pompey, where and when did Caesar suffer a major defeat upon landing in Greece?
Bonus: Immediately before the battle of Pharsalus, Caesar’s trusted centurion Crastinus told Caesar “Faciam hodie, imperator, ut aut vivo mihi aut mortuo gratias agas.” Translate that.
DYRRHACIUM, 48 BCE
I SHALL MAKE IT, TODAY, GENERAL, THAT YOU GIVE THANKS TO ME EITHER LIVING OR DEAD
Augustus commissioned Vergil to write Rome’s national epic, the Aeneid. Who was Vergil’s patron?
Bonus: What did Vergil want to happen to his manuscript of the Aeneid after he died, and who prevented it?
MAECENAS
HE WANTED IT BURNED BUT AUGUSTUS DIDN’T ALLOW IT
There are a lot of weapons used in Latin poetry. Which from the following list is NOT a weapon: ‘tela’, ‘arcus’, ‘ensis’, ‘sagitta’, ‘munus’?
Bonus: Give a Latin synonym for ‘ensis’.
MUNUS
GLADIUS
What are the possible genders for 4th declension nouns?
Bonus: Translate just the 4th declension word in the following sentence. “The strings of their bows were very strong.”
MASCULINE, FEMININE, NEUTER
ARCUUM
What island was home to Teucer, Pygmalion, and Venus?
Bonus: What city, the the island above’s capital, was named from the child of Pygmalion- at least according to Ovid?
CYPRUS
PAPHOS
Everyone loves getting gifts. However, during the second Punic war, Hannibal received one that he did not ask for and did not appreciate: the head of his brother Hasdrubal. At what battle had he died?
Bonus: When did this battle occur?
METAURUS RIVER
207 BCE
If your Latin teacher catches you stealing Ecce Romani from the class library with the book in your hand, what legal Latin phrase might she use, despite your protests that it’s not what it seems? Bonus: If Hilary Clinton is elected president, what phrase about a woman leader—describing Dido and later adopted by Queen Elizabeth I—might be recirculated?
RES IPSA LOQUITAR or FLAGRANTE DELICTO
DUX FEMINA FACTI
Use an ablative absolute to translate the dependent clause in the following sentence. “After he had spoken these words, the moderator waited for the students to answer.”
Bonus: Suppose you had just said “his” instead of “his verbis”. What grammatical form would that be an example of?
HIS VERBIS DICTIS
SUBSTANTIVE
What do the following mythological characters have in common: Hebe, Megara, Deianira?
Bonus: The emperor Commodus thought he was Hercules, and met a sticky end, as did Hercules himself. What monster’s poisonous blood indirectly caused Hercules to burn himself alive?
WIVES OF HERCULES
THE HYDRA’S
What is the home of the Sibyl who leads Aeneas to the underworld?
Bonus: In the Aeneid, what is the name of the Sibyl?
CUMAE
DEIPHOBE
Which law gave Pompey command against the pirates in 67 B.C.E.?
Bonus: Which law gave Pompey command against Mithridates that next year?
LEX GABINIA
LEX MANILIA
“Elmo was clothed in mystery and a towel.” What literary device is this an example of?
Bonus: What does the Greek word above mean?
ZEUGMA
BOND/BRIDGE
What soldier did the Myrmidons serve?
Bonus: On what island, named for a lover of Zeus, did the Myrmidons originate?
ACHILLES
AEGINA
‘Oculus’ is the usual word for eyes, but what word meaning ‘light’ is used as a poetic substitution for eyes?
Bonus: In Catullus 64, Amphitrite stands for the sea over which she rules. What poetic device is this an example of?
LLUMEN (LUMINA)
METONYMY
Listen to the following passage, and respond in English to the question that follows. “Mater, mater, mihi illam vestem eme! Mea pulchritudo, secunda modo deabus forma, servanda est.” puella molesta poposcit. Diu adspexit matrem, sed tandem excedere e taberna coepit. Puella exclamavit, “Cur excedimus?” Mater respondit, “Si recte rogavisses, dicens “si vis”, tibi vestem emissem. Autem,nunc necesse est nobis ire domum.” Why does the girl want to have the garment?
Bonus: Under what condition would the girl have been able to get the garment?
SHE WANTS TO PRESERVE HER BEAUTY
IF SHE PROPERLY ASKED, SAYING PLEASE
List two major events in 133 B.C.E.
Bonus: Why was Gracchus killed?
PERGAMUM BEQUEATHED TO ROME BY ATTALUS III, SCIPIO AEMILIANUS CAPTURED NUMANTIA, TRIBUNSEHIP AND ASSASSINATION OF TIBERIUS GRACCHUS
FOR ATTEMPTING TO IMPLEMENT LAND REFORMS
Which of the following words is not onomatopoeic in nature: Moenia, murmur, cachinnus, ululo?
Bonus: What is the difference between metonymy and synecdoche?
MOENIA
METONYMY- USES ONE WORD TO MEAN ANOTHER, SYNECHDOCHE- TYPE OF METONYMY THAT USES A PART TO SUGGEST A WHOLE
Translate just the infinitive in the following sentence. “I thought you had left Rome.”
Bonus: Translate just the subjunctive in the following sentence. “I don’t know where she is going.”
DISCESSISSE
EAT
What nymph was turned into a sunflower, as she pined away for Apollo’s love?
Bonus: A crow told Apollo that this woman had cheated on him.
CLYTIE
CORONIS
Welcome to the Biblioteca Romana. What is the name of the English class classic the Romans would have called ”Pictura Artificis Iuvenis”? Bonus: Well, you can’t read the serious stuff all the time. What popular fantasy series would the Romans would have called “Eius Obscurae Materiae”?
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN
HIS DARK MATERIALS
Give two translations for Romae.
Bonus: Give another one.
OF ROME, FOR ROME, IN/AT ROME
