Pre-States Questions—Advanced Flashcards
What Spanish poet gave a first hand account of the opening of the Colosseum?
MARTIAL
B1 What was the name of the book?
LIBER SPECTACULORUM
B2 Martial is primarily known for writing epigrams. How many books of his epigrams survive?
14
What Silver Age epic poet was implicated in the Pisonian Conspiracy and was forced to commit suicide in 65 AD?
LUCAN
B1: What is Lucan’s only extant work, which depicts Julius Caesar as a villain in his civil war against Pompey?
PHARSALIA/BELLUM CIVILE
B2: What work by Lucan’s uncle, Seneca, involved a mockery of the deification of the
emperor Claudius?
APOCOLOCYNTOSIS
Who wrote the Carmen Saeculare to celebrate Augustus’ renewal of the Ludi Saeculares in 17 BC?
HORACE
B1 What is the name given to Horace’s letter to Lucius Calpurnius Piso, advises readers on the art of verse?
ARS POETICA
B2 To what collective work of Horace does the Ars Poetica belong?
EPISTULAE
What Roman poet, born in Venusia, is responsible for the quote “carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero”?
HORACE
B1: In what work of Horace is that quote found?
ODES/CARMINA
B2: Horace in his Odes claims to have dropped his sheild and fled from what battle of 42 BC, in imitation of Greek lyric poets such as Alcaeus and Archilochus?
PHILIPPI
Who wrote a Historiae which started with the consulship of Lapidus and Catulus in 78 BC, and covered Roman history until the command of Pompey against Mithridates in 67 BC?
SALLUST
B1 What term is given to the works of Sallust that deal with singular historical subjects?
MONOGRAPHS
B2 Name either of the monographs written by Sallust.
BELLUM CATILINAE or BELLUM JUGURTHINUM
Varro Atacinus, Valerius Cato, Cinna, and Catullus all belonged to what poetic movement, which tended to focus on lighter subjects rather than heroic epic?
NEOTERICS
B1: Catullus dedicated his poetry to what biographer, the author of a de Viris Illustribus which includes biographies of Hannibal and Atticus?
CORNELIUS NEPOS
B2: Which of Catullus’ poems contain a famous ekphrasis on the abandonment of Ariadne by Theseus?
POEM 64
Who wrote four books of elegies, largely dedicated to a woman he calls Cynthia?
PROPERTIUS
B1 What was Cynthia’s real name?
HOSTIA
B2 Who identified Cynthia as Hostia in his Apologia?
APULEIUS
What author, born in 284 BC, translated the Odyssey from Greek to Latin?
LIVIUS ANDRONICUS
B1 Although the Odyssey was composed in dactylic hexameter, what meter did Andronicus use in his translation?
SATURNIAN
B2 What term is given to the Latin comedies from Greek originals that Andronicus also composed?
FABULAE PALLIATAE
What work of Greek literature served as the model for both Petronius’ Satyricon and the first half of Vergil’s Aeneid, and was translated into Latin by Livius Andronicus?
THE ODYSSEY
B1: Instead of using dactylic hexameter, Livius Andronicus used what type of meter in his ranslation of the Odyssey?
SATURNIAN
B2: Andronicus’ play Gladiolus falls into what genre of Roman drama, in which Greek plays are adapted into Roman settings?
FABULA PALLIATA
What Roman author, born at Tusculum, was the first author to compose a Roman history in Latin?
CATO THE ELDER
B1 What was the name of that prose history?
ORIGINES
B2 What year, AUC, was Cato born?
520 AUC (if there is a challenge of 519 reminder of inclusive counting)
Who was the first Roman to write in dactylic hexameter, and the first to write satire?
ENNIUS
B1: What was the title of Ennius’ 18 book epic on Rome’s history?
ANNALES
B2: What poem of Ennius celebrated the capture of the titular town by Ennius’ patron, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior?
AMBRACIA
What work, begun by its author in 29 B.C., ends with the death of Drusus in 9 B.C.?
AB URBE CONDITA
B1 Into how many books was Ab Urbe Condita divided?
142
B2 How many of the books at least partially survive?
35
An encyclopedia of 37 books is the only remaining work form what author from Comum?
PLINY THE ELDER
B1: What is the name of Pliny’s encyclopedia?
NATURALIS HISTORIAE
B2: One of the works of Pliny that does not survive was a history of Rome’s wars against what people, also the subject of a work of Tacitus?
GERMANS
What work, rediscovered in the Renaissance by Boccaccio, follows the misadventures of the main character, Lucius, as he is transformed into a donkey and seeks to find a way to transform himself back into a human?
METAMORPHOSES/THE GOLDEN ASS/ASINUS AUREUS
B1: Who wrote the novel, Metamorphoses?
APULEIUS
B2: Apuleius’ Apologia was his defense against what crime?
WITCHCRAFT/MAGIC
What 6 book poem was a didactic poem outlining Epicurian philosophy?
DE RERUM NATURA
B1: Who was the author of De Rerum Natura?
LUCRETIUS
B2: Lucretius died in 55 BC after being driven insane by a love potion. According to Aelius Donatus, what Roman poet, the future author of the Georgics, assumed the toga virilis on the same day that Lucretius died?
VERGIL
