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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Scipio volunteer to do?
(a) Help teach Seneca.
(b) Kill Seneca.
(c) Go into exile.
(d) Care for the ailing Seneca.

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

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

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

5. According to Letter LXXXVIII, how important is the knowledge of the liberal arts to Stoicism?
(a) More important than even religion.
(b) Not at all.
(c) Vital - can't understand Stoicism without a full liberal arts background.
(d) Very important.

6. Who ran away in Letter CVII that made Lucilius grieve?
(a) Some of his slaves.
(b) His dog.
(c) His oldest daughter.
(d) His wife and kids.

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

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

9. What is caused by the flaunting of one's possessions?
(a) Envy.
(b) Greed.
(c) Happiness.
(d) Bitterness.

10. According to Seneca in Letter LXXXVIII, what should man strive to become?
(a) A good man.
(b) A learned man.
(c) A pleasant man.
(d) A religious man.

11. Who wrote the "Aeneid?"
(a) Odyseus.
(b) Petronius.
(c) Plato.
(d) Homer.

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

13. What teaches men how to live well, according to Seneca?
(a) Science.
(b) Religion.
(c) Philosophy.
(d) Study of liberal arts.

14. What does Seneca name as never too great for a man to endure, thanks to nature's way of minimizing them?
(a) Pains.
(b) Choices.
(c) Heartbreaks.
(d) Loves.

15. According to Seneca, what was the goal of technological inventions of the past age?
(a) To save money.
(b) To make man comfortable or wealthy.
(c) To outdo the previous generation.
(d) To make life more basic than ever.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the author of all that happens in the world, according to Seneca?

2. Who wrote the Aeneid?

3. What does Seneca give advice about coping with in Letter LXXVIII?

4. What is duty that Seneca states all men are bound to eventually carry out?

5. What phrase best sums up Letter XCI?

(see the answer keys)

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