Boethius' best-known work is the "Consolations of Philosophy" written during his imprisonment -- "by far the most interesting example of prison literature the world has ever seen." It is a dialogue between Philosophy and Boethius, in which the Queen of Sciences strives to console the fallen statesman. The main argument of the discourse is the transitoriness and unreality of all earthly greatness and the superior desirability of the things of the mind. There are evident traces of the influe...

According to Wikipedia: "Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius,commonly called Boethius (ca. 480524 or 525 AD) was a philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born in Rome to an ancient and prominent family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls... Boethius was imprisoned and eventually executed by King Theodoric the Great, who suspected him of conspiring with the Eastern Roman Empire. While jailed, Boethius composed his Consolation of Philosophy, a philoso...

Written while Boethius was in prison awaiting execution, The Consolation of Philosophy consists of a dialogue in alternating prose and verse between the author, lamenting his own sorrows, and a majestic woman, who is the incarnation of his guardian Philosophy. The woman develops a modified form of Neoplatonism and Stoicism, demonstrating the unreality of earthly fortunes, then proving that the highest good and the highest happiness are in God, and reconciling the apparent contradi...

The Consolation of Philosophy is a work by the sixth-century philosopher Boethius that has been described as having had the single most important influence on the Christianity of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance and as the last great work of the Classical Period.The Consolation of Philosophy was written in AD 523 during a one-year imprisonment Boethius served while awaiting trial – and eventual execution – for the alleged crime of treason under the Ostrogothic King Theodoric t...

In this highly praised new translation of Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy, David R. Slavitt presents a graceful, accessible, and modern version for both longtime admirers of one of the great masterpieces of philosophical literature and those encountering it for the first time. Slavitt preserves the distinction between the alternating verse and prose sections in the Latin original, allowing us to appreciate the Menippian parallels between the discourses of literary and log...

The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius: Enter the world of ancient philosophy and wisdom with "The Consolation of Philosophy" by Boethius. This classic work of philosophy explores Boethius' struggles with injustice and calamity and the ways in which philosophical reasoning can bring peace and solace to the troubled soul. Boethius' elegant prose and timeless insights make this book a must-read for anyone interested in the art of living.

The original Latin text plus an English translation of both books. According to Wikipedia: "Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius (ca. 480524 or 525) was a Christian or pagan philosopher of the 6th century. He was born in Rome to an ancient and important family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls. His father, Flavius Manlius Boethius, was consul in 487 after Odoacer deposed the last Western Roman Emperor. Boethius himself was consul in 510 in the kingdom of...

*The Consolation of Philosophy* is the best-known work of Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, a Roman statesman and scholar who lived at the intersection of the classical and medieval periods. Identified by fifteenth-century humanist Lorenzo Valla as "the last of the Romans and the first of the scholastics," Boethius was born in Rome around 476 to an aristocratic family, received a thorough education in Greek and rose rapidly to the ranks of senator, master of offices, and sole consul. In ...

Often described as the last great work of Western classical antiquity, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy grapples with many of the enduring questions in philosophy; the problem of evil, determinism vs. free-will and nature of virtue and justice, among others. Though a committed Christian, Boethius arrives at his conclusions by means of the natural philosophical methods of Classical Greece alone, being of the opinion that faith and reason must necessarily arrive at the same conclusions.

Charged with treason under Theodoric the Great in sixth-century Rome, Boethius served one year’s imprisonment, awaiting trial and eventual execution. During this time, he wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, which would go on to be one of the most popular philosophical works of all time, contributing much to medieval thought and influencing the likes of Dante and Chaucer, as well as Renaissance writers such as Milton and Shakespeare. Grieving over the injustice of his imprisonment, Boethiu...

Anicus Manlius Severinus Boethius lived in the last quarter of the fifth century A.D., and the first quarter of the sixth. He was growing to manhood, when Theodoric, the famous Ostrogoth, crossed the Alps and made himself master of Italy. Boethius belonged to an ancient family, which boasted a connection with the legendary glories of the Republic, and was still among the foremost in wealth and dignity in the days of Rome's abasement. His parents dying early, he was brought up by Symmachus,...

Consolation of Philosophy (Latin: Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius, written around the year 524. It has been described as the single most important and influential work on philosophy in the West during Medieval times.Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius,commonly called Boethius (circa 480–525 AD), was a philosopher of the early 6th century.He was born in Rome to an ancient and prominent family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius ...