2-23-98
Exam One
Fifty minutes. No books. No notes. No leaving once exam
is underway. No panicking. Relax and do your best.
Identify the following quotations by (a)uthor of
the work in which it appears, (t)itle, and explanation of its (s)ignificance.
By explaining the significance, I mean that you ought to describe briefly
how the quotation reflects the/an important overall theme of the work (for
philosophical works) or what is happening in terms of plot beyond what
is obvious from the quote (for narrative and dramatic works). (1 point
for each blank)
1. I knew I must die, even without your decree:
I am only mortal. And if I must die
Now, before it is my time to die,
Surely this is no hardship: can anyone
Living, as I live, with evil all about me,
Think Death less than a friend? This death of mine
Is of no importance; but if I had left my brother
Lying in death unburied, I should have suffered.
(a)
(s)
2. Don't take it ill that I was born a woman, if I contribute
something better than our present troubles. I pay my share; for I contribute
MEN. But you miserable old fools contribute nothing, and after squandering
our ancestral treasure, the fruit of the Persian Wars, you make no contribution
in return. And now, all on account of you, we're facing ruin.
(a)
(s)
3. Better one's own duty without excellence than the duty
of another well followed out. Death in one's own duty is better; the duty
of another is full of danger.
(a) XXXXXXXXXXXXX
(s)
4. Approach them with dignity and they will respect you.
Show piety towards your parents and kindness toward your children, and
they will be loyal to you. Promote those who are worthy, train those who
are incompetent; that is the best form of encouragement.
(a)
(s)
5. Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city; wilt thou also destroy,
and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That
be far from thee, to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the
wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from
thee: shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
(a) XXXXXXXXXXXXX
(s)
6. What disturbs men's minds is not events but their judgements
on events. . . . And so when we are hindered, or disturbed, or distressed,
let us never lay the blame on others, but on ourselves, that is, on our
judgements.
(a)
(s)
7. Then, I said, the business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already shown to be the greatest of all-they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good; but when they have ascended and seen enough we must not allow them to do as they do now.
What do you mean?
I mean that they remain in the upper world: but this must
not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners
in the den, and partake of their labours and honours, whether they are
worth having or not.
(a)
(s)
8. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your
life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body,
what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more
than raiment? . . . And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies
of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin . . .
.
(a)
(s)
9. You've found me out;
a god let you discover me; but keep
this secret to yourself--you must not speak
of this to anyone within these halls,
for if you babble . . .
Though you're my nurse, I shall
not spare you when, within this house, I kill
the other servingwomen.
(a)
(s)
10. Wherefore prudence is a more precious thing even than
philosophy: For from prudence are sprung all the other virtues, and it
teaches us that it is not possible to live pleasantly without living prudently
and honourably and justly, nor, again, to live a life of prudence, honour,
and justice without living pleasantly.
(a)
(s)
11. For if I tell you that to do as you say would be a
disobedience to God, and therefore that I cannot hold my tongue, you will
not believe that I am serious; and if I say again that daily to discourse
about virtue, and of those other things about which you hear me examining
myself and others, is the greatest good of man, and that the unexamined
life is not worth living, you are still less likely to believe me.
(a)
(s)
Identify the following characters by (a)uthor of
the work in which each appears, (t)itle, and a brief (d)escription
of the character (e.g., what she or he does, or whom she or he is related
to). (1 point for each blank.)
1. Crito
(a) (t) (d)
2. Lampito
(a) (t) (d)
3. Creon
(a) (t) (d)
4. Arjuna
(a) XXXXXXXXXX (t) (d)
5. Melanthius
(a) (t) (d)
6. Circe
(a) (t) (d)
7. Isaac
(a) XXXXXXXXXX (t) (d)
8. Polyneices
(a) (t) (d)
9. Penelope
(a) (t) (d)
10. Haemon
(a) (t) (d)
11. Hagar
(a) XXXXXXXXXX (t) (d)
In response to one of the following questions,
write a well-organized, readable, coherent essay that is supported by specific
references (quotations, summaries, or paraphrases) to the works that you
treat. Treat at least two and no more than three works. Keep in mind that
you would benefit from defining terms that you use, even those suggested
by the question. Circle the question to which you will respond. Write on
the back of the exam sheets and fill up at least one full page. Show off
your ideas! (40 points)
1. Of all of the explicit or implicit ethical systems
(that is, systems defining what human behavior ought to be) that we have
read about in this section on the ancient world, which would best balance
the competing interests of self, other, and community without imposing
unreasonable expectations on human nature?
2. Does Odysseus embody any view of human perfection other than the Homeric view? Consider at least two other ancient views of perfection or ideal human behavior that we have read about in this section and evaluate (judge) Odysseus in terms of those standards of perfection. Also consider what your evaluative analysis or judgment of Odysseus tell you about the values of the world outside of Homeric Greece.
3. Identify in the readings for the semester two extreme and conflicting positions on valuing family. Describe them, illustrate them, identify their underlying values, and evaluate them in terms of each other using some single evaluative standard of you own choosing (that is, determine which one is better, judging according to practicality, morality, social good, or any other standard you find most useful). Be certain to describe your standard briefly.