AP Latin : Syntax in Vergil
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Example Questions
Example Question #81 : Syllabus Passages
1 Quod genus hoc hominum? Quaeve hunc tam barbara morem
2 permittit patria? Hospitio prohibemur harenae;
3 bella cient, primaque vetant consistere terra.
4 Si genus humanum et mortalia temnitis arma
5 at sperate deos memores fandi atque nefandi.
6 Rex erat Aeneas nobis, quo iustior alter,
7 nec pietate fuit, nec bello maior et armis.
A rhetorical device found in line 7 is __________.
prolepsis
metaphor
tmesis
pleonasm
pleonasm
The answer is "pleonasm," or the use of superfluous words. Ilioneus specifies that Aeneas is strong in "bello" and "armis," which both refer to war in Latin. Either one would have been enough to complete the meaning. The other choices are not present: "metaphor" is identifying one thing as an unrelated thing for literary or rhetorical effect, "tmesis" refers to the separation of a compound word into two parts, and "prolepsis" is the use of a word sooner than it should appear.
(Passage adapted from The Aeneid of Vergil 1. 539-546)
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