View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What includes the studies of literature, rhetoric and history?
(a) Liberal arts.
(b) Bachelor of arts.
(c) Still life art.
(d) Fine arts.

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

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

4. What kind of events does Seneca say upsets people the most?
(a) Planned events.
(b) Hysterical events.
(c) Calm events.
(d) Surprise events.

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

6. 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.

7. For Stoics, what are two basic elements found in any object?
(a) Sound and fury.
(b) Matter and cause.
(c) Mass and reason.
(d) Weight and size.

8. What affects Seneca's exercise time according to Letter LXXXIII?
(a) The amount of time he studies.
(b) His lack of time.
(c) His lack of interest.
(d) His old age.

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

10. Who is the author of all that happens in the world, according to Seneca?
(a) Zeus and Jupiter.
(b) Seneca.
(c) Yourself.
(d) God.

11. What does Seneca say is the greatest of all arts?
(a) Sculpting.
(b) Wisdom.
(c) Painting.
(d) Religion.

12. 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) Arelius' thoughts about life.
(d) Seneca's thoughts about death.

13. What is duty that Seneca states all men are bound to eventually carry out?
(a) Taxes.
(b) Public service.
(c) Death.
(d) Civic responsiblity.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. According to his criticism in Letter CVIII, what does Seneca say literary scholars should do with philosophical theories?

2. According to Letter LXXXVIII, how important is the knowledge of the liberal arts to Stoicism?

3. Why does Seneca praise suicide?

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

5. According to Seneca, where are the sharpest pains?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 502 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample