Svolgi i seguenti 24 esercizi sull'Augustan Age (31 BC – 14 AD): leggi con attenzione le consegne, risponde in inglese quando richiesto e ricorda di motivare sempre le tue scelte. Negli esercizi a risposta aperta lavora sul quaderno, usando esempi precisi tratti dalle opere studiate e citando, quando possibile, l'autore e il titolo dell'opera di riferimento.
- Which historical event traditionally marks the beginning of the Augustan Age?
- A) The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC
- B) The battle of Actium in 31 BC, won by Octavian against Antony and Cleopatra
- C) The crossing of the Rubicon by Caesar in 49 BC
- D) The death of Augustus in 14 AD
- After his victory, Octavian officially declared himself king of Rome and abolished the Senate.
- Vero / Falso
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In 27 BC the Senate granted Octavian the honorific title of ___, a name that suggested both religious authority and a renewed era for Rome.
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Match each Augustan author with the work that made him famous. | Colonna A | Colonna B | |---|---| | Virgil | The Odes | | Horace | The Metamorphoses | | Ovid | The Elegies to Cynthia | | Propertius | The Aeneid |
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Which character best embodies the virtue of pietas in the Aeneid?
- A) Dido, queen of Carthage
- B) Turnus, the Rutulian warrior
- C) Aeneas, the Trojan hero
- D) Anchises, the old father
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Explain in three or four lines what the Latin word pietas means in the Aeneid and why it was particularly important during the Augustan Age.
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Maecenas was a famous general who supported Augustus on the battlefield but never had any contact with poets.
- Vero / Falso
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The literary circle organised by ___ included Virgil, Horace and Propertius and granted them financial security without demanding open propaganda.
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Which work by Horace develops a true philosophy of moderation in elegant hexameters, written as personal letters?
- A) The Satires
- B) The Epodes
- C) The Epistles
- D) The Carmen Saeculare
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Match each Latin expression with its correct meaning. | Colonna A | Colonna B | |---|---| | Carpe diem | The golden mean between excess and deprivation | | Aurea mediocritas | Devotion to gods, family and homeland | | Pietas | First citizen, leader of the state | | Princeps | Enjoy the present moment with awareness |
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How many books does Ovid's Metamorphoses contain, and which is its central unifying theme?
- A) Twelve books, centred on the foundation of Rome
- B) Fifteen books, centred on transformation
- C) Ten books, centred on the gods of Olympus
- D) Twenty books, centred on Roman history
- Ovid was exiled by Augustus to Tomis, on the Black Sea, where he continued to write poetry until his death.
- Vero / Falso
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Compare in about ten lines the figure of Aeneas in Virgil's epic and the lyrical 'I' that speaks in Horace's Odes, focusing on their attitude towards duty, time and happiness.
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Virgil's didactic poem on agriculture, which celebrates the dignity of country labour, is called the ___.
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Which connection links Catullus and the Augustan poets, especially the elegists Propertius and Tibullus?
- A) A common interest in epic war narratives modelled on Homer
- B) A shared exploration of personal emotion in refined lyric form
- C) A common defence of the old Roman republic
- D) A shared rejection of any Greek literary influence
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Why can the Augustan Age be considered a literary 'golden age'? Give at least two reasons supported by examples.
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The English Augustan Age of the eighteenth century, including authors such as Pope and Dryden, openly imitated Roman Augustan models.
- Vero / Falso
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Match each work with its literary genre. | Colonna A | Colonna B | |---|---| | Aeneid | Pastoral poetry | | Eclogues | Moral satire | | Satires | Poetry of exile | | Tristia | Epic poem |
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Which of the following statements about the principate is correct?
- A) It abolished the Senate and the consulship
- B) It maintained the old republican institutions while concentrating real power in the princeps
- C) It transformed Rome into an absolute oriental monarchy from the very beginning
- D) It gave full sovereignty back to the popular assemblies
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Augustus famously said that he had found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of ___.
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In two or three lines, explain what 'literary patronage' meant in the Augustan Age and why it was different from simple propaganda.
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Which Augustan poet was born as the son of a freed slave and received a country estate near the Sabine hills as a gift from Maecenas?
- A) Virgil
- B) Ovid
- C) Horace
- D) Propertius
- In the Metamorphoses, Ovid retells only Roman myths and ignores Greek mythology entirely.
- Vero / Falso
- Write a short paragraph of about eight lines explaining how the values promoted by Augustan literature (peace, piety, rural life, moderation, Rome's mission) can still speak to a contemporary reader, giving at least two everyday examples.