Decameron – The Black Death or Stories?

What do I find more gripping in the Decameron: Boccaccio’s account on the Black Death or the stories in the book?  The stories are what I find more gripping as they are something I have not learned about that took place during the Renaissance.  We hear about the Black Death quite often in school in History, and that is why the stories Boccaccio shares tend to be more interesting to me.

Seneca and Roman Art

Seneca (not Seneca Crane) was a tutor, an adviser, a writer, a moral philosopher, etc.  He was a tutor and then an adviser to the emperor Nero.  He was a philosopher, but he didn’t come up with his own ideas of what life means, is, will be, etc.  He was more of a philosopher who believed in another philosopher’s beliefs.  He believed in similar lines around Aristotle’s Ethics (link tells you a bit about the Ethics, if you don’t know about it).

Aristotle’s Ethics

We all like good, right?  We all want the good stuff.  We all want that toy that will just brighten our day, that special something that we’re just dying to have, or that new 27-inch-TV screen that will complete our life.  Why do we want these things? Because that toy, 27-inch-TV screen, or that something will make us happy.  In other words, eudaimonia (Greek word for happiness), which was used by Aristotle in his work, Ethics.