1999 Ad Fontes Certamen
Level IV - Round Two

1. Distinguish in meaning between fauces and facies. Throat / face.

Bonus: Distinguish in meaning between solum and solium. Ground / throne.

2. The sentence: Non Cinnae, non Sullae longa dominatio is an example of what kind of rhetorical figure? Ellipsis.

Bonus: What figure of speech (other than ellipsis) is in this sentence: Longa tibi exsilia et vastum maris aequor arandum. Zeugma.

3. Tiberius spend the years 12-9 B.C. putting down a great rebellion, celebrating a triumph for his effort. Over what people did he triumph in 9 B.C.? The Pannonians.

Bonus: Tiberius had a younger brother, with whom he also campaigned, until this brother died on the German frontier in 9 B.C. What was his name? Drusus.

4. What do the following having in common: far, flammeum, thalamus, nupta? They all have to do with a wedding.

Bonus: Thalamus is the name of the marriage bed. But it had another name as well. What was it? Lectus genialis.

5. What region of Greece would you be in if Macedonia was to the north, Epirus to the west, and Aetolia to the south? Thessaly.

Bonus: What great mountain, famous to the Greeks and known to all of you, lies between Thessaly and Macedonia? Mt. Olympus.

6. The Lex Hortensia of 287 B.C. Was marked the final stage of the struggle between the plebians and patricians for political and social equality. What did this law do? It made laws passed by the plebeians binding on the entire Roman people.

Bonus: The Lex Poetilia of 326 B.C. was also a landmark in Roman law and a milestone in the plebeians' struggle to free themselves from the domination of the patricians. What did the Lex Poetilia' do? Prohibited imprisonment of Roman citizens for debt.

7. Who am I? I was the daughter of Cadmus. Zeus was in love with me and told me that anything I asked of him, he would do. Foolishly, I told him that I wanted to see him in all his splendor. I didn't survive the experience. Semele.

Bonus: My child, Dionysus, was saved by this god, who sewed him into Zeus' thigh until he was ready to be born. Hermes.

8. If we wanted to say in Latin "I ran in order that no one might catch me" we would use ne quis, a negative ut clause of purpose. But what would we use if we wanted to express in this sentence a negative ut clause of result? Ut nemo / nullus

Bonus: Again, if we wanted to say in Latin "I was mean to them in order that they would never return" we would use ne umquam to express that negative clause of purpose. How about a negative result? Ut numquam.

9. We know about the major priesthoods of Rome: the pontifices, the augures, and the like. But Rome had during the republic a number of secondary religious groups charged with performing specific rituals. Name two of these groups. Fetiales, Salii, Luperci, Fratres Arvales.

Bonus: Name one other.

10. A palladium was a miraculous guardian statue and almost every city had one. Who was depicted by the palladium of Troy, which they say had fallen from the sky and which safeguarded the city? Athena.

Bonus: What two stories are told about the fate of Troy's palladium? It was carried by Aneas to Italy / It was stolen by the Greeks.

11. Translate this sentence: "Let's live in the country". Habitemus (vivamus) ruri.

Bonus:Now make the sentence negative. Ne habitemus (vivamus) ruri.

12. Who am I? Zeus formed me from a cloud in order to trick Ixion, who wished to seduce Hera. After accomplishing that purpose, I become the wife of Athamus and had two children, Phrixus and Helle. Nephele.

Bonus: What creatures were the product of the union of Nephele and Ixion? The Centaurs.

13. Distinguish in meaning between fistula and fibula. Reed pipe / pin, brooch

Bonus:Now distinguish between vertex and vortex. Peak / whirlpool.

14. What am I? I was one of the more celebrated landmarks of ancient Rome and still stand today. I was commissioned by the Senate in 13 B.C. following Augustus' victories in Spain and consecrated on the Campus Martius in 9 B.C. I'm rectangular in shape and my south side is decorated with sculptures of Augustus and the imperial family. The Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace).

Bonus:That procession was led by two lictors, followed by Augustus between two consuls; then four Flaminian priests and the Flaminian lictor; and then Agrippa and his wife Julia. Between Agrippa and Julia is a young child, their son. What was his name? Gaius (Iulius Caesar).

15. Claudia, although born of a patrician family, is unfortunately not eligible to become a Vestal Virgin. What are two of the reasons that might disqualify her? She is older than 10; she is younger than 6; she is not a virgin; her mother is dead; her father is dead; she has a speech or bodily defect; her sister has already been chosen as a Vestal Virgin.

Bonus:We know that the Vestal Virgins tended the undying fire of Rome, but what was their other main duty? To prepare the grain (mola salsa) for public sacrifices.

16. What epic poet of the empire, who wrote of the Civil War, was forced by Nero to commit suicide for his part in the Pisonian conspiracy of 65 A.D. Lucan.

Bonus: His work, an epic in 10 books covering the years 49-48 B.C., was known as de bello civili. But by what other name was it known in the ancient world? Pharsalia.

17. Catullus open one of his poems with Miser Catulle, desinas ineptire / et quod uides perisse perditum ducas. What advice is Catullus giving himself? To stop playing the fool and to consider what he sees to be lost as lost.

Bonus:What is the basic meter of these lines? (Limping) Iambic.

18. Paris, the son of Priam and Hecuba, had a lousy childhood. When his father Priam was warned by a soothsayer that his unborn son would be the destruction of Troy, what did Priam do? Ordered the infant to be exposed (on Mt. Ida).

Bonus: The king's shepherd did as he was commanded, but when he returned to Mt. Ida five days later he found 19. Paris still alive, being suckled by a wild animal. What kind of animal was that? A wild bear.

Distinguish between appello, -are and appello, -ere. To call, name / to drive to, steer or beach (a ship).
Bonus: Give me the third principal parts of both those verbs. Appelavi, appuli.

20. Although the economic history of Rome is very murky to, 269 B.C. is generally regarded as the date the Romans first did what? Coined their own money.

Bonus: Prior to the introduction of coinage, what did the Romans typically use for exchange? Bronze bars (aes signatum).