STUDY GUIDE--MIDTERM II

POMPEY, CRASSUS, CAESAR, CICERO, CATILINE, SERTORIUS, MITHRIDATES OF PONTUS, SPARTACUS, CLODIUS, FIRST TRIUMVIRATE, (BIBULUS), (CONCORDiA ORDINUM), (MILO)

CAESAR, GALLIC WARS, CIVIL WARS, (DYRRHACHIUM) PHARSALUS, NICOMEDES OF BITHYNIA, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, PLUTARCH

ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, BRUTUS, LEPIDUS, OCTAVIAN, SEXTUS POMPEY, ACTIUM

(PRINCIPATE), PRAETORIAN GUARD, AGRIPPA, JULIA, TIBERIUS, RES GESTAE DIVI AUGUSTI, SEJANUS, CALIGULA, CLAUDIUS, NERO

CATULLUS, LESBIA, AVE ATQUE VALE, VIRGIL, AENEID, (DIDO), (TURNUS), (LAVINIA), (LATINUS), (ECLOGUES), (GEORGICS), OVID, METAMORPHOSES, ART OF LOVE, HORACE

[Three  more potential ID's:  YFBR  I, II and III = Your Favorite Blog Reading.  Please look back to the blog posts and discuss your favorite of the primary source readings.]

A. The conservative reforms of Sulla might have guaranteed senatorial hegemony for years to come, but a series of threats to the security of the Roman state in the 70's and 60's B.C. gave ambitious young men all the excuse they needed to subvert Sulla's constitution and bring senatorial control of Rome's affairs to an end.  Comment.

B.  Gaius Julius Caesar was certainly capable and talented.  The Optimates, though, had good reason for viewing him as a threat to republican government.  But ultimately, perhaps, the Optimates themselves were every bit as much to blame for the end of the Roman Republic.  Comment.

C. The story of the Second Triumvirate has the makings of a great drama: suspense, adventure, and romance.  But it also has something of a "game show" quality.  Comment.

D.  In some ways, Augustus and the Julio-Claudian emperors who succeeded him were rather successful rulers.  But the stories of these rulers have elements of tragedy--tragedy both for the rulers themselves and for the people of Rome.  Comment.

E.  Though Roman poetry is largely an imitation of that of the Greeks, the best of the Roman poets are all strikingly original--not so much in the forms they employ, but in their insights into the human condition.  Comment.