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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. In his example of suffering for the sake of knowledge, who does Seneca say was executed for blasphemy?
(a) Homer.
(b) Socrates.
(c) Claudius.
(d) Plato.

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

5. According to his criticism in Letter CVIII, what does Seneca say literary scholars should do with philosophical theories?
(a) Compare them to other theories.
(b) Interpret them correctly.
(c) Write fiction about them that will appeal to the masses.
(d) Apply them to their own lives.

6. Who says there are four causes?
(a) Sophocles.
(b) Plato.
(c) Aristotle.
(d) Seneca.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

15. What phrase best sums up Letter XCI?
(a) The early bird catches the worm.
(b) Expect the unexpected.
(c) If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
(d) Never look back.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Seneca in Letter LXXXVIII, what should man strive to become?

2. What affects Seneca's exercise time according to Letter LXXXIII?

3. Why does Seneca say he considered suicide once?

4. According to Letter LXV, how do friends get Seneca to stop reading and writing while he is sick?

5. According to Stoic thought, what is the formless substance with "unlimited potential?"

(see the answer keys)

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