Premier Certamen League 2021 (PCL 2) - Preliminary Round 3

Moderator says: “I will read one test question for no points. This question is definitely not reflective of the difficulty or style of the round. Topics in test questions may appear later in the tournament.”

0. L. Ron Hoyabembe’s quote “turn that poop into wine,” from an Eric Andre skit, might have been directed towards what Delian king’s daughters that were transformed into white doves?

ANIUS

B1: What mother of Anius might have quoted Eric Andre’s octopus to ask “mind if I float around your establishment?” after she was thrown into the sea?

RHOEO

B2: After departing from Anius’s homeland, Aeneas might have quoted Eric Andre to question, “I wonder if these handsome athletic [...] men respect me. I wonder if they can help me define success” upon approaching what city, ruled by Helenus?

BUTHROTUM

Moderator says: “Subsequent questions will count for points. Good luck and have fun!”

1. Holders of what profession went to the Caelian Hill during a riot that killed over 7,000 soldiers, instigated by Felicissimus when Aurelian accused them of embezzling silver and debasing the coinage?

MINT-WORKERS / MONEYERS / MONĒTĀRIĪ

B1: After the influx of wealth from the Palmyrene campaign, Aurelian increased the powers of what position, first held by Gaius Turranius?

PRAEFECTUS ANNŌNAE

B2: In his efforts to reform the currency, Aurelian also issued a new version, featuring 4% silver content, of what coin, which was worth two dēnāriī when it was first introduced earlier that century?

ANTŌNĪNIĀNUS

2. Who held sporting events — where his guest was mocked by Euryalus and his own sons Laodamas and Clytoneus participated — after he saw that guest crying at the songs of Demodocus?

ALCINOUS

B1: In response to the mockery of Euryalus, Odysseus quickly proved his worth at what sport, sometimes said to have been invented by Perseus?

DISCUS-THROWING [ACCEPT EQUIVS.]

B2: The night before, Alcinous had told Odysseus how Phaeacian ships brought what man to Euboea to visit Tityus, though no source tells us why?

RHADAMANTHYS / RHADAMANTHUS

3. What author wrote a history “in large letters” for his son, as well as a practical handbook advising him to avoid the “vile” Greeks and be a “vir bonus dīcendī perītus,” entitled Praecepta ad Fīlium?

(M. PORCIUS) CATO THE ELDER

B1: What emperor, who addressed one poem to his “animula vagula blandula” and another to Florus, liked Cato better than Cicero?

(P. AELIUS) HADRIAN(US)

B2: What other four-word Latin phrase on rhetoric is preserved from the Praecepta ad Fīlium?

REM TENĒ, VERBA SEQUENTUR

4. Give the meanings of the two Latin verbs at the root of “constable,” which comes through the phrase “comes stabulī,” or “count of the stable.”

(TO) GO and (TO) STAND

B1: Give the meanings of the two Latin words, excluding prefixes, at the ultimate root of “vintage.”

WINE and BUY

B2: Give the meanings of the two Latin words at the root of “benison.”

{GOOD / WELL} and (TO) SAY

5. Note to players: there will be an extra clue. Translate from Greek to English: “πολλοὶ καὶ ἀγαθοὶ ἄνδρες ἀπέθανον.” The form ἀπέθανον is aorist from ἀποθνῄσκω, which means “to die.”

MANY (AND) {GOOD / BRAVE} MEN DIED

B1: Now translate, keeping in mind that νικᾶν is an infinitive: “ἤ νικᾶν ἤ καλῶς ἀποθνῄσκειν βούλονται οἱ Ἕλληνες.”

THE GREEKS WANT TO EITHER WIN OR DIE BEAUTIFULLY

B2: Now translate: “τοὺς Πέρσας ἰδόντας ταῦτα γιγνόμενα φόβος ἔλαβε.”

FEAR SEIZED THE PERSIANS {SEEING // AS THEY SAW // WHEN THEY SAW} THESE THINGS HAPPENING

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6. What town, which supplied Argos with water after a woman was saved from a satyr by Poseidon, was home to the supposedly bottomless Alcyonian Lake as well as a large crab and a many-headed monster?

LERNA

B1: What son did Poseidon bear to this woman after saving her?

NAUPLIUS

B2: What local man helped Dionysus dive into the Alcyonian Lake to rescue his mother?

PROSYMNUS / POLYMNUS / HYPOLIPNUS

7. I shall now show a visual depicting a map of Europe, with dots marking two cities. The answer will be the names of both cities. You will have 15 seconds to examine the visual before the question.
[Scorekeeper should share their screen to show the visual: Round 3 Visual]
Identify these two cities — one in Paelignian territory, the other on the Black Sea — which represent the birth- and death-place of an author whose carmen et error led to his exile?

{SULMO / SULMONA} and {TOMI / CONSTANȚA}

B1: What 4-book work from Ovid’s exile ends with a long list of poets, of whom Grattius Faliscus is the only one whose work survives beyond occasional quotations?

EPISTULAE EX PONTŌ

B2: [ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iEajpNr8Au_LPK5khbWGntX4ol7q_T7S/view?usp=sharing ]
I will now paste a link containing a second visual. Though all of these couples appear in Ovid’s Hērōides, identify, by letter and names, the mythological couple who does NOT have a pair of letters from both the man and the woman. You have thirty seconds.

C – {HERACLES / HERCULES} and DEIAN(E)IRA

8. Express in the best classical Latin the phrase “three times two,” in which “two” should be a distributive and “three” should be a numeral adverb.

TER {BĪNĪ / BĪNAE / BĪNA} [ACCEPT “BIS {TERNĪ / TRĪNĪ}” BEFORE “DISTRIBUTIVE”]

B1: Express in the best classical Latin the phrase “two million Gauls,” which uses the same sort of multiplication as the toss-up.

VICIĒ(N)S CENTĒNA MĪLIA GALLŌRUM

B2: How many sesterces are denoted by the phrase “trecentiēns miliēns centēna mīlia sestertium”? You have forty seconds.

30 BILLION [300,000 * 100,000]

9. Who was replaced by Hordeonius Flaccus as governor of Upper Germany, even though he was popular for refusing the throne after heading to Vesontio and putting down the revolt of Julius Vindex?

(L.) VERGINIUS RUFUS

B1: At the same time as he replaced Verginius, Galba also replaced the recently-killed governor of Germania Inferior, Fonteius Capito, with what man, whose father had been a censor under Claudius?

(A.) VITELLIUS

B2: During his tenure, whom had Fonteius Capito falsely charged with treason, which turned him into an actual traitor?

(C.) JULIUS CIVILIS

10. Of the adjectives saucius, immānis, repentīnus, inclutus, and taeter, which could metaphorically mean someone madly in love, reflected in the imagery of Cupid’s arrow piercing them and “wounding” their heart?

SAUCIUS

B1: Of the adjectives hebes, immānis, inclutus, repentīnus, and taeter, which has the secondary meaning “stupid” or “sluggish”?

HEBES

B2: Define the remaining four adjectives.

IMMĀNIS – HUGE; INCLUTUS – FAMOUS; REPENTĪNUS – SUDDEN; TAETER – LOATHSOME

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11. What author’s distasteful deeds include his merciless extortion of the Iceni, his justification of a matricide as imperial speech-writer, and his groveling to Polybius in one of his supposedly Stoic Cōnsōlātiōnēs?

(L. ANNAEUS) SENECA THE YOUNGER

B1: Name the addressees of Seneca’s other two Cōnsōlātiōnēs, which are more Stoic in content.

MARCIA and (HIS MOTHER) HELVIA

B2: Which dialogue of Seneca, addressed to his brother, responds to accusations about his immense wealth, remarking “nēmō sapientiam paupertāte damnāvit”?

(AD GALLIŌNEM) DĒ VĪTĀ BEĀTĀ

12. What type of clause, whose sense is approximated in a sentence like “Hoc ita est ūtile ut nē inlūdāmur,” is more properly exemplified by “tantum ut sciant” and “valētūdō modo bona sit”?

PROVISO (CLAUSE)

B1: Though nōn dubitō is followed by a quīn clause, what type of clause most often follows a verb of doubting in the positive?

INDIRECT QUESTION

B2: What term is given to a subset of cum temporal clauses where the clause contains the main idea of the sentence, like “Hoc facere parābant, cum subitō nūntius imprōvīsus vēnit”?

