Keartamen 3 (K3) - Semifinals



Moderator says: “I will read one test question for no points. This question is not reflective of the content of the round or tournament.”


0. Known for recordings of songs such as “(If You Can’t Sing It) You’ll Have to Swing It” and “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” what “First Lady of Song” was known for her scat singing and nicknamed “Lady Ella”?

(ELLA) FITZGERALD

B1: What man wrote the lyrics and music for Kiss Me, Kate, some of whose songs Fitzgerald covered on “Ella Fitzgerald Sings the [This Man] Song Book”?

(COLE) PORTER

B2: What jazz standard, covered by Ella Fitzgerald, begins “somewhere there's music / how faint the tune / somewhere there’s heaven”?

“HOW HIGH THE MOON”


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


1. After they were defeated and killed due to the efforts of Capellianus, the governor of Numidia, what father and son were replaced by a pair of elderly Senate appointees — Pupienus and Balbinus — during the “Year of the Six Emperors”?

GORDIAN I and GORDIAN II

B1: Gordian II’s young nephew Gordian III was declared Caesar under Pupienus and Balbinus, but much of the power ultimately fell to what man, his father-in-law and Praetorian Prefect?

(GAIUS FURIUS SABINIUS AQUILA) {TIMESITHEUS / TIMISTHEUS}

B2: Gordian I was a noted poet, even composing what 30-book epic that probably celebrated the reign of Caracalla?

ANTONINIĀS / ANTONINIAD


2. When combined with forms of sum, what type of verb form can replace the pluperfect subjunctive in a contrafactual apodosis or produce the “first periphrastic” — also called the “active periphrastic” — with meanings like “I was going to fight”?

FUTURE ACTIVE PARTICIPLE [PROMPT ON “FUTURE PARTICIPLE”]

B1: Now translate these lines, taken from Plautus’ Persa: “Quī sunt quī erunt quīque fuērunt quīque futūrī sunt posthāc, / sōlus ego omnibus antīdeō facile, miserrimus hominum ut vīvam.” Know that antīdeō would be anteeō in Classical Latin.

{THEY / THOSE} WHO ARE, (THEY / THOSE) WHO WILL BE, (AND THEY / THOSE) WHO WERE, AND (THEY / THOSE) WHO WILL BE {AFTER / HEREAFTER // AFTER THIS}, I EASILY {GO BEFORE // SURPASS / PRECEDE / OUTDO} ALL (OF THEM), SO THAT I LIVE AS THE MOST MISERABLE OF MEN [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B2: Now translate these lines, taken from Horace’s Ode 1.9, sometimes called “To Thaliarchus in Winter”: “Quid sit futūrum crās, fuge quaerere, et / quem fors diērum cumque dabit, lucrō / adpōne.”

{FLEE FROM // STOP} {SEEKING // SEARCHING FOR} WHAT TOMORROW WILL BE, AND WHAT(SO)EVER (OF) DAYS {FORTUNE / CHANCE} WILL GIVE, {PLACE / COUNT} AS {PROFIT / GAIN} [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]


3. What man was commissioned by the people of Fānum Fortūnae — a town today known as “Fano” — to design a basilica whose construction he later described in his ten-book, Augustan-era manual Dē Architectūrā?

VITRUVIUS (POLLIO) [PROMPT ON “POLLIO”]

B1: Before writing Dē Architectūrā, Vitruvius served in Caesar’s army as an officer that supervised what specific army sub-group?

(CONSTRUCTING) {ARTILLERY // SIEGE MACHINES // WAR MACHINES // SCORPIŌNĒS // BALLISTAE} [PROMPT ON “ENGINEERING” OR SIMILAR; ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B2: What nine-book work, preceding Vitruvius’ Dē Architectūrā in chronology, effectively introduced the trivium and quadrivium as the primary liberal arts before describing architecture in its eighth book?

(VARRO REATINUS’) DISCIPLĪNAE // DISCIPLĪNĀRUM LIBRĪ (IX)


4. What crime, over which Molurus was killed by an Argive named Hyettus, was induced three times during the Trojan War by the embittered Nauplius, including by visiting Aegialeia and the deceitful queen of Mycenae?

