Part 40 (1/2)

77. How did the study of Greek literature at Rome affect the vocabulary and syntax of the Latin language?

78. The influence of patronage on literature. Consider chiefly with reference to Rome, but ill.u.s.trate from other literatures.

79. Are there indications that Horace set before him, as a satirist, the object of superseding Lucilius?

80. Compare the relation of Persius to Horace with that of Lucan to Virgil.

81. Account for the imperfect success of Varro as an etymologist, and ill.u.s.trate by examples.

82. What is known of Nigidius Figulus, the s.e.xtii, Valerius Sora.n.u.s, and Apuleius as teachers of philosophic doctrine?

83. Sketch the literary career of the poet Accius.

84 What were the main characteristics of the old Roman oratory? What cla.s.sical authorities exist for its history?

85. Prove the a.s.sertion that jurisprudence was the only form of intellectual activity that Rome from first to last worked out in a thoroughly national manner.

86. Compare the portrait of Tiberius as given by Tacitus, with any of the other great creations of the historic imagination. How far is it to be considered truthful?

87. At what time did abridgments begin to be used at Rome? Account for their popularity throughout the Middle Ages, and mention some of the most important that have come down to us.

88. What remains of the writers on applied science do we possess?

89. Is it probable that the great developments of mathematical and physical science at Alexandria had any general effect upon the popular culture of the Roman world?

90. What are our chief authorities for the old Roman religion?

91. Account for the influence of Fronto, and give a list of his writings.

92. Which are the most important of the public, and which ef the private, orations of Cicero? Give a short account of one of each cla.s.s, with date, place, and circ.u.mstances of delivery. How were such speeches preserved?

Had the Romans any system of reporting?

93. A life of Silius Italicus with a short account of his poem.

94. Who, in your opinion, are the nearest modern representatives of Horace, Lucilius, and Juvenal?

95. In what particulars do the alcaic and sapphic metres of Horace differ from their Greek models? What are the different forms of the asclepiad metre in Horace? Have any of the Horatian metres been used by other writers?

96. Enumerate the chief imitations of Ennius in Virgil, noting the alterations where such occur.

97. Point out the main features of the Roman wors.h.i.+p. (See index to Merivale's _Rome_, s. v. _Religion_.)

98. Write a life of Maecenas, showing his position as chief minister of the Empire, and as the centre of literary society of Rome during the Augustan Age.

99. Donaldson, in his _Varronia.n.u.s_, argues that the French rather than the Italian represents the more perfect form of the original Latin. Test this view by a comparison of words in both languages with the Latin forms.

100. Give a summary of the argument in any one of the following works:-- Cicero's _De Finibus, Tusculan disputations, De Officis_, or the first and second books of Lucretius.