Description of Final Exam for Latin 423.

NB: Like the midterm, this will be a take-home, untimed examination -- the exam itself will be given to you on Thursday, March 12, in a sealed envelope. Please email the completed exam to me by NOON on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18 (alain@uw.edu)...you will receive a confirmation email from me (if you don't get one, contact me either by phone at 206-543-2266 or email). If you prefer, you may leave a hardcopy of your exam in my mailbox in 218 Denny, the Dept. of Classics main office (note that the office is closed 12-1 every day).

PART I. Translation.

Three passages, of which you must translate two. Chosen from the entirety of Cicero’s First Catilinarian.

Once you have completed this part of the exam, please put it aside before proceeding to Part II. You may not return to Part I once you have completed it.

PART II. Essay.

For this essay, you may use your texts and any notes you care to make in preparation for writing the essay. The question on which you will be asked to write is this:

A noted ancient historian once remarked:

“Cicero is a liar, as anyone who reads the First Catilinarian can plainly tell. His Catiline is the product of paranoia, hyperbole, self-aggrandizement, and sheer arrogance. For the truth about the Catilinarian conspiracy one must turn to Sallust. Here we find an objective, detached narrative that presents us with a complex yet infinitely more credible Catiline. One might argue that Sallust lacks the skills we look for in a competent modern historian, but there is one thing he is not: a liar.”

Write a brief essay in which you defend or/and refute this statement. Your response should be supported with specific references to the texts you have read for the class.