A.P.* Multiple Choice: Venus Laments (Aeneid 1.235-41)
* = Abney Practice

Read Venus's complaints to Jupiter about the suffering of Aeneas.
Then choose the correct answer for the questions that follow.

The Aeneid

 

Certe hinc Romanos olim, volventibus annis,
hinc fore ductores, revocato a sanguine Teucri,
qui mare, qui terras omni dicione tenerent,
pollicitus, quae te, genitor, sententia vertit?
Hoc equidem occasum Troiae tristisque ruinas     5
solabar, fatis contraria fata rependens;
nunc eadem fortuna viros tot casibus actos
insequitur. Quem das finem, rex magne, laborum?

Vergil, Aeneid 1.235-41


(Excerpt from Vergil, Aeneid, available online here: Book 1. )

1. To what does hinc refer (lines 1-2)?
Italy, the destination of the Trojans
Africa, the Trojans' current location
Jupiter's view from the sky
the current state of Aeneas and his people


2. What is the scansion of the first four feet of line 1?
spondee-spondee-spondee-spondee
spondee-dactyl-spondee-spondee
dactyl-spondee-spondee-spondee
spondee-spondee-spondee-dactyl


3. On what word does fore depend (line 2)?
ductores (line 2)
revocato (line 2)
tenerent (line 3)
pollicitus (line 4)


4. What is the correct translation of revocato . . .

    Teucri (line 2) ?
restored by the blood of Teucer
from the restored line of Teucer
with Teucer's line recalled by blood
recalling Teucer in their blood


5. Identify the use of tenerent (line 3).
result clause
indirect question
characteristic clause
indirect command


6. What charge does Venus make in line 4?
Jupiter is too cerebral.
Jupiter's judgments are too harsh.
Jupiter is too aloof.
Jupiter is fickle.


7. To whom or what does hoc refer (line 5)?
Jupiter's promise
Jupiter's thoughts
the Trojans' arrival in Africa
Aeneas


8. How has Venus managed to keep going (lines 5-6)?
She alone has challenged fate.
with horsemanship in her guise as a Spartan

     horsewoman
by focusing on her long-term gains
by having fought to prevent the fall of Troy


9. What is the correct translation of nunc . . .

    insequitur (lines 7-8)?
Now the same fate follows men harried by so many

     misfortunes.
Now with the same fate he follows men whom so

     many misfortunes have driven on.
Then this very fate is followed with the men who

     have been driven by such misfortunes.
Now he is followed by the same fate that has

     harried his men with so many misfortunes.