LSAT 149 – Section 1 – Question 23

LSAT 149 - Section 1 - Question 23

December 2017

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT149 S1 Q23
+LR
Strengthen +Streng
A
30%
162
B
13%
160
C
45%
165
D
6%
156
E
7%
160
151
166
180
 +Hardest 143.093 +SubsectionEasier

The traditional view of the Roman emperor Caligula as a cruel and insane tyrant has been challenged by some modern historians. They point out that little documentation of Caligula’s alleged cruelty or outrageous behavior survives from the time of his reign and that the histories that have come down to us were written by his enemies.

Summarize Argument
The modern historians disagree with the view that Calgigula was a cruel and insane tyrant. This is based on the fact that only a little documentation of Caligula’s alleged cruelty or outrageous behavior survives. In addition, the documentation that survives was written by his enemies.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that if Caligula were a cruel and insane tyrant, more documentation would have survived, and that documentation would not have only been written by his enemies. The author also assumes that the fact reports of his cruelty and outrageous behavior were written by his enemies suggests that those reports are not accurate.

A
There is less documentation of any sort from Caligula’s reign than from the reigns of most other Roman emperors of Caligula’s era.
If anything, this weakens the argument by suggesting that the little documentation concerning Caligula’s cruelty isn’t particularly significant. If there’s less documentation overall from his time, that could explain why there’s not much documentation of his cruelty.
B
People who have lived under someone regarded as a cruel tyrant are more likely to view that person unfavorably than favorably.
This doesn’t help suggest that Caligula wasn’t cruel. We don’t know whether Caligula was regarded favorably or unfavorably.
C
The specific outrageous acts attributed to Caligula in Roman documentation are very similar to acts attributed in earlier writings to other rulers alleged to be cruel tyrants.
This strengthens by suggesting that the descriptions written by Caligula’s enemies concerning Caligula’s outrageous acts may have been copied from earlier writings about other rulers. It provides evidence suggesting that those accounts about Caligula may not be reliable.
D
The little documentation that survives from Caligula’s reign indicates that the Roman people believed Caligula to be crueler than other emperors who were widely thought to be tyrants.
How Caligula’s reported cruelty ranks compared to others doesn’t affect whether Caligula was in fact as cruel as reported.
E
There is ample documentation of modern tyrants being responsible for outrageous acts worse than those attributed to Caligula.
This suggests that there have been modern tyrants who did things that were more cruel than what was attributed to Caligula. But this doesn’t suggest that Caligula wasn’t cruel. He might not have been as cruel as others, but this doesn’t mean his cruelty has been exaggerated.

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LSAT PrepTest 149 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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