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Schleswig-Holstein Abitur Latin study materials
Schleswig-Holstein Abitur Latin study resources

Schleswig-Holstein Abitur Latin practice questions

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Question 1Latin morphology and syntax

What is the genitive singular of the first-declension noun "puella" (girl)?

  1. puellam
  2. puellae Correct answer.
  3. puellis
  4. puellarum

Explanation

First-declension nouns like puella form the genitive singular in -ae: puellae ('of the girl'). Learning the genitive singular is essential because it identifies the declension of every noun.

Question 2Latin morphology and syntax

In the sentence "servus dominum timet" (the slave fears the master), what is the case and function of "dominum"?

  1. Nominative - the subject
  2. Dative - the indirect object
  3. Accusative - the direct object Correct answer.
  4. Ablative - the agent

Explanation

"Dominum" is accusative singular of dominus and functions as the direct object of the verb timet: it receives the action of fearing. The subject is "servus", which is nominative.

Question 3Latin morphology and syntax

The form "puellarum" is which case and number of "puella"?

  1. Dative plural
  2. Genitive plural Correct answer.
  3. Accusative plural
  4. Nominative plural

Explanation

"Puellarum" is the genitive plural of puella, meaning 'of the girls'. First-declension genitive plurals end in -arum.

Question 4Latin morphology and syntax

To which declension does "rex, regis" (king) belong?

  1. Second declension
  2. Fourth declension
  3. First declension
  4. Third declension Correct answer.

Explanation

"Rex, regis" is a third-declension noun: its genitive singular ends in -is and the stem (reg-) differs from the nominative. Third-declension nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Question 5Latin morphology and syntax

What is the ablative singular of the third-declension i-stem noun "mare" (sea)?

  1. mare
  2. mari Correct answer.
  3. maris
  4. maria

Explanation

"Mare" is a neuter i-stem (nom. mare, gen. maris), and i-stem neuters form the ablative singular in -i: mari ('by/in the sea'). This distinguishes i-stems from consonant stems like consul, consule.

Question 6Latin reading and translation

Propertius opens his first book with the line: 'Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis' ('Cynthia first captured wretched me with her eyes'). What does the phrase 'miserum me' mean, and what case is it in?

  1. 'Wretched me' - accusative case, agreeing with 'me' as the direct object of 'cepit' Correct answer.
  2. 'My wretchedness' - genitive case describing a quality Cynthia possesses
  3. 'I am wretched' - nominative case functioning as the subject
  4. 'To wretched me' - dative case showing the person affected

Explanation

'Miserum' is an accusative adjective agreeing with the accusative pronoun 'me,' together forming the direct object of the verb 'cepit' ('captured'): Cynthia captured 'wretched me.' Recognizing that an adjective must agree in case, number, and gender with the noun or pronoun it modifies is essential for correctly parsing Latin word order, which does not have to keep them adjacent.

Question 7Latin reading and translation

In the same Propertius line, 'suis...ocellis' ('with her eyes'), what case is 'ocellis' and what grammatical function does it serve?

  1. Ablative case, expressing the means or instrument by which Cynthia captured the poet Correct answer.
  2. Nominative case, marking 'ocellis' as a second subject alongside Cynthia
  3. Vocative case, showing that the poet is directly addressing Cynthia's eyes
  4. Accusative case, marking a second direct object of 'cepit'

Explanation

'Ocellis' (a diminutive form of 'oculi,' 'eyes') is ablative plural, used here without a preposition to express means - 'by means of/with her eyes' - a very common Latin use of the ablative case that a literal English translation renders with 'with' or 'by'. Recognizing the ablative of means is essential for translating instrumental phrases correctly.

Question 8Latin reading and translation

What tense and mood is the verb 'cepit' in Propertius's line 'Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis,' and what does it mean?

