Boethius

Template:Short description Template:Template other Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius,Template:SfnTemplate:Refn commonly known simply as Boethius (Template:IPAc-en; Latin: Boetius; Template:C. 480–524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, magister officiorum, polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the translation of the Greek classics into Latin, a precursor to the Scholastic movement, and, along with Cassiodorus, one of the two leading Christian scholars of the 6th century.Template:Sfn The local cult of Boethius in the Diocese of Pavia was sanctioned by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1883, confirming the diocese's custom of honouring him on the 23 October.Template:Sfn

Boethius was born in Rome a few years after the forced abdication of the last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus. A member of the Anicii family, he was orphaned following the family's sudden decline and was raised by Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus, a later consul. After mastering both Latin and Greek in his youth, Boethius rose to prominence as a statesman during the Ostrogothic Kingdom, becoming a senator by age 25, a consul by age 33, and later chosen as a personal advisor to Theodoric the Great.

In seeking to reconcile the teachings of Plato and Aristotle with Christian theology, Boethius sought to translate the entirety of the Greek classics for Western scholars. He published numerous transcriptions and commentaries of the works of Nicomachus, Porphyry, and Cicero, among others, and wrote extensively on matters concerning music, mathematics, and theology. Though his translations were unfinished following an untimely death, it is largely due to them that the works of Aristotle survived into the Renaissance.

Despite his successes as a senior official, Boethius became deeply unpopular among other members of the Ostrogothic court for denouncing the extensive corruption prevalent among other members of government. After publicly defending fellow consul Caecina Albinus from charges of conspiracy, he was imprisoned by Theodoric around the year 523. While jailed Boethius wrote On the Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical treatise on fortune, death, and other issues which became one of the most influential and widely reproduced works of the Early Middle Ages. He was tortured and executed in 524,Template:Sfn becoming a martyr in the Christian faith by tradition.Template:EfnTemplate:Efn

Early life

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Consular diptych depicting Narius Manlius Boethius, Boethius' birth father

Boethius was born in Rome to a patrician family Template:Circa,Template:Sfn but the exact date of his birth is unknown.Template:Sfn His birth family, the Anicii, was a notably wealthy and influential gens that included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius, in addition to many consuls.Template:Sfn However, in the years prior to Boethius' birth, the family had lost much of its influence. The grandfather of Boethius, a senator by the same name, was appointed as praetorian prefect of Italy but died in 454 during the palace plot against Flavius Aetius.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Boethius' father, Manlius Boethius, who was appointed consul in 487, died while Boethius was still young.Template:Sfn Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus, another patrician, adopted and raised him instead, introducing to him philosophy and literature.Template:Sfn As a sign of their good relationship, Boethius would later marry his foster-father's daughter, Rusticiana, with whom he would have two children also named Symmachus and Boethius.Template:Sfn

Having been adopted into the wealthy Symmachi family, Boethius had access to tutors that would have educated him during his youth.Template:Sfn Though Symmachus had some fluency in Greek, Boethius achieved a mastery of the language—an increasingly rare skill in the Western regions of the Empire—and dedicated his early career to translating the entire works of Plato and Aristotle,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn with some of the translations that he produced being the only surviving transcriptions of Greek texts into the Middle Ages.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The unusual fluency of Boethius in the Greek language has led some scholars to believe that he was educated in the East; a traditional view, first proposed by Edward Gibbon, is that Boethius studied in Athens for eighteen years based on the letters of Cassiodorus, though this was likely to have been a misreading by past historians.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

Historian Pierre Courcelle has argued that Boethius studied at Alexandria with the Neoplatonist philosopher Ammonius Hermiae. However, Historian John Moorhead observes that the evidence supporting Boethius having studied in Alexandria is "not as strong as it may appear", adding that he may have been able to acquire his formidable learning without travelling.Template:Sfn Whatever the case, Boethius' fluency in Greek proved useful throughout his life in translating the classic works of Greek thinkers, though his interests spanned across a variety of fields including music, mathematics, astrology, and theology.Template:Sfn

Rise to power

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Boethius (right) and his adoptive father, Symmachus (left); both had been appointed consuls in their own right.

