2001 Ad Fontes Certamen
Level III - Finals


1. 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. Currentes.

Bonus 1: Now translate "trying" in that sentence. Conantes / temptantes

Bonus 2: Now translate "all of you" in that sentence. Omnes vos.

2. 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? Ablative of separation.

Bonus 1: What was Cicero telling Catiline in this sentence? That Catiline would free him from fear only when a wall stood between them.

Bonus 2: When Cicero says egredere aliquando ex urbe; patent portae; proficiscere, what is the grammar of egredere and proficiscere? Imperatives (of deponent verbs).

3. What high office of Roman government went out of use during the late Republic, to be introduced again only under the emperors? The censorship.

Bonus 1: How often were censors normally elected? Every 5 years.

Bonus 2: How long did they serve? 18 months.

4. In Latin, what case is used for price, material, and origin? Ablative.

Bonus 1: What two cases may used for agency? Ablative and Dative.

Bonus 2: What two cases may be used for description? Genitive and Ablative.

5. 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. Cerberus.

Bonus 1: Cerberus had a peculiar shaggy mane that was known to sprout what creatures? Serpents.

Bonus 2: Hercules captured me, and Psyche put me to sleep with drugged cakes. But how did Orpheus manage to get past me? He lulled him to sleep with music.

6. What do audeo, gaudeo, soleo and fido have in common? They are semi-deponents.

Bonus 1: Give me the principals parts of audeo. audeo, audere, ausus sum

Bonus 2: Give me the principals parts of fido. fido, fidere, fisus sum

7. Who was Emperor when Christ was crucified? Tiberius.

Bonus 1: Who was emperor when Christ was born? Augustus.

Bonus 2: Who was emperor when the Peter and Paul were martyred? Nero.

8. What playwright who lived through the dark days of the 2nd Punic War nevertheless wrote some of the best Roman comedies? Plautus.

Bonus 1: What writer immortalized the scandals of the Julio-Claudian emperors in a series of biographies? Suetonius.

Bonus 2: What writer of the High Empire stole the name of Ovid's greatest work and told the tale of Lucius transformed? Apuleius.

9. 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? Atlas.

Bonus 1: Prometheus, of course, had his own problems, offering an unwilling feast every day to what type of bird? Eagle.

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? Pandora.

10. 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? 710.

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? By the names of the consuls.

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? A.D. 18.

11. Four verbs have irregular singular imperatives. I just want two of them. Fero, facere, ducere, dicere.

Bonus 1: But now I want the other two.

Bonus 2: One of them is irregular in the plural. Which one and what is its form? Fero, ferte.

12. 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? 1453.

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.? Charlemagne.

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? Holy Roman Empire.

13. How would you translate the participle in the following sentence: Suos hortatus, Caesar equum suum incitavit. Having encouraged (urged).

Bonus1: Translate the participle in this sentence: Cicero locuturus discessit. About to speak.

Bonus 2: Translate the participle in this sentence: Livius fabulam de regibus expulsis narravit. Expelled.

14. From whom did the Roman borrow the arch, gladitorial combats, the triumph and the toga? Etruscans.

Bonus 1: The first gladiatorial combats were given at what kind of event? A funeral.

Bonus 2: In the old-style family, who typically was responsible for making togas? The mother.

15. Say in Latin "I live in Tusculum". Habito Tusculi.

Bonus 1: With what types of words is the locative used? Towns and small islands.

Bonus 2: Some regular nouns also take the locative. Tell me one. Domus, rus, humus.

16. What monster lived in the ocean, between Italy and Sicily, sucking ships down into the whirlpool? Charybdis.

Bonus 1: What monster lived close by on the rocks, luring ships to their doom? Scylla.

Bonus 2: How many men did Odysseus have to sacrifice to Scylla as he avoided Charybdis? Six.

17. What is the general distinction between the pronouns se and ipse, but of which translate as "himself". Se = reflexive pronoun, ipse = emphatic pronoun.

Bonus 1: What is the general difference between suus, sua, suum and eius, both of which translate as "his, hers, its"? Suus = reflexive possessive (referring to the grammatical subject of the sentence), eius = non-reflexive possessive (not referring to the subject of the grammatical sentence).

Bonus 2: What is the difference in meaning between the pronoun quidam and quidem. Quidam = someone / quidem = indeed.

18. If Latin literature has a "father of history" it was probably Fabius Pictor. What great war did he tell the history of? 2nd Punic War / War with Hannibal.

Bonus 1: What Greek historian told the history of Rome's rise to imperial greatness? Polybius.

Bonus 2: What Roman historian told the story of Catiline's conspiracy and the War with Jugurtha. Sallust.

19. What is the definition of a gerund? Verbal noun.

Bonus 1: What declension pattern does the gerund follow? Neuter, singular only.

Bonus 2: The gerund has no nominative form in Latin. What takes its place? The infinitive.

20. When recognized perform the following command. Sta et sonum similem lupo fac. A howl.

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.