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I assigned this at the beginning of the year so that students could familiarize themselves with the MOO. Some of the topics have been taken from the various "treasure hunts" that other VRomans have created.
This began as a Latin composition assignment for my Latin Three students. First, they had to write a "horror" story in Latin. I then posted the two best stories in a virtual library, and all students had to log in and read them. I also posted a story of my own.
I always have my Latin One students create a children's Christmas book (in Latin) at the end of the first semester. I posted highlights of the stories on a scroll in the library, and I posted a story of my own, as well.
A Latin Three assignment, similar to the "Lemuria" assignment described above. I added an interview with a robotic Venus.
This is meant to complement the dreadful part of Ecce Romani I in which the family is stuck in a ditch in perpetuum. Two interviews with robots are included.
A. Go to Rome. Go to Regio I. Proceed south along the Via Appia to answer these questions.
1. Where does Regio I begin (what historical location)?
2. What famous Roman author traveled along the Via Appia in 37 BC?
3. What is the historical context of the Latin phrase quo vadis (the title of a novel and film of the mid-twentieth century)?
4. Whose tomb is located just before the third milestone south of the city? How is she related to the Crassus of the First Triumvirate?
5. What does the inscription on the tomb of corvus say (in Latin)?
6. Why is the town of Capua notorious?
7. Where does the VRoma Via Appia terminate?
B. Go to Rome. Go to Regio IV and proceed to the Arch of Titus.
1. On what street (Latin) is the arch located?
2. Why was it built?
3. When was it built?
4. What is the Hebrew graffito written on it (the English translation)?
C. Go to Rome. Go to Regio VIII and proceed to the Rostra.
1. What is the Rostra? What does its name mean and why was this name given to it?
2. Find a series of writings dealing with political strategies during the Republic. Describe three of these strategies. Do they have any similarities with modern politics? Support your answer.
3. Converse with the crow (type 'activate corvus' without the quotes). What does he say to you after activation?
4. How did corvus die (according to Pliny)?
D. Go to Rome. Go to Regio VIII and proceed to the Clivus Capitolinus. Then proceed to the Portico of the Senate House.
1. Find a garment here and try it on. What is the garment's name and what does it look like? What happens when you attempt to put it on? What does this reveal about the relationship between Roman politics and external appearances?
2. Explore the place where the Senate met. Find an item of furniture and follow the instructions. What is the name of this item and who was allowed to use it? What happens when you attempt to use it?
E. Go to Rome. Go to Regio XI and proceed to the Circus Maximus.
1. What is the quote by Juvenal (Latin)?
2. Who is Antoninus Pius? What happens when you greet him and insult him, respectively?
3. What is the Latin for the surface of the racetrack?
4. What are the dimensions of the racecourse?
5. Proceed to the book shop. Write the translation of the curse tablet.
F. Go to Rome. Proceed to Regio XIII and then go to the shore of the Tiber.
1. What is the Emporium?
2. What are the river boats on the Tiber called (the Latin)?
3. How is the felis nauticus described?
4. What is the nearest seaport to the city?
After you log in, go to the Officina. Then go to the hallway with offices R-Z and enter my office from there. After this, you must locate the scrolls in the library of Quintus Valerius Passer in order to answer the following questions. (The library will be five or six movements away from my office.) One of the scrolls has a story of my own, and two of the scrolls have stories written by your classmates. I have done no editing on the student stories, so be aware that the Latin might contain some mistakes.
"Seditio"
1. What is Rufus doing as the story begins? (Paraphrase in English.)
2. Why is the farmhouse quiet? (Paraphrase in English.)
3. How is the slave who incites the seditio described? (Copy the Latin and translate it.)
4. What does the slave say to Rufus? (Copy the Latin and translate it.)
5. When Rufus runs into the atrium, what are the three things that the slaves are doing? (Copy the Latin and translate it.)
6. What does Rufus tell them? (Copy the Latin and translate it.)
7. How do the slaves respond? (Paraphrase in English.)
"Crudelis"
1. What does the first student say to the teacher? (Copy the Latin.)
2. What punishment does the teacher assign in the second paragraph? (Copy the Latin.)
3. Translate the third paragraph (as best you can).
"Carum Erratum"
1. Who are the two lead characters? (Latin)
2. Who is the peregrinus vir? What does he say to the travelers? (Copy the Latin and translate it.)
3. Who is the periculosus vir? What does he do to the travelers? (Copy the Latin and translate it.)
Log into the MOO and go to my office. From there, go to the library of Q. Valerius Passer. It will be five or six moves away.
When you get to the library, follow these directions for these two scrolls.
1. "Saturnalia ad Latinam Unam Venit"
Translate the story in full. You'll find some help with vocabulary at the end.
2. "Praecipua"
Choose any FIVE of the bulleted entries. Copy down the Latin and then translate.
Once you log in, go through my office to the Cellula Amoris (located on the estate of Quintus Valerius Passer). You should find three scrolls to read and a rather famous deity to interview.
I. "Cornelia's Wedding Revisited"
1. Identify the type of ut clause in the second sentence.
2. Parse the verb in the third sentence.
3. Translate the final sentence of the first paragraph literally.
4. Identify the GNC of commissatio in the second paragraph.
5. Identify the type of ne clause in the last sentence of the third paragraph.
6. Translate literally the first line of dialogue from Bertha all the way down to the end of the story. (A total of eight short paragraphs.)
II. "Stultitia et Pingue"
1. Translate the first sentence literally.
2. Summarize, in English, the events described in the second paragraph.
3. How many children do Beavus and Bertha eventually have?
4. What happens to the only intelligent one of these children?
III. "Amor in Perpetuum"
1. Name the two main characters.
2. In English, what happens on the praecipua nox?
3. In English, what happens between the characters before conlegium and then during conlegium?
4. Translate the last two sentences of the story literally.
IV. Interview
1. Who is the deity in the room, and how is she described?
2. Conduct an interview with her, and ask her about the following topics. (She understands English, but she speaks only in Latin.) For each topic, write her Latin response and then the translation:
sex, love, marriage, the villa (of Q. Valerius Passer), Aeneas, Vulcan, Helen
(My office will be your starting point for all of this.)
1. How are Cornelia, Eucleides, and Marcus each described?
2. Conduct an interview with Marcus. Write down his response to each of the following topics:
Sextus, inn, Geta, Cornelia, carriage, Eucleides, Apollodorus
3. Who is Quintus Valerius Passer?
4. What town is his villa in?
5. How is Dossenus described?
6. Conduct an interview with Dossenus. Write down his response to each of the following topics:
Catullus, Egnatius, brother (of Catullus), Lesbia, Attis, Passer, Nepos, Volusius
7. Translate the document on the scroll entitled "Epistula."
8. Summarize the poem on the "Scroll of Dossenus" in a couple of sentences.
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