OE


C In this Logic question, you have to characterize the relationship between the two highlighted phrases. One of the difficulties in doing so is that the author’s thesis is not stated outright but merely implied: though Hannibal made a mistake in marching elephants across the Alps, it would be incorrect to consider only this incident when evaluating Hannibal’s military prowess. As a result, the first highlighted sentence is a position that the author believes is an accurate evaluation of Hannibal but isn’t the only thing we should remember about him. The second highlighted sentence provides evidence for the idea that Hannibal was actually a better general than many believe him to be based on the single story discussed in the first paragraph. The only answer choice that correctly matches both of these roles is (C).

(A) is incorrect because it misrepresents the author’s position; the author argues that this blunder isn’t the whole story, so the first highlighted sentence cannot be the author’s main point.
(B) might seem tempting, but recall that the author agrees in the second paragraph that Hannibal “did incorrectly believe that the elephants would be hardier” than they were. Since the author concedes that this was a blunder, the author is not attempting to refute the first highlighted statement.
(D) is a reasonable interpretation of the first highlighted statement, but since the second highlighted statement is evidence for a position rather than the position itself, this choice can be eliminated. Finally,
(E) distorts the author’s tone; while the author concedes that Hannibal made a mistake, there is no language to suggest that this concession is difficult for the author.