A History of Roman Literature: From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius

More of this Feature • Contents • Bibliography • Introduction • Preface • Study / Exam Questions

Related Resources • A Smaller History of Greece • A History of Rome • Classical Literature

QUESTIONS OR SUBJECTS FOR ESSAYS SUGGESTED BY THE HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE. [8]

1. Trace the influence of conquest on Roman literature.

2. Examine Niebuhr's hypothesis of an old Roman epos.

3. Compare the Roman conception of law as manifested in an argument of
Cicero, with that of the Athenians, as displayed in any of the great Attic
orators.

4. Trace the causes of the special devotion to poetry during the Augustan
Age.

5. The love of nature in Roman poetry.

6. What were the "Collegia poetarum?" In what connection are they
mentioned?

7. What methods of appraising literary work existed at Rome? Was there
anything analogous to our review system? If so, how did it differ at
different epochs?

8. Sketch the development of the "Mime", and account for its decline.

9. Criticise the merits and defects of the various forms which historical
composition assumed at Rome (Hegel, "Philos. of History, Preface").

10. "Inveni lateritiam: reliqui marmoream" (Augustus). The material
splendour of imperial Rome as affecting literary genius. (Contrast the
Speech of Pericles. Thuc. ii. 37, "sqq.")

11. "Varro dicit Musas Plautino sermone locuturas fuisse, si Latine loqui
vellent" (Quintil.). Can this encomium be justified? If so, show how.

12. "Cetera quae vacuas tenuissent carmine mentes." Is the true end of
poetry to occupy a vacant hour? Illustrate by the chief Roman poets.

13. The vitality of Greek mythology in Latin and in modern poetry.

14. State succinctly the debt of Roman thought, in all its branches, to
Greece.

15. What is the permanent contribution to human progress given by Latin
literature?

16. Criticise Mommsen's remark, that the drama is, after all, the form of
literature for which the Romans were best adapted.

17. Form some estimate of the historical value of the old annalists.

18. What sources of information were at Livy's command in writing his
history? Did he rightly appreciate their relative value?

19. What influence did the old Roman system have in repressing poetical
ideas?

20. In what sense is it true that the intellectual progress of a nation is
measured by its prose writers?

21. Philosophy and poetry set before themselves the same problem.
Illustrate from Roman literature.

22. Account for the notable deficiency in lyric inspiration among Roman
poets.

23. Compare the influence on thought and action of the elder and younger
Cato.

24. Examine the alleged incapacity of the Romans for speculative thought.

25. Compare or contrast the Italic, the Etruscan, the Greek, and the Vedic
religions, as bearing on thought and literature.

26. Compare the circumstances of the diffusion of Greek and Latin beyond
the limits within which they were originally spoken.

27. Analyse the various influences under which the poetical vocabulary of
Latin was formed.

28. Give the rules of the Latin accent, and show how it has affected Latin
Prosody. Is there any reason for thinking that it was once subjected to
different rules?

29. "Latin literature lacks originality." How far is this criticism sound?

30. Examine the influence of the Alexandrine poets upon the literature of
the later Republic, and of the Augustan Age.

31. What is the value of Horace as a literary critic?

32. Give a brief sketch of the various Roman writers on agriculture.

33. It has been remarked, that while every great Roman author expresses a
hope of literary immortality, few, if any, of the great Greek authors
mention it. How far is this difference suggestive of their respective
national characters, and of radically distinct conceptions of art?

34 What instances do we find in Latin literature of the novel or romance?
When and where did this style of composition first become common?

35. Trace accurately the rhythmical progress of the Latin hexameter, and
indicate the principal differences between the rhythm of Lucretius,
Virgil, and Horace's epistles.

36. Distinguish between the development and the corruption of a language.
Illustrate from Latin literature.

37. "Virgilius amantissimus vetustatis." Examine in all its bearings the
antiquarian enthusiasm of Virgil.

38. "Verum orthographia quoque consuetudini servit, ideoque saepe mutata
est" (Quintil.). What "principles" of spelling (if any), appear to be
adopted by the best modern editors?

39. Show that the letter "v", in Latin, had sometimes the sound of "w",
sometimes that of "b"; that the sounds "o u", "e i", "i u", "e q", were
frequently interchanged respectively.

40. Examine the traces of a satiric tendency in Roman literature,
independent of professed satire.

41. How far did the Augustan poets consciously modify the Greek metres
they adopted?

42. Is it a sound criticism to call the Romans a nation of grammarians?
Give a short account of the labours of any two of the great Roman
grammarians, and estimate their value.

43. Cicero ("De Leg." i. 2, 5) says: "Abest historia a literis nostris."
Quintilian (x. i. 101) says: "Historia non cesserit Graecis." Criticise
these statements.

44. "O dimidiate Menander." By whom said? Of whom said? Criticise.

45. Examine and classify the various uses of the participles in Virgil.

46. What are the chief peculiarities of the style of Tacitus?

47. "Roman history ended where it had begun, in biography." (Merivale).
Account for the predominance of biography in Latin literature.

48. The Greek schools of rhetoric in the Roman period. Examine their
influence on the literature of Rome, and on the intellectual progress of
the Roman world.