Taking inspiration from Plato's Republic, Boethius left his scholarly pursuits to enter the service of Theodoric the Great.Template:Sfn The two had first met in the year 500 when Theodoric traveled to Rome to stay for six months.Template:Sfn Though no record survives detailing the early relationship between Theodoric and Boethius, it is clear that the Ostrogothic king viewed him favorably. In the next few years, Boethius rapidly ascended through the ranks of government, becoming a senator by age 25 and a consul by the year 510.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn His earliest documented acts on behalf of the Ostrogothic ruler were to investigate allegations that the paymaster of Theodoric's bodyguards had debased the coins of their pay, to produce a waterclock for Theodoric to gift to king Gundobad of the Burgundians, and to recruit a lyre-player to perform for Clovis, King of the Franks.Template:Sfn

Boethius writes in the Consolation that, despite his own successes, he believed that his greatest achievement came when both his sons were selected by Theodoric to be consuls in 522, with each representing the whole of the Roman Empire.Template:Sfn The appointment of his sons was an exceptional honor, not only since it made conspicuous Theodoric's favor for Boethius, but also because the Byzantine emperor Justin I had forfeited his own nomination as a sign of goodwill, thus also endorsing Boethius' sons.Template:Sfn In the same year as the appointment of his sons, Boethius was elevated to the position of magister officiorum, becoming the head of all government and palace affairs.Template:Sfn Recalling the event, he wrote that he was sitting "between the two consuls as if it were a military triumph, [letting my] largesse fulfill the wildest expectations of the people packed in their seats around [me]."Template:Sfn

Boethius' struggles came within a year of his appointment as magister officiorum: in seeking to mend the rampant corruption present in the Roman Court, he writes of having to thwart the conspiracies of Triguilla, the steward of the royal house; of confronting the Gothic minister, Cunigast, who went to "devour the substance of the poor"; and of having to use the authority of the king to stop a shipment of food from Campania which, if carried, would have exacerbated an ongoing famine in the region.Template:Sfn These actions made Boethius an increasingly unpopular figure among court officials, though he remained in Theodoric's favor.Template:Sfn

Downfall and death

The young philosopher Boethius, a man whose varied accomplishments adorned the middle period of the reign of Theodoric, and whose tragic death was to bring sadness over its close.

—Thomas Hodgkin, Theodoric the GothTemplate:Sfn

In 520, Boethius was working to revitalize the relationship between the Roman See and the Constantinopolitan See—though the two were then still a part of the same Church, disagreements had begun to emerge between them. This may have set in place a course of events that would lead to loss of royal favour.Template:Sfn Five hundred years later, this disagreement led to the East–West Schism in 1054, in which communion between the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church was broken.

In 523, Boethius fell from power. After a period of imprisonment in Pavia for what was deemed a treasonable offence, he was executed in 524.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The primary sources are in general agreement over the facts of what happened. At a meeting of the Royal Council in Verona, the referendarius, Cyprianus, accused the ex-consul Caecina Decius Faustus Albinus of treasonous correspondence with Justin I. Boethius leapt to his defense, crying, "The charge of Cyprianus is false, but if Albinus did that, so also have I and the whole senate with one accord done it; it is false, my Lord King".Template:Sfn

File:Consolation of philosophy 1385 boethius images.jpg

Manuscript depicting Boethius teaching students (initial) and while imprisoned

Cyprianus then also accused Boethius of the same crime and produced three men who claimed they had witnessed the crime. Boethius and Basilius were arrested. First the pair were detained in the baptistery of a church, then Boethius was exiled to the Ager Calventianus, a distant country estate, where he was put to death. Not long afterwards Theodoric had Boethius' father-in-law Symmachus put to death, according to Procopius, on the grounds that he and Boethius together were planning a revolution, and confiscated their property.Template:Sfn "The basic facts in the case are not in dispute", writes Jeffrey Richards. "What is disputed about this sequence of events is the interpretation that should be put on them."Template:Sfn Boethius claims his crime was seeking "the safety of the Senate". He describes the three witnesses against him as dishonorable: Basilius had been dismissed from Royal service for his debts, while Venantius Opilio and Gaudentius had been exiled for fraud.Template:Sfn Other sources depict these men in a far more positive light. Cassiodorus describes Cyprianus and Opilio as "utterly scrupulous, just and loyal" and mentions they are brothers and grandsons of the consul Opilio.Template:Sfn

Theodoric was feeling threatened by international events. The Acacian schism had been resolved, and the Nicene Christian aristocrats of his kingdom were seeking to renew their ties with Constantinople. The Catholic Hilderic had become king of the Vandals and had put Theodoric's sister Amalafrida to death and Arians in the East were being persecuted.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Then there was the matter that with his previous ties to Theodahad, Boethius apparently found himself on the wrong side in the succession dispute following the untimely death of Eutharic, Theodoric's announced heir.