CUM INVERSUM

13. What Roman festival, where ashes from calves were sprinkled onto a bonfire to purify shepherds, was dedicated to their protecting deity and celebrated the birthday of Rome on April 21?

PARĪLIA / PALĪLIA

B1: What festival involved a man rising at midnight and making a sign with the thumb between his closed fingers, then walking barefoot through the house?

LEMŪRIA

B2: At what bizarre festival on April 15 would the Romans sacrifice pregnant cows to Tellus and burn the unborn calves for use in the Parīlia?

FORDICĪDIA [ACCEPT “FORDICIA,” BUT INFORM PLAYERS ADKINS IS WRONG]

14. What deity saved Nyctimus, provided prophecies through Daphnis or shared the Delphic Oracle with Poseidon, and protected animals by sending a scorpion to stop the boastful Orion?

GE / GAEA

B1: Another account of Orion’s death claims what deity abducted him to Ortygia and lay with him, angering Artemis?

EOS

B2: In some versions, Gaea gave her prophecies at Delphi by herself while Poseidon used what man as a mouthpiece?

PYRCON

15. Later converted into Rome’s tenth province by Sulla, what region was pacified a few years after Aemilius Papus and his co-consul won at Cape Telamon against the Boii and Insubres, securing control of northern Italy?

CISALPINE GAUL // GALLIA {CISALPĪNA / CITERIOR / TOGĀTA} [PROMPT ON “GAUL”]

B1: What treaty, signed the year before Cape Telamon, was likely a product of Rome’s desire to focus on events in Cisalpine Gaul?

{EBRO / HIBERUS} (RIVER) TREATY

B2: What road stretched from Rome to Ariminum and allowed easy access to Cisalpine Gaul, especially after the Via Aemilia Lepidī expanded it to Placentia?

VIA FLĀMINIA

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16. Using a syncopated form and the best idiom, say in Latin: “Why have you condemned me to death?”

CŪR MĒ {CAPITIS / CAPITE} {DAMNĀSTĪ / DAMNĀSTIS}?

B1: Using an alternate form and a syncopated form respectively for the two verbs, say in good Latin: “If the gods were just, Titus would’ve lived.”

SĪ {DĪ / DĪĪ / DEĪ} {IŪSTĪ / AEQUĪ} FORENT, TITUS VĪXET

B2: Using a meditative verb and a syncopated form, say in Latin: “They say the mare is accustomed to eagerly seek food.”

EQUAM CIBUM {PETESSERE / PETISSERE} (CŌN)SUĒSSE {DĪCUNT / TRĀDUNT / FERUNT}

17. What Spartan’s acts of striking people in the face with a stick and bribing the Delphic Oracle to remove his co-king Demaratus overshadowed his successful invasion of Athens in 510 B.C. that forced Hippias out of power?

CLEOMENES

B1: Who told Cleomenes that men who fought in trousers and wore peaked hats were “so easy… for the beating,” but was shunned after revealing that the journey from Sparta to Susa would take three months?

ARISTAGORAS

B2: Cleomenes was accused not just of bribing the Delphic Oracle, but also of taking bribes to spare what Argive city that he defeated in 494 B.C.?

SEPEIA

18. What Latin word, in various forms, fills in the blank in the line “[blank] ille quī procul negōtiīs,” is the B in the abbreviation BVM, and completes Aeneas’s famous exclamation “Ō terque quaterque [blank]!”

BEĀTUS / BEĀTA / BEĀTĪ [ALSO ACCEPT “BEŌ / BEĀRE”]

B1: What proper name is represented by the M in the abbreviation BVM?

MARĪA / MARY [BEĀTA VIRGŌ MARĪA]

B2: What two Latin forms fill in the blanks in the continuation of Aeneas’s quote: “Ō terque quaterque beātī, quīs ante [blank] [blank] Trōiae sub moenibus altīs contigit oppetere!”

ŌRA PATRUM

19. Works in what genre were composed in choliambic meter by Matius for reading, were performed on-stage by “flat-foots” at the Lūdī Flōrālēs, and were most famously written by Decimus Laberius and Publilius Syrus?

