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Virtue, Vice, and Everything (Not-So) Nice

Classically Bent

  1. Most classical authors recognized four virtues; what were they?

  2. Who was Heliogobalus, and what did he do with the Golden Bull? (Roman emperor; burned slaves placed inside of bull to entertain orgy guests)

  3. What is Euthyphro's dilemma?

  4. The Roman lyric poet Catullus responded to two of his critics, Furius and Aurelius, with a poem that begins, "Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo." What does this mean?

  5. The earliest Romans faced a terrible problem; in solving this problem, they incurred the wrath of the neighboring Sabines. What was the problem, and how did they solve it?

  6. The Greek word for 'virtue' is drawn from the name of which deity?

Catholic Firsts

  1. Who was the first...

    1. Christian martyr?

    2. Christian emperor?

    3. eremitic monk?

    4. stigmatic?

  2. What does EWTN stand for?

We've met our Peoples and Cultures Requirements

  1. Give the more commonly known name of the Aryan Truth of Stopping and list its components.

  2. What prophet was responsible for the abolition of all the gods in the Persian pantheon except for Ahura Mazda, the one great god?

  3. The worship of which Sumerian goddess, a consort of Yahweh, often included cultic prostitution?

Moral Legislation and Reform

  1. Arnold of Brescia and Hildebrand were leading critics of unvirtuous priests during the Middle Ages. What did the Catholic Church do to each of them?

  2. What are the two conditions under which Catholic priests may have wives?

  3. When Queen Victoria signed into law an edict banning the male homosexual act, she was asked why no such provision was made for women. What was her response, and when was this act repealed?

  4. King Louis IX of France, in an attempt to curb a common vice, prohibited within his kingdom the production of what?

  5. Which orders of the Catholic Church were initially charged with carrying out the Inquisition?

General Questions

  1. In Book I of Edmund Spence's The Faire Queene, Redcrosse knight visits the palace of Pride. While there, he sees the carriage of Lucifera (Queen of Pride), which is drawn by six beasts, each of which is ridden by a personification of another of the deadly sins. Name the beasts and the personified sin riding each one.

  2. In 1114, the bishop of Soissons made a shocking declaration concerning sexual pleasure; what did he claim?

  3. What do the initials C. and S. of Anglican theologian and moralist C. S. Lewis stand for?

  4. Who are the two individuals, one male and one female, currently closest to canonization (i.e. being made into saints) by the Roman Catholic Church, and what two criteria need they (and all other saints) demonstrate to be canonized?

  5. Who argued that moral virtue is a mean between extremes?

  6. For what do we know Karol Wojtyla?

  7. Renowned Medieval scholar Peter Abelard impregnated the daughter of a Parisian bishop; how did the bishop respond when Abelard proposed a secret marriage?

President's Corner(ed)

  1. Two United States presidents have had their alleged mistresses die under mysterious circumstances. Name the presidents and their lovers.

  2. Which presidents have allegedly fathered illegitimate children?

  3. Which president repeatedly made love to a young woman from his hometown in a White House closet while the secret service prevented his wife from entering?

  4. Which vice-president (and later president) was angered because he felt that his own sexual conquests were greater than those attributed to his predecessor?

Notable Quotables

  1. "If I dwell at some length on the tremors and gropings of that distant night, it is because I insist on proving that I am not, and never was, and never could have been, a brutal scoundrel. The gentle and dreamy regions through which I crept were the patrimonies of poets-not crime's prowling ground."

  2. "The most dangerous are those that involve violence and sexual violence... until you reach the point where the pornography only goes so far. You reachthat jump-off point where you begin to wonder if maybe actually doing it will give you that which is beyond just reading about it or looking at it."

  3. "Oh Lord, make me chaste... just not yet."

  4. "In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin, and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose."

  5. "Just like God prattles on in the Bible: 'thou shalt not' blah, blah, blah..."

  6. "Cocaine isn't addictive. I should know; I've been doing it for years!"

  7. "I would rather have one hundred un-natural vices than one un-natural virtue."

  8. "We can't do drugs, Keith [Richards]; you did them all!"

  9. "In dwelling, live close to the ground.
    In thinking, keep to the simple.
    In conflict, be fair and generous.
    In governing, don't try to control.
    In work, do what you enjoy.
    In family life, be completely present."

  10. "The only thing about masturbation to be ashamed of is doing it badly."

  11. "Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees Stinging Mad" (describe context for full credit)

  12. "I would only believe in a God who could dance."

  13. "You all smoke this sh*t so's to escape from reality? Me, I don't need this sh*t. I am reality."

  14. "I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. I haven't had time for tobacco since."

  15. "Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."

Longer Answers

  1. From the perspective of...
    a) ... a Pentecostal Christian...
    or
    b) ... a member of the Taliban...
    ... briefly but explicitly explain why everyone else is damned and you're not.

  2. Rank the following beverages by increasing alcoholic content (for wines, estimate the industry average).

  3. Briefly describe the procedure for taking a bong hit.

  4. You are a man who is attracted to other men; briefly describe your mode of dress and your favorite haunts, as well as society's attitude toward you, in one of the following:
    a) Athens, circa fourth century BCE
    b) New York high society of the 'roaring 20's'
    c) San Francisco in the late 1970's