Boethius, the most learned man of his time, met his death in the hangman's noose...and yet the life of Boethius was a triumph! The West owes this individual, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, nothing less than its progression toward a culture of reason.

—Johannes Fried, The Middle AgesTemplate:Sfn

The method of Boethius' execution varies in the sources. He may have been beheaded, clubbed to death, or hanged.Template:Sfn It is likely that he was tortured with a rope that was constricted around his head, bludgeoned until his eyes bulged out; then his skull was cracked.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Following an agonizing death, his remains were entombed in the church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia, also the resting place of Augustine of Hippo. His wealth was confiscated and his wife, Rusticiana, reduced to poverty.Template:Sfn

Past historians have had a hard time accepting a sincere Christian who was also a serious Hellenist.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These worries have largely stemmed from the lack of any mention of Jesus in Boethius' Consolation, nor of any other Christian figure.Template:Sfn Arnaldo Momigliano argues that "Boethius turned to paganism. His Christianity collapsed—it collapsed so thoroughly that perhaps he did not even notice its disappearance." Many scholars have taken a different view, with Arthur Herman writing that Boethius was "unshakably Orthodox Catholic" and Thomas Hodgkin having asserted that uncovered manuscripts "prove beyond a doubt that Boethius was a Christian".Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The community that he was a part of valued equally both classical and Christian culture.Template:Sfn

Major works

De consolatione philosophiae

File:Aristotle, De interpretatione, Vaticanus Palatinus lat. 988.jpg

The beginning of Aristotle's in Boethius' Latin translation

Boethius's best known work is the Consolation of Philosophy (), which he wrote at the very end of his career, awaiting his execution in prison. This work represented an imaginary dialogue between himself and philosophy, with philosophy personified as a woman, arguing that despite the apparent inequality of the world, there is, in Platonic fashion, a higher power and everything else is secondary to that divine Providence.Template:Sfn

Several manuscripts survived and these were widely edited, translated and printed throughout the late 15th century and later in Europe.Template:Sfn Beyond Consolation of Philosophy, his lifelong project was a deliberate attempt to preserve ancient classical knowledge, particularly philosophy. Boethius intended to translate all the works of Aristotle and Plato from the original Greek into Latin.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

De topicis differentiis

His completed translations of Aristotle's works on logic were the only significant portions of Aristotle available in Latin Christendom from the sixth century until the rediscovery of Aristotle in the 12th century. However, some of his translations (such as his treatment of the topoi in The Topics) were mixed with his own commentary, which reflected both Aristotelian and Platonic concepts.Template:Sfn

The commentaries themselves have been lost.Template:Sfn In addition to his commentary on the Topics, Boethius composed two treatises on Topical argumentation, In Ciceronis Topica and De topicis differentiis. The first work has six books, and is largely a response to Cicero's Topica.Template:Sfn The first book of In Ciceronis Topica begins with a dedication to Patricius. It includes distinctions and assertions important to Boethius's overall philosophy, such as his view of the role of philosophy as "establish[ing] our judgment concerning the governing of life",Template:Sfn and definitions of logic from Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. He breaks logic into three parts: that which defines, that which divides, and that which deduces.Template:Sfn

He asserts that there are three types of arguments: those of necessity, of ready believability, and sophistry.Template:Sfn He follows Aristotle in defining one sort of Topic as the maximal proposition, a proposition which is somehow shown to be universal or readily believable.Template:Sfn The other sort of Topic, the differentiae, are "Topics that contain and include the maximal propositions"; means of categorizing the Topics which Boethius credits to Cicero.Template:Sfn

BookTemplate:NbspII covers two kinds of topics: those from related things and those from extrinsic topics. BookTemplate:NbspIII discusses the relationship among things studied through Topics, Topics themselves, and the nature of definition. BookTemplate:NbspIV analyzes partition, designation and relationships between things (such as pairing, numbering, genus and species, etc.). After a review of his terms, Boethius spends BookTemplate:NbspV discussing Stoic logic and Aristotelian causation. BookTemplate:NbspVI relates the nature of the Topic to causes.

