Quadrivial Quest

Quadrivial Quest

A long time ago, amongst the midst of a dying Empire, there was a scholar named Boethius, who had this bright idea of dividing the liberal arts into seven categories and writing a book about each one. This he did. The lesser subjects, which were rhetoric, logic, and grammar, became known as the "trivium" (Latin for "three ways": you'd never guess that a guy with a name like Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was Roman). The more difficult stuff, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, became the "quadrivium" (again, Latin for "four ways").

For a thousand years, Boethius' division of knowledge into a trivium and quadrivium reigned supreme. The trivium became considered easier, in fact, trivial. (Completion of the trivium is, very roughly, equivalent to earning a Bachelor's degree; completion of the quadrivium is, again, very roughly, equivalent to earning a Master's degree)

For Quadrivial Quest (the moniker "pursuit" being already taken...), the player attempts to collect tokens that prove his sufficiency in the various disciplines before moving on to the next level. Since there are only about five people on the planet today who could play Quadrivial Quest if the questions were limited to the actual trivium and quadrivium, I've modified (read: twisted beyond recognition) the categories.

As the game is still in progress, you might want to test your wits with some of the following questions:

• • Life: In the game primero, what is a primero? Answer

  • Grammar: What did Cato the Elder often end his speeches with? Answer

  • Rhetoric: What city did the Fourth Crusaders capture? Answer

  • Logic: What was unusual about Pope Adrian IV? Answer

  • Arithmetic: How many pennies was a noble worth before 1464? Answer

  • Geometry: Where is the city of the blind? Answer

  • Music: What German artist achieved his most lasting fame by his paintings of English royalty? Answer

  • Astronomy: What constellation is associated with a human body part? Answer

The game is still abuilding, but roughly the categories are:

• • Life: Questions about daily life before 1650

  • Grammar: Classical history and literature

  • Rhetoric: pre-1650 history and literature

  • Logic: Philosophy and Religion

  • Arithmetic: Number of things

  • Geometry: Includes geography (which it often did)

  • Music: Music and fine arts (which it never would)

  • Astronomy: Includes all branches of science

If you want to mail me a question, please provide the question, and a reference if possible. If I use your question, I'll give you no money whatsoever, and your name in smallprint on the back of the rules book...

A primero is a hand containing one card of each suit. See the rules elsewhere on my web page.

Cato often ended his speeches with "Carthago delenda est": Carthage must be destroyed.

The Crusaders captured (and sacked) the Christian city of Constantinople. They never made it to the Holy Land.

Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspear) was the only English Pope.

A noble was worth 128 pennies before 1464.

Chalcedon (now in Turkey). The city got its name because right across the straits was an empty site that would eventually become Constantinople.

Hans Holbein.

Berenice's Hair, or Coma Berenice.

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