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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is not one of the ways Juno suggests Juturna try to save Turnus?

2. What does the soothsayer say it means when bees cluster together and weigh down the branch of King Latinus' laurel tree?

3. How does Diomedes know Aeneas?

4. Who does the queen of Latium want her daughter to marry?

5. Who is Aeneas told will be willing to fight with him against the Latins?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jupiter become involved with the war in Book XI, and does this seem fair after he said before in Book X about being the same king to both Trojans and Rutulians?

2. Why is it significant that in Latinum, Aeneas and some of his followers eat the wheaten cakes they were using as plates for their meal?

3. Why would Aeneas' shield be covered with the deeds of his descendants?

4. What does Jupiter mean when he says that to everyone (Trojan or Rutulian), he is the same king?

5. Describe Latinus' actions once he sees his people fighting with the Trojans.

6. How does Venus use references to the Trojan War when meeting with Jupiter at the beginning of Book X?

7. What is the difference between what Arruns prays for and what he actually receives?

8. What suggestions are given in this book as to how the conflict can be resolved?

9. What false portent does Juturna send the Rutulians and how do they interpret it?

10. What might Evander mean when he says that it isn't empty-headed superstition that leads them to celebrate?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar asked Virgil to write The Aeneid to celebrate his recent victory at the Battle of Actium, in which Augustus (then called Octavian) and his forces beat Mark Antony and the Egyptian ruler Cleopatra. This victory brought peace to the empire, and Octavian/Augustus worked thereafter to rule well. Looking at details in The Aeneid such as the subject matter depicted at the center of Aeneas' shield and all the references Virgil makes to the Rome of his time, discuss what purpose Virgil's work might have served at the time.

Essay Topic 2

How much of Turnus' fate at the end of The Aeneid is due to fate, and how much is it due to fortune? As you answer, consider and discuss the following points:

1) What effect did Jupiter have on the outcome of the fight and why?

2) How might things have turned out differently if Turnus had not taken plunder from Pallas?

3) What has Jupiter said all along about the interworkings of fate and fortune and the time allotted each man to live?

Essay Topic 3

One of the main characteristics of epic poems such as The Aeneid (and The Iliad and The Odyssey) is that the poem starts "in medias res," or in the middle of the action. The narrative then reveals information about what came before through various means, such as characters telling tales of the past or the narrator providing background. Discuss how this work begins in the middle, what information the reader is eventually given about what happened before, how this information is provided, and what effect this structure has on the experience of reading the poem.

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