ADULTERY // (CONJUGAL) INFIDELITY // UNFAITHFULNESS // CUCKOLDRY // CHEATING (ON A SPOUSE) [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B1: Nauplius particularly sought out Aegialeia, as she was the wife of which Greek, whom Nauplius felt had participated in the framing of his son Palamedes?

DIOMEDES

B2: In his third instance of induced adultery, Nauplius instigated an affair between what wife of Idomeneus and a Cretan usurper?

MEDA


5. Forms of what Latin word fit the following clues: it is the “sacra famēs,” according to Vergil; it fills in the blank in Seneca’s saying “ignis [blank] probat, miseria fortēs virōs”; according to various Latin proverbs, “est nōn omne quod nitet” or “est nōn omne quod fulget aut splendet”?

AURUM / AURĪ

B1: What two-word phrase from Horace’s Odes literally translates to “the golden mean”?

AUREA MEDIOCRITĀS // AUREAM MEDIOCRITĀTEM

B2: Give the Latin word that fills in the blank in Horace’s sardonic lines “quaerenda pecūnia prīmum est, / [blank] post nummōs,” which express the same general sentiment.

VIRTŪS


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6. What region likely provided the origin of the noun persōna and names that ended in -na, such as Caecīna, as well as the origin of the god Vertumnus, the sella curūlis, and the fascēs?

ETRURIA / TYRRHENIA / TYRSENIA [PROMPT ON “TUSCANY”]

B1: In what Italic language, the origin of the English words “hearse” and “brutal,” were the Atellan Farces originally written?

OSCAN

B2: What Italic language was spoken by the people of Falerii, which was perhaps the home of an Augustan-age poet who wrote a didactic poem on hunting with dogs called Cynēgetica?

FALISCAN


7. Say in Latin using a proper Terentian quote: “Some Romans may know that there are as many opinions as people.”

NŌNNŪLLĪ RŌMĀNĪ SCIANT QUOT HOMINĒS TOT SENTENTIĀS (ESSE) [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B1: Now translate this sentence from English to Latin: Would you ever have thought it could happen that words would fail me?

{PUTĀRĒSNE // PUTĀRĒTISNE // PUTĀVISSĒSNE // PUTĀVISSĒTISNE // PUTĀTŪRUSNE FUISTĪ // PUTĀTŪRĪNE FUISTIS} UMQUAM {ACCIDERE / ĒVENĪRE / FIERĪ} {POSSE} UT MIHI VERBA {DĒFICERENT / D(Ē)ESSENT}? [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B2: Now translate this archaic sentence, spoken by a fētiālis, into English: "Sī populus Rōmānus prius defēxit pūblicō cōnsiliō, tum Diespiter populum Rōmānum sīc ferītō ut ego hunc porcum hīc hodiē feriam."1

IF THE ROMAN PEOPLE {RENEGES / FAILS / DEFECTS / ABANDONS // IS WANTING // WILL HAVE RENEGED (ETC.)} {FIRST / EARLIER} {BY / FROM} A PUBLIC PLAN, THEN {LET {JUPITER / DIESPITER} STRIKE // {JUPITER / DIESPITER} SHALL STRIKE} THE ROMAN PEOPLE JUST AS I (WILL) STRIKE THIS PIG HERE TODAY} [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]


8. What author, whose father was known by the signum “Phosphorius” and who himself bore the signum “Eusebius,” argued in the third letter of his Relātiōnēs that Valentinian II should restore the Altar of Victory to the cūria?

(QUINTUS AURELIUS) SYMMACHUS (EUSEBIUS)

B1: What pope — who sought a single replacement for the Vetus Latīna, Vetus Itala, and similar works — had earlier intervened to ensure that the Altar of Victory would be restored by Gratian?

(POPE) DAMASUS

B2: What son of Symmachus and his wife, Rusticiana, edited Symmachus’ correspondence after his death?

(QUINTUS FABIUS) MEMMIUS (SYMMACHUS)


9. After witnessing his daughter’s prophetic words become whinnies and her hands become hooves, what father of Ocyrhoë was left with only her warning that he will abandon his immortality after piercing his foot with an arrow dipped in Hydra venom?

CH(E)IRON

B1: What woman asked Zeus to become a linden tree after she was raped by Cronus and gave birth to Cheiron?