  1. Perfect indicative active - 'she captured/seized' (a single completed past action) Correct answer.
  2. Present indicative active - 'she captures/seizes' (an ongoing action)
  3. Future indicative active - 'she will capture/seize'
  4. Imperfect subjunctive - 'she might have been capturing'

Explanation

'Cepit' is the third-person singular perfect indicative active of 'capio, capere, cepi, captum' ('to seize, capture'), describing a single completed action in the past: Cynthia captured the poet. The perfect tense in Latin narrative marks a decisive, completed event, fitting the poem's account of falling suddenly and irrevocably in love.

Question 9Latin reading and translation

Tibullus opens his first book: 'Divitias alius fulvo sibi congerat auro' ('Let another heap up riches for himself in yellow gold'). What mood is 'congerat', and what kind of meaning does that mood give the sentence?

  1. Present subjunctive, used here as a jussive (a wish or permission: 'let him gather...') Correct answer.
  2. Present indicative, simply stating a fact about someone else's actions
  3. Perfect indicative, describing a completed past action
  4. Future indicative, predicting what will definitely happen

Explanation

'Congerat' is present subjunctive, and here it functions as a jussive/hortatory subjunctive expressing a wish or permission rather than a statement of fact: 'let another person heap up riches...'. Tibullus uses this construction to dismiss the pursuit of wealth as something he grants to others while choosing a different, humbler life for himself.

Question 10Latin reading and translation

In Tibullus's next line, 'et teneat culti iugera multa soli' ('and let him hold many acres of cultivated land'), what does 'soli' represent grammatically?

  1. Genitive singular of 'solum' ('ground/soil'), depending on 'iugera' ('acres of ground') Correct answer.
  2. Dative singular of 'sol' ('the sun'), indicating the person benefited
  3. Ablative singular of 'solus' ('alone'), describing manner
  4. Nominative singular subject of the verb 'teneat'

Explanation

'Soli' here is the genitive singular of the noun 'solum, soli' ('ground, soil, land'), completing the phrase 'iugera...soli' - literally 'jugera (acres) of ground.' This partitive-style genitive after a measure word is a common Latin construction that a literal translation renders as 'acres of land.'

Question 11Latin vocabulary and etymology

What does the phrase "bellum gerere" mean?

  1. To end a war
  2. To declare peace
  3. To carry weapons
  4. To wage war Correct answer.

Explanation

"Bellum gerere" is the standard idiom 'to wage/carry on war', frequent in historical narrative. Related idioms: bellum indicere ('declare war'), bellum conficere ('finish a war').

Question 12Latin vocabulary and etymology

What does "iter facere" mean in military and travel narratives?

  1. To travel or march Correct answer.
  2. To build a road
  3. To make a mistake
  4. To do business

Explanation

"Iter facere" = 'to make a journey, to march': exercitus magnum iter fecit ('the army made a long march'). It is one of the most common idioms in Roman historical prose.

Question 13Latin vocabulary and etymology

What does "poenas dare" mean?

  1. To give thanks
  2. To pay the penalty, be punished Correct answer.
  3. To make a demand
  4. To offer a reward

Explanation

"Poenas dare" (literally 'to give penalties') is the idiom for 'to pay the penalty, be punished': scelesti poenas dederunt ('the criminals were punished'). The person exacting punishment poenas repetit or sumit.

Question 14Latin vocabulary and etymology

What does "in animo habere" mean, as in "in animo habet proficisci"?

  1. To be angry
  2. To forget
  3. To intend, have in mind Correct answer.
  4. To doubt

Explanation

"In animo habere" + infinitive means 'to intend, have in mind': in animo habet proficisci = 'he intends to set out'. Animus here is the mind's purpose, not emotion.

Question 15Latin vocabulary and etymology

In a military context, what does "castra ponere" mean?

  1. To break camp
  2. To pitch camp Correct answer.
  3. To storm the camp
  4. To guard the camp

Explanation

"Castra ponere" is the standard phrase for 'to pitch camp' - what a Roman army did at the end of each day's march. The opposite, striking camp to depart, is castra movere.

