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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does Seneca say prepares the mind for philosophy?

3. What becomes of people who live a quiet, private life which incites neither anger nor envy?

4. According to Seneca in Letter LXXXVIII, what should man not strive to become?

5. Why does Seneca praise suicide?

Short Essay Questions

1. What fault does Seneca find in Zeno's logic that a good man will not drink to excess?

2. According to Seneca, what destroyed man's harmonic relationship with nature and what was the result?

3. List and explain three types of people who, according to Seneca, find philosophy attractive for the wrong reasons.

4. What does Plato add to Aristotle's theory of causation?

5. Which city burned and how did it affect Seneca?

6. How, according to Letter LXXXIII, does Seneca spend his day?

7. What does Seneca say causes envy and how can envy be avoided?

8. What advice does Seneca give for staying safe?

9. Why does Seneca believe only a philosopher can appreciate wisdom?

10. What is the concept of causation according to Aristotle?

(see the answer keys)

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