Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Before launching into the poetry itself, it is important to understand the Romans' attitudes towards love and marriage. For the Romans, love and marriage did not necessarily go hand in hand. Which of these statements about Roman marriage is false?
2. In the 2nd century BCE, a new kind of woman entered the scene. They were professional prostitutes who offered their patrons not just sex, but a cultured and urbane "companion," skilled in literature and the arts. This kind of prostitute, and their amateur "competitors," sparked the great lyric love poetry of the 1st century BCE-1st century CE.
3. The "amateur competitors" to the professional prostitutes often came from the ranks of respectable and very high-class women, who took it up as something of a hobby. This was blasphemy to those great bulwarks of Roman society, the Ciceros and the Catos. Which of these notorious women is (probably) celebrated as the poet Catullus' lover Lesbia?
4. One of the most brilliantly original lyric poets, in any language, was Quintus Valerius Catullus. His most famous poems describe his passionate and obsessive romance with a certain "Lesbia." As shown in his poetry, how does Catullus' affair with Lesbia end?
5. "That man, to me he seems equal to a god,
He, if it can be, surpasses the gods,
Who sitting opposite you, again and again
Watches and hears you,
Gently laughing. I'm miserable because
he steals all my senses from me: because when
I saw you, Lesbia, nothing is
[missing]
But my tongue falters, a subtle flame
Runs through my limbs, my ears ring
With an inward roar, my twin eyes
Are cloaked in night."
Catullus crafted this translation of a poem by which famous Greek lyric poet?
6. Horace, the greatest of all Latin lyric poets, was the first to seriously adapt Greek lyric meters for Latin poetry. Interestingly, as an Epicurean, he took a different attitude towards love than any of the other lyric poets whose work we have. What was his attitude towards passionate love?
7. "Don't you ask, it's a crime to know, what end for me, for you
The gods will give, Leuconoe, and don't try Babylonian astrology.
It is far better, whatever it is, to endure it,
Whether Jupiter will give many winters, or this final one,
Which now wears out the Tyrrhenian sea with grinding pumice pebbles.
Be wise, strain the wine, and prune back hope to a small space.
While we speak, unwilling time flies.
Seize the day. Trust as little as possible in the next."
Is it possible that Horace's famous "carpe diem" poem is really a love poem?
8. Publius Vergilio Maro, usually referred to as Vergil or Virgil, wrote epic poetry, not lyric. He still managed to create one of the "Greatest Hits of Classical Love Poetry." What doomed couple did his work popularize?
9. The most popular Latin love poet was surely Ovid, the author of the "Amores" (Loves), "Ars Amatoria," (Art of Love), and "Metamorphoses," among other works. In fact, Ovid first popularized one of the most common representations of love used today. What is it?
10. In AD 8, the emperor Augustus exiled Ovid to the shores of the Black Sea. There, Ovid was forced to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune until he died nine years later. The probable cause of his exile was his "Ars Amatoria," written several years earlier. Which of these is NOT a reason the work so offended Augustus?
11. The coming of Christianity had an interesting impact on love poetry, and attitudes towards love in general. In Medieval times, sexual desire, even within a marriage, was seen as a sin. How do you think Medieval commentators rationalized the overt sexuality of the Song of Songs?
12. The Song of Songs remained an extremely important influence on Medieval and Renaissance love lyric, despite Church attempts to sanitize it. One of the poems it directly inspired is to be found in the 11th century anthology of secular and sacred poetry, the "Cambridge Songs." The poem "Iam, dulcis amica, venito" depicts a dialogue between a male and female lover, who invite each other to partake in sensuous luxuries and love. This poem inspired which famous poem by the 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire? (Hint: It translates to "Invitation to a Voyage.")
13. Of course, the Classical lyric poets continued to have a tremendous influence on love poetry, especially after the Renaissance restored the availability and popularity of Classical authors. Which Classical poet likely inspired the 16th century Dutch poet Ioannis Secundus to write his work "Basia" ("Kisses")?
14. My favorite late Latin poet would have to be 16th century French poet Jean Salmon Macrin. He chose a rather unusual lover to write his love poetry about. Who would this unexpected lover be?
15. I hope this quiz has given you a taste for the wonders of Latin love poetry. The view of Latin as a stodgy dead language and French as "the language of love" is actually a recent development. What did the 16th century French poet Du Bellay see as the "relationship" between the two?
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agony before going online.
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