Question 16Latin literature and interpretation

How many orations make up Cicero's series of speeches against Mark Antony known as the Philippicae?

  1. Fourteen Correct answer.
  2. Twelve
  3. Four
  4. Seven

Explanation

Cicero delivered and published a set of fourteen orations against Mark Antony between September 44 BC and April 43 BC, collectively known as the Philippicae (the Philippics).

Question 17Latin literature and interpretation

Why did Cicero himself apply the name 'Philippicae' to his speeches against Antony?

  1. He compared his own campaign against Antony to Demosthenes' orations warning Athens against Philip II of Macedon Correct answer.
  2. The speeches were first delivered in the Macedonian city of Philippi
  3. Antony's family name was Philippus
  4. The title reflects a philosophical school Cicero followed

Explanation

Cicero drew the parallel himself, most famously in a letter to Brutus, likening his resistance to Antony to Demosthenes' fourth-century Athenian orations against the expansionist king Philip II of Macedon.

Question 18Latin literature and interpretation

What was Cicero's central rhetorical aim across the Philippic orations?

  1. To brand Antony a would-be tyrant and public enemy (hostis) and rally the Senate to resist him Correct answer.
  2. To secure a formal triumph for his own past military service
  3. To defend himself in a private lawsuit over inherited property
  4. To negotiate a peaceful power-sharing arrangement between Antony and Caesar's assassins

Explanation

Cicero repeatedly casts Antony as a lawless would-be autocrat threatening the res publica, pushing the Senate toward declaring him a hostis (public enemy) and backing armed resistance.

Question 19Latin literature and interpretation

What is distinctive about the Second Philippic among the fourteen orations?

  1. It was never actually delivered as a spoken speech in the Senate but circulated as a written pamphlet Correct answer.
  2. It is the only speech addressed directly to Octavian rather than Antony
  3. It survives only in a Greek translation
  4. It was delivered on the same day as Caesar's funeral

Explanation

The Second Philippic, often considered the most savage in tone, was composed and circulated as a devastating written invective rather than delivered live in the Senate.

Question 20Latin literature and interpretation

Whom did Cicero promote in the Philippics as a political counterweight to Antony?

  1. Octavian, Caesar's young adopted heir Correct answer.
  2. Lepidus, Antony's future fellow triumvir
  3. Sextus Pompey, based in Sicily
  4. Decimus Brutus, to the exclusion of every other figure

Explanation

Cicero backed the teenage Octavian, hoping to use Caesar's heir and his private army against Antony while keeping the young man dependent on senatorial goodwill.

Question 21Roman culture, thought and reception

What event immediately set the political crisis in motion that Cicero addresses throughout the Philippics?

  1. The assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 BC Correct answer.
  2. The outbreak of the Third Punic War
  3. The death of Cato the Younger at Utica
  4. Antony's proclamation as a client-king of Egypt

Explanation

Caesar's assassination on 15 March 44 BC left a power vacuum that Antony, as surviving consul, tried to fill; Cicero's Philippics respond directly to Antony's subsequent actions in the following months.

Question 22Roman culture, thought and reception

What ultimately happened to Cicero after the Second Triumvirate was formed in 43 BC?

  1. He was placed on the proscription lists and killed on Antony's orders in December 43 BC Correct answer.
  2. He was exiled to Massilia (Marseille) but survived into old age
  3. He was pardoned and appointed censor for life
  4. He fled to Egypt and lived under Cleopatra's protection

Explanation

Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus struck a bargain of mutual proscriptions; Antony, still smarting from the Philippics, insisted on Cicero's name being included, and Cicero was hunted down and killed in December 43 BC.

Question 23Roman culture, thought and reception

According to the tradition recorded by the historian Cassius Dio, how did Antony's wife Fulvia treat Cicero's severed head?

  1. She reportedly pierced its tongue with a hairpin in a final act of revenge for the Philippics Correct answer.
  2. She had it embalmed and displayed in her family shrine
  3. She sent it to Cleopatra as a diplomatic gift
  4. She ordered it buried privately out of respect for his rank

Explanation

Cassius Dio's Roman History reports that Fulvia took Cicero's severed head and pierced the tongue with a hairpin, symbolically punishing the oratory that had savaged her husband.

