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In this excerpt from his courtroom defense of the poet Archias, Cicero extols the nature of poets and gives
examples of the attitude of people toward poets.
| | Atque sic a summis hominibus eruditissimis- |
| que accepimus ceterarum rerum studia ex doctrina |
| et praeceptis et arte constare,1 sed poetam natura |
| Line | ipsa valere et mentis viribus excitari et quasi divino |
| (5) | quodam spiritu inflari. Quare suo iure noster ille |
| Ennius2 "sanctos" appellat poetas, quod quasi divino |
| deorum aliquo dono atque munere commendati |
| nobis esse videantur. Sit igitur, iudices, sanctum |
| apud vos, humanissimos homines, hoc poetae |
| (10) | nomen, quod nulla umquam barbaria3 violavit. |
| Saxa et solitudines voci respondent; bestiae |
| immanes cantu flectuntur atque consistunt. Nos |
| instituti rebus optimis non poetarum voce movea- |
| mur? Homerum Colophonii4 civem esse dicunt |
| (15) | suum, Chii5 suum vindicant6, Salaminii7 repetunt, |
| Smyrnaei8 vero suum esse confirmant atque etiam |
| delubrum9 eius in oppido dedicaverunt; permulti |
| alii praeterea pugnant inter se atque contendunt. |
1 consto, -are: arise
2 Ennius, -i: an early Roman poet
3 barbaria, -ae, f.: foreign land
4 Colophonii, -orum, m.: inhabitants of Colophon
5 Chii, -orum, m.: inhabitants of Chios
6 vindico, -are: claim
7 Salaminii, -orum, m.: inhabitants of Salamis
8 Smyrnaei, -orum, m.: inhabitants of Smyrna
9 delubrum, -i, n.: shrine
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Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta 18-19
The introduction establishes that this excerpt is from one of Cicero's orations and that he is defending a poet. Students can expect polished prose that aims to strengthen Cicero's defense by the use of examples.
In this passage three macrons have been added in lines 2, 3, and 4.
Since proper names often confuse students and since many of these names refer to Greeks, they are glossed.
A few possibly unfamiliar words are also glossed.
Click here to open a window that contains a copy of this passage.
This new window may be helpful as you answer the questions below.
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1. | -que (line 2) joins eruditissimis to
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| (A) | summis (line 1) |
| (B) | hominibus (line 1) |
| (C) | accepimus (line 2) |
| (D) | ceterarum (line 2) |
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| Key : | A. |
| Type : | Grammar. |
| Level : | Difficult. |
| Rationale : | In this type of question,
students often choose the word immediately before the
word to which the enclitic is attached as its partner.
Here the situation is complicated by the fact that
hominibus is also ablative and will prove to be an
attractive distracter. |
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2. | In line 2, accepimus is translated
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| (A) | we are accepting |
| (B) | we shall have received |
| (C) | we will receive |
| (D) | we have learned |
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| Key : | D. |
| Type : | Translation. |
| Level : | Difficult. |
| Rationale : | Because "accepting"
so closely resembles the Latin accepimus, students
may choose this distracter despite the incorrect tense.
"We have learned" is a less familiar meaning of this verb. |
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3. | The case and number of studia (line 2) are
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| (A) | nominative singular |
| (B) | ablative singular |
| (C) | nominative plural |
| (D) | accusative plural |
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| Key : | D. |
| Type : | Grammar. |
| Level : | Difficult. |
| Rationale : | The neuter plural a is often
confused with the feminine singular. The fact that studia
is the accusative subject of an indirect statement is less
obvious because of its placement after the qualifying
genitives ceterarum rerum. |
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4. | The words mentis viribus excitari (line 4) are translated
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| (A) | is stirred up by powers of the mind |
| (B) | for a mind to be aroused by force |
| (C) | is excited by men of intelligence |
| (D) | for mental strength to be aroused |
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| Key : | A. |
| Type : | Translation. |
| Level : | Medium. |
| Rationale : | Both vir and vis should be
familiar to students, although they often confuse these words.
