The theological tractates, with an English translation by H.F. Stewart and E.K.
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~130,000 words · 602 passages
Cite this work
- APABoethius. (n.d.). The theological tractates, with an English translation by H.F. Stewart and E.K.. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/boethius/the-theological-tractates-with-an-english-translation-by-h-f-stewart-and-e-k
- MLABoethius. "The theological tractates, with an English translation by H.F. Stewart and E.K.." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/boethius/the-theological-tractates-with-an-english-translation-by-h-f-stewart-and-e-k.
- ChicagoBoethius. The theological tractates, with an English translation by H.F. Stewart and E.K.. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/boethius/the-theological-tractates-with-an-english-translation-by-h-f-stewart-and-e-k.
What it is about
The five short treatises in which Boethius applies Aristotle's logical method to Christian doctrine, in the Loeb Latin-English facing edition.
Context and history
They are very short and very dense. The most influential is the third, 'De hebdomadibus', which asks how things can be good by the mere fact of being: there appears the distinction between esse and what a thing is, decisive for Thomas Aquinas, who wrote a commentary on this text. The last, 'Against Eutyches and Nestorius', contains the definition of a person — 'an individual substance of a rational nature' — which organised a thousand years of theological and philosophical argument about what a person is. Boethius wrote these tractates before his fall; the 'Consolation of Philosophy', also in the corpus, he wrote in prison awaiting execution, and it notably makes no mention of Christianity.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
INVESTIGATAM diutissime quaestionern, quantum nostrae mentis igniculum lux diuina dignata est, formatam rationibus litterisque mandatam offerendam uobis communicandamque curaui tarn uestri cupidus iudicii 6 quam nostri studiosus inuenti. Qua in re quid mini sit animi quotiens stilo cogitata comnieiido, turn ex ipsa materiae difficultate turn ex eo quod raris id est uobis tantum conloquor, intellegi potest. Neque enim famae iactatione et inanibus uulgi clamoribus THE TRINITY IS ONE GOD NOT THREE GODS A TREATISE BY ANICIUS MANLIUS SEVERINUS EX-CONSULS, PATRICIAN TO HIS FATHER-IN-LAW, QUINTUS AURELIUS MEMMIUS SYMMACHUS EX-CONSULS, PATRICIAN I HAVE long pondered this problem with such mind as I have and all the light that God has lent me. Now, having set it forth in logical order and cast it into literary form, I venture to submit it to your judgment, for which I care as much as for the results of my own research. You will readily understand what I feel whenever I try to write down what I think if you consider the difficulty of the topic and the fact that I discuss it only with the few — I may say with no one but yourself. It is indeed no desire for fame or empty popular applause that prompts my 10 excitamur ; sed si quis est fructus exterior, hie non potest aliam nisi materiae similem sperare sententiam. Quocumque igitur a uobis deieci oculos, partim ignaua segnities partim callidus liuor occurrit, ut contumeliam uideatur diuinis tractatibus inFogare qui talibus 15 hominum monstris non agnoscenda haec potius quam proculcanda proiecerit. Idcirco stilum breuitate contraho et ex intimis suinpta philosophiae disciplinis nouorum uerborum significationibus uelo, ut haec mihi tantum uobisque, si quando ad ea conuertitis 20 oculos, conloquantur ; ceteros uero ita submouimus, ut qui c