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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How much duty does Seneca say one must must fulfill before his life ends?
(a) Whatever the tax collector chooses to bill him.
(b) 25 years worth.
(c) No set amount.
(d) At least one good deed per day.

2. Who does Posidinus credit for the invention for various technological innovations?
(a) Mathematicians.
(b) Philosophers.
(c) Historians.
(d) Gods.

3. Which of Seneca's friends grieved the burning of the town discussed in Letter XCI?
(a) Lucilius.
(b) Tibius.
(c) Flaccus.
(d) Liberalis.

4. Which line of studies does Seneca say tends to have a special temptation to vanity?
(a) History.
(b) Sciences.
(c) Business and politics.
(d) Liberal arts.

5. According to Seneca, what destroyed man's harmonic relationship with nature?
(a) War.
(b) The Iliad.
(c) Greed.
(d) Love.

6. What does Seneca admit that he cares less about as he ages?
(a) His friends.
(b) His appearance.
(c) His financial affairs.
(d) His hair.

7. According to Seneca, what is death?
(a) The gateway to Heaven and an opportunity to meet the gods.
(b) A doorway into a wonderful after life.
(c) Nothing but an unconscious state of non-existence.
(d) An unconscious state of non-existence or a better state than life.

8. What do the friends Seneca talks about in Letter LXV compare to concepts by Aristotle and Plato?
(a) Arelius' thoughts about life.
(b) The Stoic concept of causation.
(c) Zeno's concept of relationships.
(d) Seneca's thoughts about death.

9. What is symptomatic of excessive attachment to the body, according to Seneca?
(a) Frequent trips to community baths.
(b) Frequent baths.
(c) Excessive concern with pain.
(d) Excessive primping.

10. What is a syllogism?
(a) Two words that sound alike but have different meanings.
(b) A form of deductive reasoning/logic.
(c) A word or phrase with repetitive consonants.
(d) Two words with the same number of syllables and same meanings.

11. Why does Seneca move to the country?
(a) For the health benefits of fresh air.
(b) To get out of the greedy city of Croton.
(c) To be farther from the corruptness of Rome.
(d) To be closer to Lucilius.

12. How does Seneca spend most of his day?
(a) Dreaming.
(b) Praying.
(c) In study.
(d) Exercising.

13. In Letter LXXXIII, whose logic does Seneca question?
(a) Plato's.
(b) Sappho's.
(c) Zeno's.
(d) Aristotle's.

14. According to Letter LXV, how do friends get Seneca to stop reading and writing while he is sick?
(a) By taking him to a hospital.
(b) By asking him to discuss a philosophical question.
(c) By entertaining him with a short play.
(d) By bringing in a card game.

15. Who especially does Seneca consider when he makes his move to the country?
(a) His wife.
(b) His father.
(c) His mother.
(d) Himself.

Short Answer Questions

1. What teaches men how to live well, according to Seneca?

2. What happens to Seneca's work ethic and studies once he moves to the country?

3. According to Seneca, what should a person use to guide his life?

4. Who wrote the "Aeneid?"

5. What is caused by the flaunting of one's possessions?

(see the answer keys)

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