Question 24Roman culture, thought and reception

Where were Cicero's severed head and hands publicly displayed after his death?

  1. On the Rostra, the speakers' platform in the Roman Forum Correct answer.
  2. At the Circus Maximus during chariot races
  3. Outside the Senate House in Arpinum, his hometown
  4. Nailed to the doors of Antony's private villa

Explanation

As grim political theater, Antony had Cicero's head and hands nailed to the Rostra, the very platform from which Cicero had delivered his speeches, silencing the orator's voice and hands in the place he had used them against Antony.

Question 25Roman culture, thought and reception

As consul in 63 BC, which crisis did Cicero suppress - an episode he recalls repeatedly in the Philippics to bolster his authority?

  1. The Catilinarian conspiracy Correct answer.
  2. The Spartacus slave uprising
  3. The Social War against Rome's Italian allies
  4. The Sicilian Servile War

Explanation

Cicero's consulship is defined by his exposure and suppression of Catiline's conspiracy to overthrow the state; he invokes this earlier triumph throughout the Philippics to present himself as the Republic's proven defender.

Question 26Latin literature and interpretation

Ancient tradition preserves a pun Cicero made about Octavian using a double meaning of which Latin verb?

  1. Tollere, meaning both 'to raise up/honor' and 'to remove/do away with' Correct answer.
  2. Ducere, meaning both 'to lead' and 'to marry'
  3. Capere, meaning both 'to seize' and 'to understand'
  4. Ferre, meaning both 'to carry' and 'to endure'

Explanation

According to the tradition preserved by later writers, Cicero remarked that the young man should be 'laudandum, ornandum, tollendum' - praised, honored, and tollendum, a barbed pun since tollere could mean either 'elevated' or, more darkly, 'disposed of'.

Question 27Latin literature and interpretation

Which personal accusation does Cicero level against Antony repeatedly throughout the Philippics as evidence of his unfitness to lead?

  1. Drunkenness, debt, and general moral excess unbecoming a statesman Correct answer.
  2. Cowardice in the face of Rome's foreign enemies
  3. Illiteracy and contempt for education
  4. Foreign birth outside Roman citizenship

Explanation

A hallmark of the Philippics' invective is Cicero's relentless attack on Antony's private conduct - his drinking, debts, and disreputable associations - used to undermine his fitness for public leadership.

Question 28Latin literature and interpretation

In the classical system of the three genera of oratory, to which category do the Philippics, as speeches urging the Senate toward future political action, primarily belong?

  1. Genus deliberativum (deliberative oratory) Correct answer.
  2. Genus iudiciale (forensic/judicial oratory)
  3. Genus demonstrativum (epideictic oratory)
  4. Genus historicum, a genre outside the classical threefold scheme

Explanation

Deliberative oratory (genus deliberativum) addresses a political assembly about a course of future action - exactly the task Cicero undertakes in urging the Senate to oppose Antony.

Question 29Latin literature and interpretation

Cicero's optimistic praise of Octavian after Mutina proved to be a serious miscalculation. Why?

  1. Octavian soon allied with Antony, his supposed enemy, to form the Second Triumvirate - sealing Cicero's fate Correct answer.
  2. Octavian withdrew from politics entirely after Mutina
  3. Octavian died of his wounds shortly after the battle
  4. Octavian immediately declared himself in favor of restoring Antony's original claims

Explanation

Rather than remaining the Senate's loyal instrument against Antony, Octavian pragmatically joined Antony and Lepidus in the Second Triumvirate later in 43 BC, and the proscriptions that followed cost Cicero his life.

