The Aeneid (Virgil) practice questions and exam guide

The principal divine opponent of Aeneas is:

1. Jupiter
2. Juno
3. Apollo
4. Mercury

Answer: B — Juno

A) Decrees the destiny. C/D) Don't oppose. B) Correct — Juno's hostility drives the storm + the Italian war + many delays.

In the Divine Comedy, Virgil guides Dante through:

1. Paradiso only
2. Inferno and most of Purgatorio, but cannot enter Paradise
3. The entire poem
4. None of it

Answer: B — Inferno and most of Purgatorio, but cannot enter Paradise

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Right — Inferno and most of Purgatorio, but cannot enter Paradise.

In Book 7 the Trojans realize they have reached the promised land when:

1. They eat their tables (cakes used as plates) — fulfilling a prophecy
2. An oracle speaks
3. Latinus greets them at the harbor
4. Anchises appears

Answer: A — They eat their tables (cakes used as plates) — fulfilling a prophecy

B/C/D) Wrong. A) Right — They eat their tables (cakes used as plates) — fulfilling a prophecy.

Le Guin's Lavinia (2008) extends the silent character into:

1. A villain
2. A reflective first-person narrator who interrogates fate and the cost of empire
3. A goddess
4. A warrior

Answer: B — A reflective first-person narrator who interrogates fate and the cost of empire

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Right — A reflective first-person narrator who interrogates fate and the cost of empire.

In Book 8 Aeneas seeks an alliance with the Arcadian king:

1. Latinus
2. Tarchon
3. Acestes
4. Evander, on the future site of Rome

Answer: D — Evander, on the future site of Rome

A/B/C) Wrong. D) Right — Evander, on the future site of Rome.

The Sibyl Aeneas consults in Book 6 lives at:

1. Delphi
2. Dodona
3. Cumae, near the Bay of Naples
4. Delos

Answer: C — Cumae, near the Bay of Naples

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Right — Cumae, near the Bay of Naples.

The deathbed wish to burn the manuscript was overridden by:

1. Maecenas
2. Horace
3. Augustus, who ordered Varius and Tucca to publish
4. Ovid

Answer: C — Augustus, who ordered Varius and Tucca to publish

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Right — Augustus, who ordered Varius and Tucca to publish.

The catalog at the end of Book 7 lists:

1. Trojan ships
2. Olympians
3. Italian allies of Turnus, recalling the Iliad's Catalog of Ships
4. Roman emperors

Answer: C — Italian allies of Turnus, recalling the Iliad's Catalog of Ships

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Right — Italian allies of Turnus, recalling the Iliad's Catalog of Ships.

Dido's suicide includes:

1. Forgiveness
2. Silence
3. Reconciliation
4. A curse on Aeneas + his descendants foretelling Rome + Carthage's wars

Answer: D — A curse on Aeneas + his descendants foretelling Rome + Carthage's wars

A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — Virgil retro-fits the historical Punic Wars into Dido's last words.

Pietas in the Aeneid is best read as duty owed to:

1. Gods, family, and country (and by extension fate)
2. Self
3. Friends only
4. Wealth

Answer: A — Gods, family, and country (and by extension fate)

B/C/D) Wrong. A) Right — Gods, family, and country (and by extension fate).

Mercury appears in the poem to:

1. Fight at Actium
2. Build the Trojan ships
3. Deliver Jupiter's reminder of Aeneas's destiny in Book 4
4. Marry Lavinia

Answer: C — Deliver Jupiter's reminder of Aeneas's destiny in Book 4

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Right — Deliver Jupiter's reminder of Aeneas's destiny in Book 4.

The Battle of Actium (31 BCE), which the Shield depicts, was won by:

1. Mark Antony
2. Octavian (Augustus), defeating Mark Antony and Cleopatra
3. Caesar
4. Pompey

Answer: B — Octavian (Augustus), defeating Mark Antony and Cleopatra

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Right — Octavian (Augustus), defeating Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

Pro-Trojan gods?

Venus (Aeneas's mother) + Apollo. Help the Trojans.

Who is Lavinia?

Daughter of King Latinus of Latium. Promised in marriage to Turnus but oracle says she must marry a foreigner. Eventual wife of Aeneas.

Jupiter's stance?

Has decreed Aeneas + Roman destiny. Allows Juno to delay but not derail. Speaks the famous prophecy of an 'imperium without end' for Rome.

Who is Ascanius / Iulus?

Aeneas's son. Comes from Troy with his father. Iulus = ancestor of the Julian line (including Julius Caesar + Augustus).

Aeneas at Carthage?

Welcomed by Dido. Tells the story of Troy's fall + his wanderings (Books 2-3) as a flashback at her court.

Who is Creusa?

Aeneas's Trojan wife. Lost in the flight from Troy. Her ghost predicts a new wife + Italian destiny.