The translation of viribus as a collective noun may make
the key less obvious. |
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5. | The words quasi divino quodam spiritu (lines 4-5) are translated
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| (A) | as if by a certain divine spirit |
| (B) | which for some is a divine spirit |
| (C) | whose spirit was once divine |
| (D) | as if another divine spirit |
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| Key : | A. |
| Type : | Translation. |
| Level : | Medium. |
| Rationale : | This is fairly
straightforward, providing students know the meaning
of both quasi and quodam. |
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6. | In lines 1-5 (Atque … inflari), we learn that
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| (A) | poets must be taught by educated men |
| (B) | poets teach learned men |
| (C) | poetry should not be part of education |
| (D) | poetry is not the product of teaching |
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| Key : | D. |
| Type : | Comprehension. |
| Level : | Difficult. |
| Rationale : | This opening sentence
is rather long and somewhat difficult to read. |
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7. | In line 5, both noster and ille modify
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| (A) | iure (line 5) |
| (B) | Ennius (line 6) |
| (C) | poetas (line 6) |
| (D) | deorum (line 7) |
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| Key : | B. |
| Type : | Grammar. |
| Level : | Easy. |
| Rationale : | Both words, by position and
case, are easily matched with Ennius. |
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8. | In line 7, commendati refers to
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| (A) | poets |
| (B) | gods |
| (C) | Ennius himself |
| (D) | gifts |
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| Key : | A. |
| Type : | Reference. |
| Level : | Medium. |
| Rationale : | If students remember that
poetae is masculine, they should be able to follow the
sense of this relatively short sentence. |
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9. | In lines 5-8 (Quare … videantur), Ennius calls poets sanctos because they
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| (A) | seem to be a gift from the gods |
| (B) | seem to give gifts to the gods |
| (C) | perform duties for the gods |
| (D) | seem to recommend us to the gods |
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| Key : | A. |
| Type : | Comprehension. |
| Level : | Easy. |
| Rationale : | The Latin is
straightforward and students should understand
the idea of this sentence. |
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10. | The case and number of iudices (line 8) are
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| (A) | vocative singular |
| (B) | nominative plural |
| (C) | vocative plural |
| (D) | accusative plural |
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| Key : | C. |
| Type : | Grammar. |
| Level : | Easy. |
| Rationale : | The fact that the introduction
informs students that this is an excerpt from a courtroom
speech and the fact that iudices is set off by commas
make this an easy question. |
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11. | In line 9, the words humanissimos homines refer to
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| (A) | literary critics |
| (B) | poets |
| (C) | judges |
| (D) | foreigners |
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| Key : | C. |
| Type : | Reference. |
| Level : | Easy. |
| Rationale : | Since the words immediately
follow vos, a clear allusion to the vocative iudices, this
should be an easy question for students. |
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12. | In line 10 (quod … violavit), Cicero contends that inhabitants of foreign countries have
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| (A) | never harmed the name of poet |
| (B) | often misunderstood true poetry |
| (C) | always discouraged the writing of poetry |
| (D) | sometimes worshiped poets |
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| Key : | A. |
| Type : | Comprehension. |
| Level : | Medium. |
| Rationale : | Although this is a comprehension question, the key is a fairly
close translation of the Latin, which minimizes the difficulty. |
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13. | In line 11, the words Saxa et solitudines are symbols of
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| (A) | civic buildings |
| (B) | desolate places |
| (C) | civil strife |
| (D) | political life |
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| Key : | B. |
| Type : | Comprehension. |
| Level : | Easy. |
| Rationale : | The key is obvious
both from the vocabulary and the context. |
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14. | In lines 11-12 (bestiae … consistunt), the beasts are said to
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| (A) | be lured into a trap |
| (B) | be chased away by the poet |
| (C) | be charmed by the poet |
| (D) | become the subject of a poem |
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| Key : | C. |
| Type : | Comprehension. |
| Level : | Easy. |
| Rationale : | The Latin is
straightforward. |
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15. | In line 12, the word Nos functions as
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| (A) | the subject of the sentence |
| (B) | the direct object of the sentence |
| (C) | an introduction to a question expecting a "no" answer |
| (D) | an introduction to a question expecting a "yes" answer |
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| Key : | A. |
| Type : | Grammar. |
| Level : | Easy. |
| Rationale : | If students know that
nos is a pronoun and recognize that the verb
moveamur is passive, they should find this
question very easy. |
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16. | In line 15, both times word suum is used it is translated
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| (A) | your own |
| (B) | their own |
| (C) | our own |
| (D) | one's own |
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| Key : | B. |
| Type : | Translation. |
| Level : | Easy. |
| Rationale : | If students are familiar
with the reflexive possessive adjective, this question
should pose no difficulty, especially since both
Colophonii and Chii are glossed. |
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17. | In line 17, the word eius refers to
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| (A) | Homer |
| (B) | the inhabitants of Salamis |
| (C) | the inhabitants of Smyrna |
| (D) | the town |
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| Key : | A. |
| Type : | Reference. |
| Level : | Medium. |
| Rationale : | Although the key is
the logical choice, the fact that the word Homerum
is so far away from eius makes this question a little
more difficult. |
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18. | The many others (permulti alii in lines 17-18) argue among themselves because
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| (A) | each thinks Homer likes their city best |
| (B) | they all claim Homer as their own |
| (C) | they do not want to build any more shrines to Homer |
| (D) | each thinks their poet is better than Homer |
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| Key : | B. |
| Type : | Comprehension. |
| Level : | Medium. |
| Rationale : | The Latin is not
difficult and the nature of the argument is stated many times. |
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19. | What figure of speech occurs in permulti … contendunt (lines 17-18)?
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| (A) | Zeugma |
| (B) | Simile |
| (C) | Tmesis |
| (D) | Alliteration |
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| Key : | D. |
| Type : | Figure of speech. |
| Level : | Easy. |
| Rationale : | Alliteration is one
of the easiest figures of speech to recognize. |
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