49. In what sense can Ennius rightly be called the father of Latin
literature?

50. Can the same rules of quantity be applied to the Latin comedians as to
the classical poets?

51. Mention any differences in syntax between Plautus and the Augustan
writers.

62. Examine the chief defects of ancient criticism.

53. The value of Cicero's letters from a historical and from a literary
point of view.

54. What evidence with regard to Latin pronunciation can be gathered from
the writings of Plautus and Terence?

55. Examine the nature of the chief problems involved in the settlement of
the text of Lucretius.

56. Compare the Homeric characters as they appear in Virgil with their
originals in the Iliad and Odyssey, and with the same as treated by the
Greek tragedians.

57. How far is it true that Latin is deficient in abstract terms? What
new coinages were made by Cicero?

58. Contrast Latin with Greek (illustrating by any analogies that may
occur to you in modern languages) as regards facility of composition. Did
Latin vary in this respect at different periods?

59. What are the main differences in Latin between the language and
constructions of poetry and those of prose?

60. The use of "tmesis, asyndeton, anacoluthon, aposiopesis, hyperbaton,
hyperbole, litotes", in Latin oratory and poetry.

61. What traces, are there of systematic division according to a number of
lines in the poems of Catullus or any other Latin poet with whom you are
familiar? (See Ellis's "Catullus").

62. Trace the history of the "Atellanae", and account for their being
superseded by the Mime.

63. Examine the influence of the other Italian nationalities on Roman
literature.

64. Which of the great periods of Greek literature had the most direct or
lasting influence upon that of Rome?

65. What has been the influence of Cicero on modern literature (1) as a
philosophical and moral teacher; (2) as a stylist?

66. Give some account of the Ciceronianists.

67. What influence did the study of Virgil exercise (1) on later Latin
literature; (2) on the Middle Ages; (3) on the poetry of the eighteenth
century?

68. Who have been the most successful modern writers of Latin elegiac
verse?

69. Distinguish accurately between "oratory" and "rhetoric". Discuss their
relative predominance in Roman literature, and compare the latter in this
respect with the literatures of England and France.

70. Give a succinct analysis of any speech of Cicero with which you are
familiar, and show the principles involved in its construction.

71. Discuss the position and influence of the Epicurean and Stoic
philosophies in the last age of the Republic.

72. State what plan and principle Livy lays down for himself in his
"History". Discuss and illustrate his merits as a historian, showing how
far he performs what he promises.

73. Give the political theory of Cicero as stated in his "De Republica"
and "De Legibus", and contrast it with either that of Plato, Aristotle,
Machiavel, or Sir Thomas More.

74. Analyse the main argument of the "De Natura Deorum". Has this treatise
a permanent philosophical value?

75. How far did the greatest writers of the Empire understand the
conditions under which they lived, and the various forces that acted
around them?

76. Examine the importance of the tragedies ascribed to Seneca in the
history of European literature. To whom else have they been ascribed?

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 illustrate 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
illustrate by examples.

82. What is known of Nigidius Figulus, the Sextii, Valerius Soranus, 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
classical authorities exist for its history?

85. Prove the assertion 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 class, with date,
place, and circumstances 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 worship. (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 "Varronianus", 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.

101. State the position and influence on thought and letters of the two
Scipios, Laelius, and Cato the censor.

102. Give Caesar's account of the religion of the Gauls, and compare it
with the "locus classicus" on the subject in Lucan (I. 447). What were the
national deities of the Britons, and to which of the Roman deities were
they severally made to correspond?

103. Examine the chief differences between the Ciceronian and Post-
Augustan syntax.

104. Trace the influence of the study of comparative philology on Latin
scholarship.

105. "Italy remained without national poetry or art" (Mommsen). In what
sense can this assertion be justified?

106. What passages can you collect from Virgil, Horace, Tacitus, and
Juvenal, showing their beliefs on the great questions of philosophy and
religion?

107. Examine the bearings of a highly-developed inflectional system like
those of the Greek and Latin languages, upon the theory of prose
composition.

108. To what periods of the life of Horace would you refer the composition
of the Book of Epodes and the Books of Satires and Epistles? Confirm your
view by quotations.

109. What is known of Suevius, Pompeius Trogus, Salvius Julianus, Gaius,
and Celsus?

110. Who were the chief writers of encyclopaedias at Rome?

111. How do you account for the short duration of the legitimate drama at
Rome?

112. Who were the greatest Latin scholars of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries? In what department of scholarship did they mostly labour, and
why?

113. Enumerate the chief losses which Latin literature has sustained.

114. Who were the original inhabitants of Italy? Give the main
characteristics of the Italic family of languages. To which was it most
nearly akin?

115. Illustrate from Juvenal the relations between patron and client.

116. Contrast briefly the life and occupations of an Athenian citizen in
the time of Pericles and Plato, with those of a Roman in the age of Cicero
and Augustus.

N.B. -- Many other questions will be suggested by referring to the Index.

FOOTNOTES

[8] Some of these questions are taken from University Examinations, some also from Mr. Gantillon's Classical Examination Papers.

CONTENTS - A History of Roman Literature: