1999 Ad Fontes Certamen
Level III - Final Round

1. Welcome to the Final Round of the Ad Fontes Certamen. We've seen you all walking around the campus and hope you've enjoyed yourselves. Translate "walking" in that last sentence. Ambulantes

Bonus 1: What is the grammar of ambulantes in that sentence, i.e., part of speech, number, and case. Present participle, plural, accusative.

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. Ambulando / gerund / singular, ablative.

2. When Cicero said to Catiline hunc mihi timorem eripe, what use of the dative are we seeing? Dative of separation.

Bonus 1:What was Cicero urging Catiline to do? Depart from the city.

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 agent.

3. 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. Dictatorship.

Bonus 1:What leader of the civil wars of the 80's revived the dictatorship? Sulla.

Bonus 2: After Sulla, who was the next dictator in Rome? Caesar.

4. In Latin, what case is used for measurement, weight, and quality? Genitive.

Bonus 1: Say in Latin "Caesar was a man of great virtue". Caesar vir magnae virtutis erat.

Bonus 2:What other case might be used for description? Ablative.

5. 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. Psyche.

Bonus 1:Psyche's final task was to fetch this from the Underworld. Some of Proserpine's beauty.

Bonus 2:Cupid and Pscyhe then had a child, whose name was Pleasure. What was the child's name in Latin? Voluptas.

6. We all know the Great Neuter Rule - the nominative and the accusative are the same and in the plural end with -a. But give me one example of a Latin word whose neuter plural form does NOT end in -a. Quae, haec, duo, ambo.

Bonus 1:Give me another.

Bonus 2: Give me another.

7. 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? [P.] Claudius Pulcher.

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? If they will not eat, let them drink.

Bonus 2: What happend to Pulcher when he returned to Rome? He was charged with sacrilege and fined.

8. What verse pattern was typically used by ancients for their epic poems? Dactylic hexameter.

Bonus 1: What is the standard for the 5th foot of a dactylic hexameter? A dactyl.
A spondaic line.

9. The Greeks thought that this god was very well traveled, having roamed all the way to India and back before inventing wine. Dionysus / Bacchus

Bonus 1: Dionysus once arrived in Argos and duelled the local king, another son of Zeus. Who was this king? Perseus.

Bonus 2: OK, so we know Dionysus' father was Zeus. Who was his mother? Semele.

10. Saturninus and Glaucia were not, of course, killed in 100 B.C. That year never existed. What year were they slain A.U.C.? 654.

Bonus 1: The great disaster at the Teutoberg Forest didn't occur in 9 A.D. but in this year A.U.C. 762.

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? Varro.

11. We all know the phrase cave canem. Now make that phrase plural. Cavete canes.
Bonus 1: Four verbs have irregular singular imperatives. Give me the forms, singular and plural, of two of those irregular imperatives. Fer, fac, duc, dic.

Bonus 2: Give me and other two.

12. Most everyone rejoiced when Domitian was slain. What great historian of that age hated Domitian for poisoning his father-in-law? Tacitus.

Bonus 1: Who was Tacitus' father-in-law, about whom he wrote a short biography? Agricola.

Bonus 2: Tacitus also wrote a short description of what people, with whom the Romans waged many wars during his lifetime? Germans.

13. How would you translate the participle in the following sentence: Haec locutae, feminae domo exierunt. Having spoken (said).

Bonus:Translate the participle in this sentence: Hoc facto Lucius ad villam rediit. (Having been) done.

Bonus 2: Translate the participle in this sentence: Femina virum necatura gladium sumpsit. About the kill, who was about to kill, etc.

14. We call them lawyers or attorneys. What did the Romans call the people that spoke on your behalf when you were called to court? Advocati.

Bonus 1: The fee that advocati could charge was regulated by law under the Republic. What was the amount of the fee? Nothing.

Bonus 2: In the Empire, lawyers were allowed to collect something for the efforts. What was their payment called? Honorarium / palmarium.

15. On our brochure for this Certamen you might have noticed the phrase "qui venerunt certatum". What part of grammar is "certatum". Supine.


Bonus 1: With what type of verbs can the accusative form of the supine be used? Verbs of motion.

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? 4Th.

16. Who was willing to face the capital punishment that has been decreed by Creon, the new king of Thebes, as the penalty for anyone burying Polyneices? Antigone.

Bonus 1: Antigone's story was told in a play of the same name. Who was the author of Antigone? Sophocles.

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? Oedipus Rex (the King).

17. To what small family of verbs do the following belong: gaudeo, audeo, fido, soleo? Semi-deponents.

Bonus 1: What are the principal parts of audeo? Audeo, -ere, ausus sum.

Bonus 2: In the sentence "Having dared these things, Caesar rose to the height of power" translate "having dared these things". Haec ausus.

18. Sallust was considered by some ancients as the equal of what great Greek historian, the author of The Peloponnesian War? Thucydides.

Bonus 1: Whom did all the ancients consider the Father of History? Herodotus.

Bonus 2: What later Greek historian wrote the history of Rome's rise to empire? Polybius.

19. The gerund doesn't really have a nominative form. What is used to express the nominative gerund, just as in English. The infinitive.

Bonus 1: What case of the gerund is used with causa. Genitive.

Bonus 2: So how would we say, "for the sake of fighting"? Pugnandi causa (or gratia).

20. What type of verb has a perfect active participle? Deponents.

Bonus 1: With that in mind, say in Latin: "Having said these things, the woman left the house". Haec locuta femina domo excessit (exiviit, etc.).

Bonus 2: How does Latin normally contract the construction futurum esse? Fore.