06 Aeneid

Front 1

1. _____ [93] What does Aeneas ask of Apollo at Cumae? (a) that Ascanius be given the gift of prophecy; (b) that his future race someday become Lords of Italy; (c) no kingdom other than that allowed by fate; (d) forgiveness for his mistreatment of Dido.

Back 1

C-straight out of the text--a reiteration of the opening lines of Book I.

Front 2

2. _____ [118] The Sibyl replies on behalf of Apollo to Aeneas' request (above). Which of the following is most applicable? (a) that Juno would drive them yet again from Italy's shores; (b) that peace would be forever in Italy; (c) that Carthage was even at that time breathing out threats against them; (d) that he saw vicious wars ahead for the Trojans.

Back 2

D--you're done at last with "those great dangers that lie upon the sea"--"worse wait on land"! "I see wars, horrid wars" "a new Achilles"

Front 3

3. _____ [149ff] Aeneas has a further request to make of the Sibyl. What is that request? (a) that he obtain forgiveness from Juno; (b) that he be allowed to return to Carthage; (c) that he see Creusa; (d) that he see Anchises.

Back 3

D--that it may be granted "to go before the face and presence of my dearest father". (149f)

Front 4

4. _____ [207, 224] Before Aeneas can pluck the Golden Bough—as the Sibyl tells him--he must do one important religious service. What is it? (a) make sacrifices of mottled sheep; (b) pay homage and honor to Anchises; (c) bury Misenus; (d) make propitiation on behalf of Sychaeus.

Back 4

C-First, he must bury him [=Misenus] and "bring cattle as a peace offering" (211ff)

Front 5

5. _____ [260ff] How is Aeneas shown the way to the Golden Bough? (a) two doves; (b) a snake; (c) a wandering pig; (d) a flash of lightening.

Back 5

A--Doves are the token animals of Venus.

Front 6

6. _____ [363ff, esp 383-384] As Aeneas ventures into Hell why does he have to draw his sword? (a) to protect himself from monsters; (b) to show himself to Cerberus as a "proud warrior"; (c) to defend Deiphobë from Charon; (d) to lighten himself for crossing the Threshold of Dis.

Back 6

A- "Before the entrance" (to Hell) he sees frightening "shapes": Death and Trials, and fear and Hunger and ugly Poverty and Death and Trials." He also sees [in this home of Empty Dreams] mythical monsters, etc. The Sibyl points out that "only thin lives"

Front 7

7. _____ [422ff, esp 432-3f] Why do the souls at the edge of the River Acheron wail and moan? (a) because they are anticipating the punishments that await them; (b) because Charon bears them a grudge; (c) because they are whipped and tormented by Harpies and Furies; (d) because they have not been buried.

Back 7

D--that is, they have not yet received the proper ordinances. they are "stuck" for "one hundred years" (432f) if they don't have a tomb.

Front 8

9. _____ [535ff] How is it that Deiphobë and Aeneas get across the Acheron River? (a) they are carried across by a Centaur; (b) when Charon refuses to take them, they are flown across by Minos; (c) Charon takes them, after he sees the Golden Bough; (d) they circumvent (go around) the river.

Back 8

C--the Golden Bough seems to be a sign of safe passage:"no living bodies can take their passage in the ship of Styx" (515f). This is the same kind of thing mentioned on the Orphic plates: you have to have special tokens and signs to get past the sentinels there.

Front 9

10. _____ [550ff] What monster of Hell gulps down honey cakes and sleeps? (a) Cerberus; (b) Tsiphone; (c) Avernus; (d) Minos.

Back 9

A--this is like the three-headed guardian dog in Harry Potter (=Fluffy).

Front 10

11. _____ [563ff] Which one of the following types of people would belong to those presided over by Minos—the place before "Styx and its Nine Circles?" (a) those who commit incest; (b) poets; (c) infants who die in infancy; (d) those whom bitter love has consumed.

Back 10

C--this is NOT Elysium, but a less severe place than Tartarus, where people are actually punished. Even this view of the Underworld senses that there must be a variety of punishments, penances, to fit.

Front 11

12. _____ [615fff] When Aeneas sees he in the circles of mourning, how does Dido respond? (a) she weeps and runs away; (b) she tries three times to embrace him; (c) she contemptuously ignores him; (d) she leads the spirits of Greek heroes against him.

Back 11

C-how different from her mortal rages; the behavior (and love of Sychaeus) seems to be part of Virgil's concept of Hell.

Front 12

13. _____ [695fff] How did Deiphobos die? (a) through Helen's treachery; (b) suicide; (c) Zeus; (d) Tsiphonë.

Back 12

A--Helen stripped the house of every every weapon. He was defenseless. They mutilate him much as Eumaeus and Telemachus mutilate Melanthius the traitorous servant.

Front 13

14. _____ [717ff] Wherein are the harshest punishments of Hell received? (a) the Fields of Mourning; (b) the lash Tsiphonë; (c) Tartarus; (d) the Plain of the Suicides.

Back 13

C--the "lash" of Tisiphone doesn't speak to the right issue: "Wherein" is the question.

Front 14

16. _____ [897ff] What is Anchises doing when Aeneas finds him? (a) lamenting the fall of Troy; (b) studying the souls that are to become his ancestors; (c) toiling for the salvation of Numitor; (d) discoursing with great Greek philosophers.

Back 14

B--"studying the souls of all his sons to come"--the idea seems to be that Anchises is trying to understand how these descendants will relate to him and his beliefs.

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17. _____ [940f] Which of the souls drink from Lethe? (a) the damned of Dis; (b) the suicides; (c) those destined to be born on earth again; (d) the infants.

Back 15

C--Lethe means "forgetfulness"--and before they return to earth, the souls must "forget". In our religion we call this "the veil of forgetfulness". No rivers or bodies of water are mentioned.

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19. _____ [1135] What, according to Anchises, is the fate, or fortune, of the Romans? (a) to produce the greatest art; (b) to calculate and measure the heavens; (c) to explore the earth; (d) to rule the nations and to humble the proud.

Back 16

D--these are the words"to teach the ways of peace to those you conquer, to spare defeated peoples, tame the proud."

Front 17

20. _____ [1157ff] A dark cloud hands over Marcellus, son of Augustus. Why so? (a) he was to die early; (b) he was to betray his father; (c) he was to be born deaf; (d) he was to be assassinated on his first day as Emperor.

Back 17

A--Marcellus was Augustus' only heir. "The fates will not allow a longer stay for him," says Anchises. The succession--who was to be the next 'princeps,' was a major issue for Augustus.

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21. _____ [1199] What is distinctive about the gate through which Aeneas leaves the Underworld? (a) it is of Ivory; (b) it is of Pearl; (c) it is of Horn; (d) it is of Bone.

Back 18

A-"There are two gates of sleep," the poet writes. And the visitors to Hell go "through the gate of ivory," through the way of "false dreams into the world above".