The Discourses, a work attributed to

Answer choices

1. A

   Weakens7% picked this

   The Discourses would have received very little attention in Roman society if that work had not

   This answer would do more to support the case of people arguing that Arrian wrote the book and falsely attributed it to his teacher, Epictetus. After all, this answer would say, "If Arrian had put himself as the author, the work would have received very little attention". In other words, this answer is establishing that Arrian had a motive to falsely attribute one of his works to Epictetus, which strengthens the notion that Arrian make a false attribution, which goes against the author's conclusion.

   7%
2. B

   Weakens2% picked this

   Some of the philosophy that modern scholars believe Arrian subscribed to can be found

   This is a very weakly worded answer choice, so it's very unlikely to be correct no matter what (on Strengthen, Weaken, or Paradox). And given that this answer is saying that some of the stuff in the book matches what we know of Arrian's thinking would support the idea that Arrian wrote it, which goes against what the author is arguing.

   2%
3. C

   Weakens, if anything3% picked this

   Arrian in some ways modeled himself on the historian Xenophon, who had written works that he falsely attributed

   This answer is saying that Arrian modeled himself (in part) after a dude who wrote works and falsely attributed them to someone famous. So, if anything, this answer is helping someone argue that Arrian wrote this work and falsely attributed it to someone famous, which is the opposite of what the author is arguing.

   3%
4. D

   Correct87% picked this

   Arrian had high status in Roman society, which he knew would be undermined if he were

   Why this is right

   This adds more plausibility to the author's conclusion that Arrian would not have written this book and falsely attributed it to Epictetus. We already knew that were Arrian to do so, he would have his deception discovered. This answer adds onto that by saying that were his deception discovered, it would cause great harm to his high status. By pointing out a meaningful negative consequence that Arrian would face were he to deceive people into thinking that Epictetus had written Discourses, this answer makes it less plausible that Arrian tried to deceive people into thinking that Epictetus wrote Discourses, which strengthens the author's conclusion.

   Skill tested: Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   87%
5. E

   No Impact1% picked this

   During his long career, Arrian was a soldier, a consul of Rome, and a

   Learning about all the jobs Arrian went on to have tells us nothing about whether or not Arrian tried to deceive people into thinking that Discourses was really written by Epictetus.

   1%