The Consolation of Philosophy (ed. 2)
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Some scanning errors · 16 illegible passages, excluded from answers
- Extent:
- ~100,000 words · 490 passages
Cite this work
- APABoethius. (n.d.). The Consolation of Philosophy (ed. 2). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/boethius/de-consolatione-philosophiae-csel-67
- MLABoethius. "The Consolation of Philosophy (ed. 2)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/boethius/de-consolatione-philosophiae-csel-67.
- ChicagoBoethius. The Consolation of Philosophy (ed. 2). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/boethius/de-consolatione-philosophiae-csel-67.
What it is about
In his cell, awaiting execution, a man fallen from grace is visited by Philosophy in person, who reminds him why Fortune is a wheel and where the good that no one can take from you lies.
Context and history
Written around 524 in a Pavia prison, as Boethius awaited execution by Theodoric on a charge of treason — the vertiginous fall of one of the most powerful men in the empire. It is the last great book of the ancient world and the first of the medieval: a Christian who, facing death, consoles himself with pagan reason and never once cites Scripture. It was among the most read books of the whole Middle Ages, translated by King Alfred, by Chaucer and by Queen Elizabeth I; the bridge by which classical philosophy crossed into Europe.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
AniciusManlius SeverinusBoethius 1 ) nobili familia ortus*) summis honoribus functus inde a Kal. Sept. a. 522. magister officiorum erat. cum Veronae Albinum a Cypriano delatum et universi innocentiam senaius defendit et ipse ab Opilione, Cypriani fratre, et Basilio, Opilionis adfine, et Gaudentio accusatus est. s ) De compositis falso litteris, quibus libertatetn arguerehtr sperasse Romanam, ipse verba facit; Constantinopolim missae esse dicebantur. Condemnatus a. 524., si cum Usenero 1. 1. p.74 et 77 Fastb Ravennatibus*) fidem habemus, ') H. Usener, Aneedotm Bolderi. Festschr. d. XXXII. Philol-Vers. Wiesbaden. Bonnae 1877, p. 43 sq. de genuina nominis forma et de plebeia Boetiut egit; cf. ctiam S. Brandt in Corp. ter. eecl. Lat. (CSEL.) XXXXVITI, p. VI L adn. L 5 Uiener 1 . 1. p. 37 ; cf . Schepss, N. Arcb. f . alt, deutsche Gesch. XI 135. Boethii aliorumque locos r. in Indice nominum. Librorum de Boethit Consolatione conscriptorum paucos adferam, cum congesti sint in Ueberwegii libro notissimo I» (1926), 199, 654. n" (1928), 139, 670. *) Cf. L. Cipolla, Per la Horia iti proeeno itt Boezio. Studi