Pliny the Younger recorded his uncle's actions in a recount of this momumental event of 79AD
What is the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius
This Latin word for left-handed has been mistakenly used to identify character as well as dominant hand
What is sinister
This phrase begins Virgil's most famous poem
What is "Arma virumque cano"
Repetition of words in successive clauses denotes this rhetorical device
What is anaphora
This nymph kept Odysseus from Ithaca on her island
Who is Calypso
Virgil, author of the Aeneid, also wrote this famous poem whose name literally means agriculture.
What are the Georgics
This Latin phrase is commonly used by English speakers to describe a creator's greatest work
What is "Magnum Opus"
Many characters in Virgil's Aeneid are described as having "outstanding form" but this character is the first.
Who is Dido
This poetic device, commonly mistaken for synchesis, describes an a b b a arrangement of nouns and adjectives
What is chiasmus
Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Zeus, give us the name of this star sign which supposedly pairs best with Libra and Aquarius
What is Gemini
Ruodlieb, a German epic in the 11th century, was written by a man of this religious order
What is a Benedictine monk
From the Latin word "aestas," meaning summer, we derive this word which is the opposite of hibernation
What is aestivation
In his book De Bello Gallico Caesar, frequently uses this construction typically learned in Latin two
What are ablative absolutes
When a character addresses death or an inanimate object, they are typically using this rhetorical device
What is apostrophe
Proserpina ate this fruit (called
malogranatum in Latin) during her time in the Underworld
What is a pomegranate
Commonly confused by name with a novel by Franz Kafka, this is Ovid's most famous work
What is Metamorphoses
The motto of Massachusetts, literally meaning "he seeks quiet peace under liberty," contains this 3rd conjugation Latin verb.
What is Peto, petere
This Italian king is the father of the famous warrior Camilla
Who is Metabus
What are poetic plural and pleonasm
This hero fulfilled a Delphic prophecy that he would be the death of his grandfather by accidentally killing Acrisius, though one story says he deliberately did so by petrifying him with Medusa’s head
Who is Perseus
Most of Pliny's letters are addressed to this Roman emperor of 98AD
Who is Trajan
This three-word Latin motto, whose invention is sometimes credited to Marcus Junius Brutus, was said by John Wilkes Booth, and is the motto of Virginia
What is "Sic semper tyrannis"
Pliny tells a story of a ghost doing this to a slave boy that was likely actually the doing of the boy's brother
What is cutting his hair
This rhetorical device literally means "many fallings" in Greek, but is used to identify the same word when it has two different cases successively
What is polyptoton
Prometheus and Epimetheus, twin titans, has these powers respectively
What is Forethought and Afterthought