Question

The Roman senator Meritorius, his brother, his son, and his daughter have varying oratory skill levels. They are seated in rows and columns as shown in the figure with exactly one person sitting in each box. It is known that
(i) Meritorius' daughter and his brother are seated in the same column.
(ii) His son is seated diagonally across the sibling of the worst orator.
(iii) The best and worst orators are seated in the same row.
Who is the best orator?

	Column 1	Column 2
Row 1
Row 2

• A. Meritorius
• B. Meritorius' brother
• C. Meritorius' son
• D. Meritorius' daughter

Hint:

Clue (i) forces the daughter and brother into one column and Meritorius plus the son into the other; then work out who clue (ii) allows the worst orator to be.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

This is a seating-and-ranking puzzle with three clues to satisfy at once. Rather than deriving the grid from scratch, check each candidate answer directly against the structure the clues force, and see which one survives.

First pin down the structure clue (i) forces: the daughter and the brother must share a column, one above the other, which pushes Meritorius and the son into the remaining column together. That much is fixed no matter who turns out to be the best or worst orator.

1. Meritorius: For Meritorius to be the best orator, the worst orator would have to sit in his row, and by clue (ii) the son's diagonal partner must be the sibling of that worst orator. Working through the column pairing, this never leaves a consistent grid with Meritorius as best while all three clues hold together, so this option fails.
2. Meritorius' brother: Take the worst orator as Meritorius, whose sibling is the brother. Clue (ii) then places the brother diagonally opposite the son, which, combined with the column pairing from clue (i), gives a complete valid grid: brother and Meritorius share a row, son and daughter share the other row. Clue (iii) needs the best orator in Meritorius' row, and the only other person there is the brother. Every clue checks out here.
3. Meritorius' son: For the son to be best, the worst orator would again need to share his row, but the son's own diagonal partner from clue (ii) is fixed as the sibling of the worst orator, which in the other valid grid actually forces the son into the worst-orator role, not the best. This contradicts the son being best.
4. Meritorius' daughter: The daughter and the brother sit in the same column, not diagonally, so she can never be the diagonal partner clue (ii) refers to. That role always belongs to whoever sits opposite the son, and working through both valid grids shows it is never the daughter who ends up as best while the clues all hold. This option fails the diagonal condition.

Only the second option survives every clue at once. Building out the actual seats confirms it: in either of the two valid grids (worst orator equal to Meritorius, or worst orator equal to the son), the person sharing a row with the worst orator, and therefore the best orator, is always Meritorius' brother.

Let's summarize:

• Clue (i) locks the daughter and brother into one column, and Meritorius and the son into the other.
• Clue (ii) restricts the worst orator to Meritorius or the son, since only their siblings sit in the column that can be diagonal to the son.
• Clue (iii) then always leaves the brother sharing a row with the worst orator.

So the best orator is Meritorius' brother.