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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What disability does Eco have?
(a) He has a low IQ.
(b) He is mute.
(c) He is deaf.
(d) He cannot walk.

2. Who are Felix and Chrestus?
(a) Guards assigned to Roscius (filius).
(b) Cicero's brothers.
(c) Professional killers who were hired to kill Rocius (pater).
(d) Roscius's (pater) most trusted slaves.

3. Why did Polia tell neighbors she saw the murder and then deny it?
(a) She was ashamed.
(b) She was trying to protect Eco.
(c) She killed Roscius.
(d) She was paid off by the murderers.

4. How does Gordianus react to the events in Chapter 2?
(a) He tells Tiro to run home and get his master.
(b) He pulls his sword on the gladiators.
(c) He does not want to get involved.
(d) He hides behind a wall.

5. How did Gaius die?
(a) Food poisoning.
(b) Murder.
(c) Accidental fall.
(d) Battle.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the House of Swans?

2. How is Tiro related to Cicero?

3. Caecilia Metella tells Gordianus that on the night he was murdered, Roscius (pater) received______________.

4. In Chapter 2, what ends up lying at Gordianus's feet?

5. Who is the man prosecuting Cicero's client?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Bethesda bite Gordianus when he comes into her room?

2. Cicero and Sextus Roscius (pater) lived very different lifestyles. Compare and contrast their lifestyles.

3. What is the significance of the fact that the men who break into Gordianus's house had come earlier in the day?

4. What elements of Cicero's home seem to contradict one another?

5. Why does Gordianus mention the fog at the end of Chapter 15?

6. If traveling to Ameria alone is so dangerous, why doesn't Gordianus take a companion or a guard?

7. Explain why Caecilia would house Sextus Roscius (filius) in an unsavory part of her house, near the stinking indoor toilets.

8. What is the purpose of the author's inclusion of the scene where Gordianus and Tiro see a gladiator stabbed while they are walking to Cicero's house?

9. Do you think Gauis's death was accidental or a murder? Why?

10. When Gordianus and Tiro see the tenement fire, what is the significance of that?

(see the answer keys)

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