Like many eighteenth-century scholars who lived by cultivating those in power, Winckelmann neglected to neutralize, by some (i) _______ gesture of comradeship, the resentment his peers were bound to feel because of his (ii) ______ the high and mighty.
(A) quixotic … intrigue with
(B) enigmatic … familiarity with
© propitiatory … involvement with
(D) salutary … questioning of
(E) unfeigned … sympathy for
I am having little difficulting understanding the context. Any one help me out solve this. Thanks.
The part of the sentence before , talks about the scholars who were more interested in those people who had power. If you look at the second blank, it says that his peers were angry so the blank must be something bad or similar to the one in the first part of the sentence. Involvement might work here. So prob option C. Correct me if my logic is wrong.
Yes. There are two possibility with the second blank
since they lived by cultivating those in power, they … peers with familiarity with/ involvement with high and mighty
The first blank talks about the word 'neutralize’. what should have done to neutralize the resentment? Enigmatic does not work here. So the correct option is ‘propitiatory’.