173-197: News goes viral

Question 1

it Fama

Answer 1

iconic word order: it (verb) & Fama (subject) are placed right in the centre of the phrase that refers to the places in which Fama moves, stressing how all attention in these cities it focused on Fama

Question 2

Libyae magnas… urbas

Answer 2

hyperbaton reflects the distance Fama travels in a short period of time

Question 3

Extemplo

Answer 3

conveys the immediacy of Fama’s birth and subsequent departure across the lands - it has no understanding of the concept of respect for personal lives, particularly not for those of royals

Question 4

Fama

Answer 4

unnecessary repetition: perhaps reflects the way in which, like a contagious virus, Rumour multiplies and divides itself across populations

Question 5

mobilitate… eundo

Answer 5

tautological framing of line emphasises Fama’s mobility

Question 6

ingreditur solo… nubila condit

Answer 6

chiastic arrangement emphasises the breadth of Fama’s reach due to its multitude of motilities

Question 7

Terra parens… progenuit extremam… sororem

Answer 7

hyperbata: reinforce the effect of monstrosity, as both the figure of Fama and Virgil’s verse design and syntax are very out of shape

Question 8

ut perhibent

Answer 8

irony: a rumour about Rumour

Question 9

progenuit pedibus celerem et pernicibus alis

Answer 9

swift rhythm enacts swift flight, clattering alliteration and assonance enacts swift running (pedibus)

Question 10

plumae

Answer 10

anacoluthon: could represent spreading of feathers, or perhaps it enacts the eyes being ‘subter’ the feathers

Question 11

tot…tot…tot

Answer 11

anaphoric tricolon: conveys multitude of methods by which Rumour is communicated (eyes; tongues; mouths; ears)

Question 12

(mirabile dictu)

Answer 12

emphasis placed on verbal, rather than visual representation, conveying how Rumour is not tangible and only exists by word of mouth

Question 13

nocte volat… luce sedet

Answer 13

balanced antithesis between movement at night and movement in the day

Question 14

stridens

Answer 14

enjambed

Question 15

dulci declinat

Answer 15

soothing alliteration emphasises the temptation of sleep - but Fama resists

Question 16

tecti turribus

Answer 16

Fama’s reach extends to both private and public dwellings, linked through ‘t’ alliteration - she is omniscient

Question 17

summi culmine

Answer 17

Fama ominously overarches everyday life

Question 18

ficti pravique (A) tenax (B)… nuntia (B) veri (A)

Answer 18

unbalanced chiasmus: reinforces the sense that for every bit of truth, we get two bits that are invented

Question 19

facta atque infecta

Answer 19

facta-atque-infecta: elisions enact the blurring by Fama of lines between truth and falsehood

Question 20

cui se pulchra viro… Dido

Answer 20

Virgil textually interlaces the two lovers, enacting ‘iungere’

Question 21

hiemem inter se luxu… fovere

Answer 21

alludes to sex and embracing, designed to generate envy in those left out in the cold

Question 22

regnorum immemores

Answer 22

Aeneas is forgetful of Rome, foreshadowing Jupiter’s intervention via Mercury

Dido neglects Carthage

Question 23

cupidine captos

Answer 23

harsh alliterative sound emphasises the depravity

Question 24

foeda

Answer 24

could modify: haec, dea or ora - this range of options conveys Fama’s infectious power

Question 25

detorquet… incendit… aggerat

Answer 25

tricolon of verbs sets out Fama’s plan

Question 26

protinus

Answer 26

conveys a clear sense of purpose and direction, compared to ‘passim’

Question 27

aggerat

Answer 27

builds on the existing anger that resulted from Dido’s rejection