PHILYRA

B2: The story of Ocyrhoë appears in Book 2 of Ovid’s Metamorphōsēs, which also describes how a daughter of Coroneus was nearly raped by Poseidon and transformed into what type of bird, becoming Minerva’s companion?

CROW


10. What battle, which one side abandoned to meet reinforcements recruited at Picenum, followed a preliminary engagement at Forum Gallōrum and featured the death of Aulus Hirtius to forces of Mark Antony in 43 B.C.?

({BATTLE / SIEGE} OF) MUTINA

B1: What man had been besieged by Antony at Mutina?

DECIMUS (JUNIUS) BRUTUS (ALBINUS) [PROMPT ON “BRUTUS”]

B2: What governor of Gallia Comāta defected to Antony after his troops arrived in Gaul after the Battle of Mutina?

(LUCIUS) MUNATIUS PLANCUS


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11. Which of the following five words, if any, does not derive from the same Latin root as the others: “sequin,” “segue,” “ensue,” “execute,” “consecutive”?

SEQUIN

B1: “Sequin” comes to English from Arabic. What type of fruit had its name pass through Arabic — as well as Byzantine Greek, Portuguese, and Catalan — after it was originally known as malum praecoquum in Latin?

APRICOT

B2: Give the name of the Middle Eastern unit of currency — found in countries such as Jordan, Iraq, and Serbia — whose name came from the Latin dēnārius through Arabic.

DINAR


12. What poem explicitly turns to “things a little more elevated [in theme]” in its opening line, “Sīcelides Mūsae — paulō maiōra canāmus,” referring to the coming birth of a divine child whom Christians later interpreted to be the Messiah?

{ECLOGUE / BUCOLIC} 4 // FOURTH {ECLOGUE / BUCOLIC} // “MESSIANIC” {ECLOGUE / BUCOLIC} [DO NOT ACCEPT OR PROMPT ON “ECLOGUES” OR “BUCOLICS”]

B1: Vergil’s fourth Eclogue probably dates from 40 B.C., when what dedicatee of the eighth Eclogue was consul?

(GAIUS) ASINIUS POLLIO [PROMPT ON “POLLIO”]

B2: What grammarian saw prophecy also in Vergil’s third Eclogue, saying that his greatness had been portended because he shared his name with the character who judged the singing contest between Menalcas and Damon?2

REMMIUS PALAEMON [PROMPT ON “PALAEMON”]


13. Homer says that what island was ruled by Enyeus — a contradictory story to one where it was the birthplace of a youth called “red-head” or “young soldier” after Deïdameia lay with the disguised Achilles at Lycomedes’ court?

SKYROS / SCYROS / SCYRUS

B1: Achilles was disguised as a woman on Skyros, so Odysseus concocted a scheme to flush him out. First, Odysseus spread jewelry, gifts, and weapons together among the women, then undertook what scheme to force Achilles’ hand? A description is fine.

HAD A BUGLE / TRUMPET SOUNDED (TO PRETEND THERE WAS AN ATTACK ON THE ISLAND, CAUSING ACHILLES TO GRAB THE WEAPONS BY INSTINCT) [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS; PROMPT ON “PRETENDED THERE WAS AN ATTACK” BY ASKING “HOW?”]

B2: According to legend, what Athenian general recovered from Skyros the supposed bones of Theseus, whom Lycomedes had killed?

CIMON


14. Excluding all forms of alliteration, hyperbaton, and asyndeton, what literary device appears multiple times in Ovid’s lines “carpitur adclīvis per mūta silentia trāmes, / arduus, obscūrus, cālīgine dēnsus opācā,” because they emphasize the sheer silence and darkness of Orpheus and Eurydice’s path by needlessly repeating words?

PLEONASM

B1: Excluding all forms of alliteration and hyperbaton, what literary device appears in Vergil’s lines “inclūsōs uterō Danaōs et pīnea fūrtim laxat claustra Sinōn”?

HYSTERON PROTERON // ZEUGMA

B2: What literary device appears twice in Vergil’s line “ībant obscūrī sōlā sub nocte per umbram,” which describe Aeneas and the Cumaean Sibyl as they enter the Underworld?