Question 30Latin literature and interpretation

In the Philippics, the Latin word 'regnum', which Cicero uses to accuse Antony of seeking one-man rule, literally means:

  1. Kingship/monarchical rule Correct answer.
  2. Army command
  3. Financial debt
  4. Religious sacrilege

Explanation

'Regnum' derives from 'rex' (king) and denotes kingship or the rule of a single autocrat - precisely the charge Cicero levels against Antony's alleged ambitions.

Question 31Latin literature and interpretation

What is the name of Propertius's principal beloved, addressed throughout his four books of elegies?

  1. Cynthia Correct answer.
  2. Delia
  3. Corinna
  4. Lesbia

Explanation

Propertius addresses his elegies to 'Cynthia', a poetic pseudonym for his beloved, said by ancient sources to conceal the real name Hostia.

Question 32Latin literature and interpretation

Tibullus addresses two named women across his books of elegies. Besides Delia, who is the second?

  1. Nemesis Correct answer.
  2. Cynthia
  3. Corinna
  4. Lycoris

Explanation

Tibullus's first book centers on Delia, while poems in his second book are addressed to a harsher mistress named Nemesis.

Question 33Latin literature and interpretation

In Ovid's Amores, what is the name of the poet-lover's mistress?

  1. Corinna Correct answer.
  2. Cynthia
  3. Delia
  4. Nemesis

Explanation

Ovid names his beloved 'Corinna' throughout the Amores; most scholars regard her as a literary composite or fiction rather than a real, identifiable woman.

Question 34Latin literature and interpretation

What metrical form is used throughout Roman love elegy, including the poems of Ovid, Propertius, and Tibullus?

  1. The elegiac couplet (a dactylic hexameter line followed by a dactylic pentameter line) Correct answer.
  2. Pure dactylic hexameter throughout, as in epic
  3. Iambic trimeter
  4. The Sapphic stanza

Explanation

Roman love elegy is defined formally by the elegiac couplet: one line of dactylic hexameter paired with one line of dactylic pentameter, repeated throughout the poem.

Question 35Latin literature and interpretation

Throughout all fourteen Philippics, which Roman political institution does Cicero primarily address and try to persuade to take action against Antony?

  1. The Senate (senatus) Correct answer.
  2. The Centuriate Assembly (comitia centuriata)
  3. The college of pontiffs (pontifices)
  4. The provincial governors' council

Explanation

Cicero delivered nearly all of the Philippics in the Senate, treating it as the body with the authority to declare Antony a public enemy and authorize military resistance. His entire persuasive strategy is built around moving senators, individually and collectively, to act.

Question 36Latin literature and interpretation

The two consuls who led Senate-backed forces against Antony at Mutina in 43 BC both died shortly afterward. Who were they?

  1. Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa Correct answer.
  2. Marcus Lepidus and Gaius Cassius
  3. Decimus Brutus and Gaius Trebonius
  4. Lucius Munatius Plancus and Marcus Brutus

Explanation

The consuls of 43 BC, Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa, commanded the Senate's forces in the Mutina campaign that Cicero's Philippics had helped bring about. Both died from wounds suffered in the fighting, leaving Rome without either sitting consul just as the crisis deepened.

Question 37Latin literature and interpretation

When Cicero delivered the Philippics, what official magistracy did he personally hold?

  1. None - he acted as a senior former consul (consularis) using his influence and oratory, not an office Correct answer.
  2. He was serving his second consulship
  3. He was praetor urbanus
  4. He held the office of censor

Explanation

By 44-43 BC Cicero held no magistracy; his consulship dated back to 63 BC. He influenced events purely through the prestige of a consularis - a respected former consul entitled to speak early and often in Senate debate - and through the sheer force of his oratory.

Question 38Latin literature and interpretation

Compared to the ferocious invective of the Second Philippic, what tone does the First Philippic (delivered 2 September 44 BC) generally take toward Antony?

  1. A comparatively measured, conciliatory tone urging cooperation and restraint Correct answer.
  2. An even harsher personal attack than any later speech
  3. A tone of open military threat and calls to arms
  4. Total silence about Antony, focused only on Caesar's legacy

Explanation

The First Philippic is notably restrained: Cicero criticizes specific measures and urges Antony toward moderation and reconciliation with the Senate, rather than launching the sustained personal invective that defines the Second Philippic. The escalation to open hostility develops only in the speeches that follow.