MIMES [PROMPT FOR LESS SPECIFICITY ON “MIMIAMBS” BEFORE “PERFORMED”]

B1: What writer, who shares his name with an earlier poet, wrote the mimes Laureolus and Phasma?

CATULLUS

B2: What 4th-century poet’s Ephēmeris, one of many poems transmitted under the collective title Opuscula, is perhaps written in the style of a mime?

(DECIMUS MAGNUS) AUSONIUS

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20. What mountain, which acted as Aristaeus’ final home before he vanished, was named after either the blood Typhon lost when attacked by thunderbolts, or the vain husband of Rhodope?

(MT.) HAEMUS

B1: What act caused Haemus and Rhodope to become mountains?

CALLING THEMSELVES {ZEUS AND HERA // BY THE NAMES OF THE HIGHEST GODS}

B2: On what island did Aristaeus help reduce the scorching heat by praying to Zeus to send the Etesian winds?

CEUS / CEOS

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[SOURCES]

N.B.: “Hadas” refers to either the Latin Lit. or the Greek Lit. sourcebook, but “Greek Hadas” or “Latin Hadas” will be explicitly stated if it is not clear in context. The same applies to “Adkins” for Roman/Greek Life. “Chronicle” refers either to Matyszak’s Chronicle of the Roman Republic or Scarre’s Chronicle of the Roman Emperors, depending on whether the question is about the Republic or the Empire.

0 TU: video / B1: video / B2: video  

1 TU: Chronicle p. 187 & C&S p. 514 / B1: C&S pp. 514, 327 / B2: C&S pp. 514, 496 

2 TU: Od. 8.83-255 / B1: Tripp p. 467 / B2: Od. 7.317-328 (Tripp p. 580 erroneously says “Phoenician ship”) 

3 TU: Hadas pp. 60-61 & OCD p. 1225 / B1: Conte pp. 590, 521 / B2: Conte p. 89 

4 TU & B1 & B2: Relevant sections of Schaeffer; “vintage” comes through vīndēmia (vīnum + dēmō) 

5 B2: cf. Thuc. 2.92, with several words changed 

6 TU & B1: Tripp pp. 343, 47-48, 279 / B2: Tripp p. 209 

7 Visual: Scattered references throughout Ov. Trist. 1 give an indication of his route from Rome to Tomi / TU: Conte p. 340 / B1: Hadas pp. 225-226 / B2: Conte p. 346 (cf. March pp. 11, 246 for the stories of Acontius & Cydippe and Hero & Leander) 

8 TU: A&G §137 c. / B1: A&G §138 a. / B2: cf. Suet. Vesp. 16 for a similarly big number in classical Latin (40 billion) 

9 TU: C&S pp. 403-404 & Heich. p. 318 / B1: C&S p. 404 & Heich p. 318 / B2: C&S p. 418 

10 TU: Relevant entries in L&S; all words are in Lodge but hebes (though hebeō, hebēscō and hebetō are) 

11 TU: Rose p. 359; Hadas p. 245 / B1 & B2: Conte p. 410 

12 TU: A&G §537 b.; A&G §528 / B1: A&G §558 a. Note 1 / B2: A&G §546 a. 

13 TU & B1 & B2: Adkins p. 317 (Varro, Dē Linguā Latīnā 6.15 for “Fordicidia”) 

14 TU: Tripp p. 249 / B1: Tripp p. 223 / B2: Tripp p. 192 (Gaea did not use Pyrcon: Paus. 10.5.6) 

15 TU: Heich. pp. 182, 101 / B1: Heich. p. 103 / B2: Heich. p. 101; C&S p. 140 

16 TU: A&G §352 a., §181 / B1: A&G §170 a., §181 / B2: A&G §263 b., §181, §205 b. Note 2 

17 TU: Pomeroy pp. 189, 174 / B1: Pomeroy pp. 183-184 / B2: Pomeroy p. 189 

18 TU & B1 & B2: Veni Vidi Vici p. 45; Stone pp. 156; Aen. 1.94-95 (cf. VVV p. 187)  

19 TU: Conte pp. 139-140, 128 / B1: Conte p. 403 / B2: Hadas p. 384; Conte p. 655 

20 TU & B1: Tripp p. 259; Ov. Met. 6.87-89 / B2: Tripp p. 102