Students should be expected to know the definition of the word trivial. I have no sympathy for students who didn't. Petitions like this are so disheartening on the state of education. Take your bad marks and use that as the learning experience.
Maybe they should have used the original quote:<p>Sed fortuna, quae plurimum potest cum in reliquis rebus tum praecipue in bello, parvis momentis magnas rerum commutationes efficit; ut tum accidit.<p>Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces.