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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does Seneca say that many people find attractive for the wrong reasons?
(a) Religion.
(b) Outward appearance.
(c) Politics.
(d) Philosophy.

3. According to his criticism in Letter CVIII, what does Seneca say literary scholars do with philosophical theories?
(a) Ruin them by writing them down incorrectly.
(b) Help spread them to the masses.
(c) Dissect the words without garnering the meaning.
(d) Read them over and over.

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

5. According to Seneca, what often brings the most unusual tragedies?
(a) Superstition.
(b) Freedom.
(c) Emotion.
(d) Fortune.

6. According to Seneca in Letter LXXXVIII, what should man not strive to become?
(a) A learned man.
(b) A good man.
(c) A religious man.
(d) A pleasant man.

7. What does Seneca called the past age?
(a) The Silver Age.
(b) The Platonic Age.
(c) The Golden Age.
(d) The Bronze Age.

8. What happens to Seneca's work ethic and studies once he moves to the country?
(a) He stops all together.
(b) He finds himself distracted by nature.
(c) He studies less, but says it really isn't distraction since he is focusing on nature.
(d) They improve.

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

10. What does Seneca say the gods give man the capacity for?
(a) Love.
(b) Scientific study.
(c) Philosophy.
(d) Life.

11. What does Seneca consider to be the gift of gods?
(a) Only life.
(b) Nothing.
(c) Both life and philosophy.
(d) Only philosophy.

12. What tends to either not last very long or to at least have periods of subsidence?
(a) Grief.
(b) Studies of other philosophies.
(c) Severe pains.
(d) Marriages.

13. Why does Seneca say he considered suicide once?
(a) He felt worthless.
(b) To escape his illness.
(c) He didn't feel loved or needed by society.
(d) Out of consideration for his parents.

14. What is the unusual transgression about, ending Letter LXXXVI?
(a) Transplanting human organs.
(b) Transplanting flowers.
(c) Transplanting trees.
(d) Transplanting sheep organs.

15. What does Seneca give advice about coping with in Letter LXXVIII?
(a) Grief.
(b) Love.
(c) Religious faith.
(d) Illness.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which line of studies does Seneca say tends to have a special temptation to vanity?

2. In his example of suffering for the sake of knowledge, who does Seneca say was executed for blasphemy?

3. Whose first instinct is it to incorporate wisdom into his life and actions?

4. How can a person be prepared for any tragedy that might happen?

5. Why does Seneca move to the country?

(see the answer keys)

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