2000 Ad Fontes Certamen
Level II - Round One

1. Which of the following is not a deponent verb: moror, morior, fruor, uxor, and vescor? Uxor.

Bonus: Which of the verbs above (i.e. moror, morior, fruor, and vescor) take an object in the ablative? Fruor and vescor.

2. Responde latine. Quot cohortes in legione sunt? Decem.

Bonus: Responde latine. Quot centuriones in cohorte? Sex.

3. Had his men not let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, Odysseus might have made it home from Troy in the first year of his voyage. What was it that the sailors let out of the bag? The winds.

Bonus: What god of the winds gave the bag to Odysseus? Aeolus.

4. The decisive battle between Pompey and Caesar occurred at Pharsalus in 48 B.C. After his defeat, Pompey fled to Alexandria. How was he received there? He was killed (by order of Ptolemy).

Bonus: Whom did Caesar attempt to reinstate on the throne of Egypt after he pursued Pompey to Alexandria? Cleopatra.

5. What part of speech are the names of months in Latin? Adjectives.

Bonus: What months have the Ides on the 15th? March, May, July, October.

6. What is unusual about verbs of favoring, helping, pleasing, and trusting with regard to their grammatical usage? Their objects are in the dative case.

Bonus: Give four other type of verbs that would take the dative. Opposites of those above, believe, persuade, command, obey, serve, resist, envy, threaten, pardon, and spare.

7. In a Roman household, what was the special duty of a coquus? Cooking

Bonus: Translate quid coquitur? What's cooking?

8. What famous creature sprang from the blood of Medusa? Pegasus.

Bonus: What god was reputed to have sired Pegasus? Poseidon/Neptune.

9. Hamilcar Barca expanded Carthage's empire by conquering parts of Spain. He also fathered one of the greatest generals the world has seen. Who was this Carthaginian general? Hannibal.

Bonus: Whose war tactic of encirclement did Scipio Africanus adopt to defeat Hannibal at Zama? Hannibal's.

10. What degree of adjective would be used to express that something is too heavy? Comparative.

Bonus: Say in Latin: The rock is too heavy. Saxum gravius est.

11. Give the four imperative singular forms that lack their final -e. Dic, duc, fac, fer.

Bonus: Give the plural imperatives of duc and fer. Ducite, ferte.

12. What was the name of the slave who was thrown to the lions but was not killed because the fiercest lion recognized him as a friend? Androcles / Androclus.

Bonus: What had Androcles done that had earned the friendship of this lion? Removed a thorn from his paw.

13. Which of the following fruits did the Romans not grow: apples, cherries, grapes, oranges, pears, peaches? Oranges.

Bonus: Give the Roman names of two of the fruits above. Malum, cerasum, uva, pirum, persicum.

14. What hero captured Pegasus at Corinth and later killed the Chimera? Bellerophon.

Bonus: How did Bellerophon die? He was flung off Pegasus while trying to fly to Mt. Olympus.

15. Sometimes certamen questions can seem to go on endlessly. What Latin expression expresses "endlessly"? Ad infinitum.

Bonus: What is the expression that means from the beginning, literally translated "from the egg"? Ab ovo.

16. What Latin word would introduce the subordinate clause in the following sentence: We held back so that the other teams would ring in first. Ut.

Bonus: What do we call the type of subordinate clause in this sentence: "We asked that they accompany us"? An ut clause of indirect command.

17. Romans thought that eating butter was barbaric. What did they use instead? Olive oil.

Bonus: What, in Latin and English, did Romans use to sweeten foods? Mel / honey.

18. The words oak and linden should bring to mind the story of what famous old couple who were turned into adjoining trees as a reward for showing hospitality? Baucis and Philemon.

Bonus: Who were the gods to whom they showed hospitality? Zeus/Juppiter and Hermes/Mercury.

19. Even while denying the rumor, who divorced his wife after it was said that Publius Clodius Pulcher had disturbed the rites of the Bona Dea in order to be with her? Julius Caesar.

Bonus: Who was this wife? Pompeia.

20. Give the three participles and their meanings from the verb scribo. Scribens-writing, scriptus/a/um-having been written, scripturus/a/um-about to write.

Bonus: Translate the participle in the following sentence: Thisbe, intending to die, drew Pyramus' dagger. Moritura.