FIFTY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON PREPARATORY LATIN COURSE IN ENGLISH—FROM
PAGE 167 TO END OF BOOK.
By A. M. MARTIN, GENERAL SECRETARY C. L. S. C.
1. Q. Of what is the Fifth Book of “Cæsar’s Commentaries” mainly one
unbroken record? A. Of disasters to Cæsar’s armies, barely retrieved from
being irreparable.
2. Q. With what episode does this book begin? A. The last expedition, on
Cæsar’s part, to Great Britain.
3. Q. After Cæsar’s return to Gaul, what did the poor harvests compel him
to do with his legions for the winter? A. To distribute them to different
points.
4. Q. What chance did this seem to offer to the natives? A. To fall on
the Roman camps simultaneously and overpower them one by one.
5. Q. By whom was one legion commanded that was destroyed by the Gauls
under Ambiorix? A. By Titurius Sabinus.
6. Q. What lieutenant of Cæsar again encounters the Nervii, and is with
difficulty rescued by Cæsar? A. Cicero, a brother of the great orator.
7. Q. With what account is the Sixth Book largely occupied? A. With an
account of the ineffectual efforts of Cæsar to capture Ambiorix.
8. Q. In the narrative of the Seventh Book, who becomes the head of
the last and greatest confederate revolt of Gaul against Rome? A.
Vercingetorix.
9. Q. After the final defeat and surrender of Vercingetorix, what was his
fate? A. He was taken to Rome and there beheaded.
10. Q. By whom was the Eighth Book of the “Commentaries” written? A. By
Aulus Hirtius, one of Cæsar’s lieutenants.
11. Q. What does this book relate? A. The incidents of the last Gallic
campaign.
12. Q. How did Cæsar raise his legions and wage war? A. On his own
responsibility. His wars were mostly personal wars, and had no sanction
of government.
13. Q. What do Cicero’s writings form? A. What has been finely called a
library of reason and eloquence.
14. Q. What is the amount of reading in “Cicero’s Orations” required for
entrance at most colleges? A. The four orations against Catiline, and two
or three others variously chosen.
15. Q. From what oration of Cicero does our author first give an extract?
A. His oration for Marcus Marcellus.
16. Q. What was the occasion of this oration? A. The pardon by Cæsar of
Marcellus, who had fought for Pompey against Cæsar in the civil war, and
was now living in exile.
17. Q. What gave rise to Cicero’s orations against Catiline? A. The
Catiline conspiracy, which contemplated the firing of Rome and the death
of the Senate, as well as the personal and political enemies of the
conspirators.