TRANSFERRED EPITHET // ENALLAGE // HYPALLAGE


15. What man, who commissioned the Aula Palātīna in modern-day Trier, was depicted in a colossal marble statue whose eight-and-one-half-foot-tall head was uncovered in the Forum’s largest building, a basilica he completed after defeating Maxentius?

CONSTANTINE {I // THE GREAT} [PROMPT ON “CONSTANTINE”]

B1: Some scholars think that the “Colossus of Constantine” once held an orb or scepter that was emblazoned with what two Greek letters?

CHI and RHO // CHI-RHO // ΧΡ

B2: The Colossus’ remaining fragments include two right hands. Each takes an adlocūtiō position, with the index finger outstretched to address imperial troops. The same hand position can be seen in a statue, featuring a breastplate showing the return of the standards from Carrhae, that was discovered in what Roman suburb’s “Villa of Livia”?

PRIMA PORTA


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16. What type of practice, to which the Aeneid refers metonymically by the word taeda and the word thalamus, is neglected by someone who is caelebs and is known as nuptiae in Latin?

MARRIAGE / MATRIMONY / WEDDING / NUPTIALS [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B1: What is the literal meaning of the Latin noun torus when it is also used to mean “marriage” by metonymy?

(MARRIAGE) {COUCH / BED / SOFA / CUSHION} [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]

B2: Now, translate these lines from Aeneid 2 that describe the fall of Priam’s palace, knowing that thalamus means “bedchamber”: “quīnquāgintā illī thalamī, spēs tanta nepōtum, / barbaricō postēs aurō spoliīsque superbī / prōcubuēre.”

THOSE FIFTY BEDCHAMBERS — SO GREAT A HOPE OF {DESCENDANTS / GRANDSONS / GRANDCHILDREN / NEPHEWS} — (AND) {(DOOR)POSTS / DOORS}, {HAUGHTY} WITH {FOREIGN / BARBARIAN} GOLD AND SPOILS, {LEANED (FORWARDS) // FELL (DOWN) // SANK (DOWN) [ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS]


17. What ideology is analogized to bitter wormwood that must be sweetened with the honey of the Muses’ poetry before its theories are re-named as “simulacra” and the atomistic “clīnāmen” to appeal to the Roman audience of Dē Rērum Nātūrā?

EPICUREAN(ISM)

B1: With the theory of clīnāmen, Epicurus and Lucretius diverged from the example set by which Greek philosopher, who developed atomic theory alongside Leucippus?

DEMOCRITUS

B2: What poem by the Augustan-age author of the tragedy Thyestes is thought to be an Epicurean reflection on man’s life?

(VARIUS RUFUS’) DĒ MORTE


18. What Latin noun is the implied second word in the expression from which we derive “quota,” as well as “octave,” just as it is implied in Latin phrases such as “quattuor nōnae” or “trēs octāvae,” which are fractions?

PARS / PARTĒS

B1: What Latin word means “one-twelfth” or “ounce”?

UNCIA

B2: Express the fraction represented by “ūndecim partēs” in only one Latin word, knowing that the one-word term derives from uncia.

DEUNX


19. What position gave its name to Minucius Esquilinus’ second cognōmen, had a holder who disdained adding more equestrian centuries by using a razor to cut a whetstone — Attus Navius — and could block business by announcing bad auspices?

AUGUR(S)

B1: What law of the Middle Republic, passed by a pair of brothers, opened priesthoods to the plebeians for the first time and mandated that certain of the augurs be plebeians?

LĒX OGULNIA

B2: What is the Latin term for the crooked staff that augurs used during divination to mark the different regions of the sky?

LITUUS


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20. In what city did worshippers view the “Maiden Well” and drink a mixture of water, meal, and pennyroyal called kykeon while venerating a goddess named “Kore” and her mother, Demeter, at its namesake “Mysteries”?

ELEUSIS

B1: When Demeter visited Eleusis, what enslaved woman in the house of Metaneira induced her to smile with quips?

IAMBE

B2: What Athenian gave hospitality to Demeter near Eleusis and was rewarded with the gift of the first fig tree?

PHYTALUS


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1 Dante Minutillo wrote this bonus, with additional input from Matthew Thomas.

2 Dante Minutillo provided the initial draft of this bonus.