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Quiz about Literary and Historical Latin

Literary and Historical Latin Trivia Quiz

This quiz takes a look at some Latin words and phrases in literature and history (and one movie).

A multiple-choice quiz by robert362. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
robert362

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
184,250

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
537

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. "Invictus" is one of the master poems of the English language. Who wrote it? Hint

John Donne

Ralph Waldo Emerson

John Milton

William Ernest Henley

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Question 2 of 10

2. "Veni, vidi, vici" is commonly translated as "I came, I saw, I conquered". With whom is the quotation associated? Hint

William the Conqueror

Napoleon

Julius Caesar

Alexander the Great

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Question 3 of 10

3. The "deus ex machina" was first used in what type of plays? Hint

Modern farces

Ancient Greek plays

Existential plays

Plays with tragic endings

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Question 4 of 10

4. "Sic semper tyrannis" is associated with which individual? Hint

George Armstrong Custer

Meriwether Lewis

Thomas Jefferson

John Wilkes Booth

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Question 5 of 10

5. "Quo Vadis?" is the unlikely title of an American-made movie. Who was the star? Hint

Gary Cooper

Victor Mature

Robert Taylor

Alan Ladd

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Question 6 of 10

6. "Obiter dictum" refers to a thought made in passing. One of the more famous examples in American history is a comment by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. Who wrote it? Hint

John Jay

Roger B. Taney

John Marshall

Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Question 7 of 10

7. "De Profundis" is the title given to a writing by what author? Hint

Edgar Allan Poe

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Charles Baudelaire

Oscar Wilde

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Question 8 of 10

8. "Cogito ergo sum" is associated with what philosopher? Hint

Plato

Kant

Cicero

Descartes

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Question 9 of 10

9. "Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae" is associated with what poet? Hint

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ernest Dowson

William Butler Yeats

Alexander Pope

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Question 10 of 10

10. Extreme trivia: what famous poet asked (in a poem) "What's the Latin name for parsley?"? Hint

Lord Byron

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

T.S. Eliot

Robert Browning

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Invictus" is one of the master poems of the English language. Who wrote it?

Answer: William Ernest Henley

This is the classic that ends with "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul". Henley had a difficult life due to health problems, but he wrote some fine poetry. This is his best.

2. "Veni, vidi, vici" is commonly translated as "I came, I saw, I conquered". With whom is the quotation associated?

Answer: Julius Caesar

The line is attributed to Julius Caesar. You have to admire a man who is able to sum up a situation crisply in a few well-chosen words.

3. The "deus ex machina" was first used in what type of plays?

Answer: Ancient Greek plays

In some ancient Greek plays, the gods had to intercede at the end of the play to help unscramble the mess made by poor underling mortals. The phrase translates as "the god from the machine". It is generally considered melodramatic and can make tragedies "unserious".

4. "Sic semper tyrannis" is associated with which individual?

Answer: John Wilkes Booth

Booth allegedly yelled this after shooting Abraham Lincoln and leaping to the stage below (although there is at least one book, written by someone who claims to have been at Ford's Theatre at the time of the assassination, that disputes this idea.) The phrase translates as "thus always to tyrants".

5. "Quo Vadis?" is the unlikely title of an American-made movie. Who was the star?

Answer: Robert Taylor

Taylor is a Roman soldier in a biblical tale. (The movie is somewhat long - and not all that interesting.) "Quo Vadis" is also the title of a Polish historical novel, set in Roman times in the reign of Nero. The author is Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916), who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905.

6. "Obiter dictum" refers to a thought made in passing. One of the more famous examples in American history is a comment by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. Who wrote it?

Answer: Roger B. Taney

Taney's comment regarding the nature of slaves and of slavery added fuel to the fire in the days before the outbreak of the American Civil War.

7. "De Profundis" is the title given to a writing by what author?

Answer: Oscar Wilde

Wilde didn't give it this title - that was added later by others as an appropriate way to describe writing that Wilde did while in prison. It translates as "from the depths".

8. "Cogito ergo sum" is associated with what philosopher?

Answer: Descartes

"I think, therefore I am". This is considered to be something of a landmark in the histrory of philosophy.

9. "Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae" is associated with what poet?

Answer: Ernest Dowson

There probably isn't a more difficult literary title in the English language ... but the poem is excellent. "I am not what I was under the reign of the kind Cynara".

10. Extreme trivia: what famous poet asked (in a poem) "What's the Latin name for parsley?"?

Answer: Robert Browning

In "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister", Browning pokes fun at petty and superficial behavior.

Source: Author robert362

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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