Gwinnett County (Spring) Certamen Championship
Upper Round
TU1: Welcome to spring GCCC (even though it is technically winter). Roman poets often refer to the seasons in their writings. Give the Latin words for two of the four seasons.
ver, aetas, autumnus, hiems
B1: Now give the words for the other two seasons:
B2: Describe how Ovid in the Metamorphoses explains how the seasons came about:
Proserpina spents part of the year with Pluto, Ceres does not grow crops during that time.
TU2: By now you have probably finished the final stage in Cambridge Unit IV. Give the Latin word for a formal charge made against an individual: accusatio
B1: Now give the formal name for a trial: cognition
B2: And now the term used for a conviction: damnation
TU3: Speaking of laws and trial, what are the names of the deities responsible for punishing mortals guilty of crimes against the natural order of things, such as patricide?
Furies / Erinyes
B1: The Erinyes were later renamed by Athena the Eumenides (kindly ones) for their acquiescence to allow the Athenians to decide Orestes’ guilt or innocence. Who is the author of the play that bears the euphemistic name of these deities? Aeschylus
B2: Aeschylus is the author of the only surviving trilogy of which the Eumenides is the final play. What is the trilogy commonly called? The Oresteia
TU4: What is the name for the following grammatical construction: nimbus ingentes Juppiter misit ad genus mortale perdendum? Gerundive
B1: What is the difference between a gerund and a gerundive?
gerund - verbal noun / doesn’t modify anything else; gerundive - verbal adjective / modifies a noun, etc.
B2: Using a gerund, say in Latin: a love of reading books. amor libros legendi
TU5: What Roman biographer had a tendency to scandalize the private lives of the emperors in his de vita Caesarum? (C.) Suetonius (Tranquillius)
B1: With the life of which emperor did Suetonius concludes his Lives? Domitian
B2: Which of Suetonius’ works were biographies of illustrious writers categorized by genre? de viris illustribus / on the Lives of Illustrious Men
THE SCORE AFTER FIVE QUESTIONS IS…
TU6: What is the nomen of the author of poems to Lesbia? Valerius
B1: What is his praenomen? Gaius
B2: In what city was Gaius Valerius Catullus born? Verona
TU7: The shortest poem of Catullus is only two lines long and begins Odi et amo. Translate this phrase. "I hate and I love"
B1: What is the poetical term used to describe the juxtaposition of odi et amo? Antithesis
B2: The whole poem reads: Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?/ Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior. What are the principal parts and meaning of the verb from which fieri is derived? fio, fieri, factus sum - be made, become, happen
TU8: Translate “leader” in the following sentence: He knew that the leader would come to Rome. Ducem
B1: From the same sentence, translate “would come.” venturum esse
B2: Make “venturum esse” a perfect infinitive. venisse
TU9: What Shakespearean tragedy would the Romans have called “Labor amoris amissus?” Love’s Labor Lost
B1: What classic would this be? “ Fortis novus orbis terrarum” Brave New World
B2: How about this one? “Murum et hominum” Of Mice and Men
TU10: What literary device is illustrated in this line from Ovid? Sonuerunt cymbala toto litore et attonita tympana pulsa manu. onomatopoesia / consonance
B1: What literary device is defined as "the use of the conjunction to add each member in a series"? Example: et color et Theseus et vox. polysyndeton
B2: What literary device is defined as "the omission of the conjunction in a series"?
asyndeton
THE SCORE AFTER TEN QUESTIONS IS:
TU11: Where would you be if you were floating down the river Phlegethon?
The underworld
B1: What was the river of forgetfulness in Hades? Lethe
B2: What river were souls who had not received proper burial forbidden to cross? Styx
TU12: In Latin, instruct Marcus to speak! Marce, dic
B1: Now instruct Cornelius to do it! Corneli, fac
B2: Now tell Marcella to lead! Marcella, duc
TU13: What rhetorical device is evident in the sentence, “Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers.”? alliteration / consonance
B1: The repetition of the “p” sound could indicate what other rhetorical device?
consonance / alliteration
B2: What is the repetition of vowel sounds known as? assonance
TU14: Who received the agnomen “Africanus” for his defeat of Hannibal?
(Publius Cornelius) Scipio
B1: From what island in the Mediterranean did Scipio invade Africa? Sicily
B2: In what battle did Scipio defeat the Carthaginian general Hannibal? Zama
THE SCORE BEFORE THE FINAL QUESTION IS…
TU15: When Julius Caesar was given a perpetual dictatorship in February of 44 B.C. he
probably expected that he would hold this office for years to come. How long did he actually hold it? About one month
B1: When Julius Caesar had functioned as dictator in 48 and 47 B.C., he sent his magister equitum to calm things down in Italy. This man is the one we usually think of as Caesar's right hand and was the Lupercus who offered Caesar the diadem in 44 B.C. Who was he? Marcus Antonius / Marc Antony
B2: A different man became a magister equitum in 44 B.C., while Antony was appointed flamen. The two men were later mortal enemies. Who was this magister equitum?
Octavian |