Question 39Latin literature and interpretation

The famous exclamation 'O tempora, o mores!' ('Oh, the times! Oh, the customs!') is often associated with Cicero's oratory. Which speech does it actually come from?

  1. The First Catilinarian Oration, not the Philippics Correct answer.
  2. The Second Philippic against Antony
  3. The Fourteenth and final Philippic
  4. The Pro Milone, defending Titus Annius Milo

Explanation

'O tempora, o mores!' is one of the most quoted lines from Cicero's First Catilinarian Oration (63 BC), delivered against Catiline - it does not appear in the Philippics. Confusing the two invective corpora is a common mistake, since both attack a perceived enemy of the state.

Question 40Latin literature and interpretation

What does the rhetorical term 'invective' mean, as it is regularly applied to Cicero's attacks on Antony in the Philippics?

  1. A sustained, harshly critical attack on an opponent's character and conduct Correct answer.
  2. A formal legal accusation filed in writing before a court
  3. A type of ceremonial praise delivered at public festivals
  4. A neutral historical narrative of past events

Explanation

Invective is oratory or writing devoted to attacking a person's character, morals, and conduct, typically through insult and denunciation rather than dispassionate argument. Cicero's relentless attacks on Antony's drinking, debts, and associations in the Philippics are textbook invective.

Question 41Latin literature and interpretation

In the Fifth Philippic (1 January 43 BC), what unusual honor did Cicero propose the Senate grant the eighteen-year-old Octavian?

  1. Senatorial rank and propraetorian military command (imperium), despite his being under the legal minimum age Correct answer.
  2. Full consular power for a ten-year term
  3. Adoption into the Julian family by senatorial decree
  4. Command of the entire Roman navy in the eastern Mediterranean

Explanation

Cicero urged the Senate to grant Octavian senatorial status and imperium pro praetore so he could legally command troops against Antony, even though Octavian was far younger than Roman law normally required for such authority. It was an extraordinary concession that Cicero hoped to keep firmly under senatorial control.

Question 42Latin literature and interpretation

Roughly how much time elapsed between Cicero's First Philippic and his Fourteenth (last) Philippic?

  1. About seven months, from September 44 BC to April 43 BC Correct answer.
  2. A single week in September 44 BC
  3. Almost exactly ten years
  4. About three days surrounding Caesar's funeral

Explanation

The Philippic corpus spans roughly seven months, opening on 2 September 44 BC and closing with the Fourteenth Philippic in late April 43 BC, after news of the victory at Mutina. This sustained campaign of speeches reflects how long and gradual Cicero's escalation against Antony actually was.

Question 43Latin literature and interpretation

In the early Philippics, what specific accusation does Cicero level against Antony regarding Caesar's unpublished decrees and papers (the acta Caesaris)?

  1. That Antony forged and manipulated them for his own profit and political advantage Correct answer.
  2. That Antony destroyed all of them to erase Caesar's memory
  3. That Antony faithfully published them without any changes
  4. That Antony handed them over untouched to the Senate for safekeeping

Explanation

Cicero repeatedly charges that Antony, who had seized Caesar's papers after the assassination, fabricated and altered supposed decisions of Caesar to enrich himself and reward allies, all under the guise of honoring the dead dictator's wishes. This accusation of self-serving forgery is a recurring target of the early Philippics' invective.

Question 44Latin literature and interpretation

The Latin literary term 'elegia' (elegy), the genre of Ovid, Propertius, and Tibullus's love poetry, derives from a Greek word originally associated with what kind of song?

