Can you name the Roman authors of the following works?? by Chunklets

Work	Author
Carmen Saeculare
De Vita Caesarum
De Civitate Dei
De Rerum Natura
Pharsalia
Adelphoe
De Bello Gallico
De Lingua Latina
Bellum Catilinae
De Origine et Situ Germanorum

Work	Author
Institutio Oratoria
Naturalis Historia
Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium
Asinus Aureus
De Architectura
Miles Gloriosus
Ab Urbe Condita
Metamorphoses
Tusculanae Disputationes
Satyricon

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Ancient Roman Writers Quiz

by Chunklets

Created Feb 4, 2010 in Literature
Game Plays 641

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	AdamBishop:	Feb 28th, 2010 at 03:57 GMT	2 points
	Good quiz, but Augustine isn't really "Roman", is he?

	Chunklets:	Feb 28th, 2010 at 18:03 GMT	3 points
	Interesting point! Augustine was North African by birth, so in that sense he wasn't Roman. However, he was a citizen of the Empire, and wrote in its language, so you could argue that he's just as Roman as Tacitus, who was from Gaul.

	AdamBishop:	Mar 3rd, 2010 at 05:25 GMT	3 points
	Right, but I also mean that is somewhat more early medieval than classical Roman (but I am biased, as a medievalist).

	Chunklets:	Mar 4th, 2010 at 14:58 GMT	3 points
	Ah, I see what you mean! I've always drawn the line at AD 476, so Augustine sneaks in just under the wire. But yes, he's either the last of the great Classical authors or the first of the great Medieval ones (or possibly both!).

	magister:	Apr 2nd, 2010 at 02:16 GMT	4 points
	Interesting indeed. When I took Medieval Latin in college, the first thing we translated was sections of St. Jerome's Vulgate. That was written sometime in the end of the 4th century, and therefore a little before Augustine. However, it could be that it was a simply a Christian beginning to a course that was largely influenced by Christian literature, or as an example of the last vestiges of classical Latin. The next thing we translated was sections of the Historia Francorum of Gregory of Tours, which is clearly an example of Merovingian Latin. Personally, I think that Augustine should be kept as a "classical" author, considering the great classical influence of "De Civitate Dei."

	Chunklets:	Apr 7th, 2010 at 23:38 GMT	1 point
	A good point about "De Civitate Dei" and its influence. In addition, I don't really have any problem with the idea that "Classical" authors and "Medieval" authors could have been writing at the same time during that 4th-5th-6th century era.

	magister:	May 28th, 2010 at 13:38 GMT	2 points
	Hehe, thanks for the positive support, but I actually miswrote myself there. I meant the classical influence upon "De Civitate Dei," namely the uses of Plato's "Republic" and Cicero's "De Re Publica," as well as the vast commentary on pagan polytheism. However, noting the influence DCD had on later works in the classical vein is also important.

	dicko:	Sep 29th, 2010 at 22:09 GMT	4 points
	Whatever happened to Vergil?

	Chunklets:	Sep 29th, 2010 at 23:30 GMT	2 points
	@dicko: He's being held in reserve for the sequel! :)

	TJL:	Oct 5th, 2010 at 06:47 GMT	2 points
	What is traditionally considered to be Classical Latin Literature ends mostly with the end of the Silver Age (around 150 A.D.), with some exceptions made for the few authors who wrote in the later half of the 2nd Century. St. Augustine, who lived in the 4th and 5th centuries, is much later than the end of Classical Latin; he was born 200 years after it ended, and almost 200 years after the latest of the other authors here, Plautus or Apuleius (dates are unclear for Apuleius, but he died sometime around 180) died. Augustine really shouldn't be included. He lived after the Roman Empire was divided; furthermore, by this time, most of the residents of the empire were immigrants from nations outside. Latin of this period was very different. Also, I'm kind of surprised Vergil isn't here, but I'm glad to see you'll include him in the sequel

	Chunklets:	Oct 5th, 2010 at 20:37 GMT	1 point
	It's a fair point, TJL, and I suppose I might have done better to simply name this quiz "Latin Authors" or something similar. That said, I do feel that it's a mistake to cut the Classical period off in the second century. I don't think there can be any doubt that Classical ideas and forms and so on trundled merrily on from that point, even though the volume of surviving material is much much less. I do thank you for your comment, though; this is a very interesting debate, and I fully accept that there are other very reasonable points of view out there. And yes, there will be Vergil on the sequel! :)

	magister:	Nov 10th, 2010 at 14:21 GMT	2 points
	@TLJ: For the most part, I agree with what you have. As Chunklets said, a better title might be "Latin Writers." I'm sure you mispoke about Plautus, since he is not late, but rather extremely early Latin. As far as the language of late Latin, Augustine was very learned, and his style is markedly Ciceronian. The differences between Classical Latin and later Latin are better shown in, say, Gregory of Tours' "Historia Francorum." In any case, my only other issue is a little nitpicky, in that many classicists are moving away from the designation "Silver Age." I know that a couple of my professors in grad school would have balked at the term.

	tulliuscicero:	Sep 10th, 2011 at 21:43 GMT	4 points
	I'm third-most guessed? Flattering.

	JamesSnell:	Nov 7th, 2011 at 19:27 GMT	1 point
	Great quiz! You could add Appian's Roman History or Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

	milgita:	Apr 9th, 2012 at 00:29 GMT	1 point
	32 seconds. Fun!