  1. A song of mourning or lament Correct answer.
  2. A song sung at athletic victories
  3. A drinking song performed at banquets
  4. A hymn sung exclusively to the god Apollo

Explanation

The Greek term behind 'elegia' (elegos) originally referred to a mournful song, often performed with the aulos (a reed pipe), typically in the same long-short couplet meter that Roman poets later adopted for love elegy. Roman elegists transformed the form's original association with lament into the language of erotic suffering and complaint.

Question 45Latin literature and interpretation

Roman love elegists frequently portray the poet-lover as enslaved to his mistress, obeying her commands and enduring humiliation for her sake. What is this recurring convention called?

  1. Servitium amoris ('the slavery of love') Correct answer.
  2. Cursus honorum ('the course of honors')
  3. Pax Romana ('Roman peace')
  4. Res publica ('the public thing')

Explanation

'Servitium amoris' describes the elegiac convention in which the poet-lover casts himself as his mistress's slave, subject to her whims, locked out of her door, and willing to suffer any indignity to remain in her favor. It is one of the genre's central strategies for dramatizing the suffering that love brings.

Question 46Latin literature and interpretation

When a Roman elegist describes his devotion to his mistress using the language of a soldier's campaign - watches, wounds, and battles fought for love rather than the state - which convention is this?

  1. Militia amoris ('the soldiery/warfare of love') Correct answer.
  2. Recusatio ('refusal')
  3. Paraklausithyron ('lament before the closed door')
  4. Cursus honorum ('the course of honors')

Explanation

'Militia amoris' recasts the vocabulary of Roman military service - campaigns, wounds, sleepless watches - as metaphors for the lover's devoted service to his mistress. It lets the elegists claim a kind of heroism for their private, erotic 'campaigns' even as they reject actual military and political careers.

Question 47Latin literature and interpretation

What is the 'exclusus amator' (or paraklausithyron) motif found throughout Roman love elegy?

  1. A poem in which the locked-out lover laments and pleads outside his mistress's closed door Correct answer.
  2. A poem celebrating a wedding procession through the streets of Rome
  3. A poem praising a general's triumphal return from war
  4. A poem mourning the death of a public figure

Explanation

The 'exclusus amator' ('shut-out lover') motif, also called paraklausithyron, depicts the poet-lover locked outside his mistress's door at night, addressing his complaints and pleas to the unresponsive door itself. It is one of Roman love elegy's most recognizable recurring scenes, dramatizing the lover's suffering and lack of control.

Question 48Latin literature and interpretation

Propertius's surviving elegies are organized into how many books?

  1. Four Correct answer.
  2. One
  3. Seven
  4. Twelve

Explanation

Propertius's elegies survive in four books: Book 1 (the 'Monobiblos,' focused heavily on Cynthia), and Books 2 through 4, which broaden into Roman historical and aetiological themes alongside continued love poetry. This four-book structure is standard in modern editions of his work.

Question 49Latin literature and interpretation

Tibullus's own authentic elegies (as distinct from other poems later attached to his name) are collected into how many books?

  1. Two, addressed respectively to Delia and Nemesis Correct answer.
  2. Four, matching Propertius's corpus exactly
  3. One continuous book with no named sections
  4. Six, one for each year of his career

Explanation

Tibullus's genuinely authored elegies fill two books: Book 1, centered on his beloved Delia, and Book 2, centered on the harsher Nemesis. Later manuscripts group additional poems by other or uncertain authors alongside these two books in the wider 'Corpus Tibullianum,' but only these two are considered Tibullus's own work.

Question 50Latin literature and interpretation

In how many books was Ovid's Amores originally published, and how many books survive in the edition we read today?

  1. Originally five books, later revised by Ovid himself into the surviving three-book edition Correct answer.
  2. Originally three books, later expanded to five surviving books
  3. Always a single book, unchanged since publication
  4. Originally ten books, later condensed to two surviving books

Explanation

Ovid tells readers in a short prefatory epigram that the Amores first appeared in five books, which he later revised down to the three books that survive today - a rare case of an ancient poet explicitly describing his own process of revision. This detail is often cited as evidence of how carefully the elegists shaped their public collections.