In Topicis Differentiis has four books; BookTemplate:NbspI discusses the nature of rhetorical and dialectical Topics together, Boethius's overall purpose being "to show what the Topics are, what their differentiae are, and which are suited for what syllogisms."Template:Sfn He distinguishes between argument (that which constitutes belief) and argumentation (that which demonstrates belief). Propositions are divided into three parts: those that are universal, those that are particular, and those that are somewhere in between.Template:Sfn These distinctions, and others, are applicable to both types of Topical argument, rhetorical and dialectical. BooksTemplate:NbspII and III are primarily focused on Topics of dialectic (syllogisms), while BookTemplate:NbspIV concentrates on the unit of the rhetorical Topic, the enthymeme. Topical argumentation is at the core of Boethius's conception of dialectic, which "have categorical rather than conditional conclusions, and he conceives of the discovery of an argument as the discovery of a middle term capable of linking the two terms of the desired conclusion."Template:Sfn

Not only are these texts of paramount importance to the study of Boethius, they are also crucial to the history of topical lore. It is largely due to Boethius that the Topics of Aristotle and Cicero were revived, and the Boethian tradition of topical argumentation spans its influence throughout the Middle Ages and into the early Renaissance: "In the works of Ockham, Buridan, Albert of Saxony, and the Pseudo-Scotus, for instance, many of the rules of consequence bear a strong resemblance to or are simply identical with certain Boethian Topics ... Boethius's influence, direct and indirect, on this tradition is enormous."Template:Sfn

It was also in De Topicis Differentiis that Boethius made a unique contribution to the discourse on dialectic and rhetoric. Topical argumentation for Boethius is dependent upon a new category for the topics discussed by Aristotle and Cicero, and "[u]nlike Aristotle, Boethius recognizes two different types of Topics. First, he says, a Topic is a maximal proposition (maxima propositio), or principle; but there is a second kind of Topic, which he calls the differentia of a maximal proposition.Template:Sfn Maximal propositions are "propositions [that are] known per se, and no proof can be found for these."Template:Sfn

This is the basis for the idea that demonstration (or the construction of arguments) is dependent ultimately upon ideas or proofs that are known so well and are so fundamental to human understanding of logic that no other proofs come before it. They must hold true in and of themselves. According to Stump, "the role of maximal propositions in argumentation is to ensure the truth of a conclusion by ensuring the truth of its premises either directly or indirectly."Template:SfnThese propositions would be used in constructing arguments through the Differentia, which is the second part of Boethius' theory. This is "the genus of the intermediate in the argument."Template:Sfn So maximal propositions allow room for an argument to be founded in some sense of logic while differentia are critical for the demonstration and construction of arguments.

Boethius' definition of "differentiae" is that they are "the Topics of arguments ... The Topics which are the Differentiae of [maximal] propositions are more universal than those propositions, just as rationality is more universal than man."Template:Sfn This is the second part of Boethius' unique contribution to the field of rhetoric. Differentia operate under maximal propositions to "be of use in finding maximal propositions as well as intermediate terms," or the premises that follow maximal propositions.Template:Sfn

Though Boethius is drawing from Aristotle's Topics, Differentiae are not the same as Topics in some ways. Boethius arranges differentiae through statements, instead of generalized groups as Aristotle does. Stump articulates the difference. They are "expressed as words or phrases whose expansion into appropriate propositions is neither intended nor readily conceivable", unlike Aristotle's clearly defined four groups of Topics. Aristotle had hundreds of topics organized into those four groups, whereas Boethius has twenty-eight "Topics" that are "highly ordered among themselves."Template:Sfn This distinction is necessary to understand Boethius as separate from past rhetorical theories.

Maximal propositions and Differentiae belong not only to rhetoric, but also to dialectic. Boethius defines dialectic through an analysis of "thesis" and hypothetical propositions. He claims that "[t]here are two kinds of questions. One is that called, 'thesis' by the [Greek] dialecticians. This is the kind of question which asks about and discusses things stripped of relation to other circumstances; it is the sort of question dialecticians most frequently dispute about—for example, 'Is pleasure the greatest good?' [or] 'Should one marry?'.Template:Sfn" Dialectic has "dialectical topics" as well as "dialectical-rhetorical topics", all of which are still discussed in De Topicis Differentiis.Template:Sfn Dialectic, especially in BookTemplate:NbspI, comprises a major component of Boethius' discussion on Topics.

Boethius planned to completely translate Plato's Dialogues, but there is no known surviving translation, if it was actually ever begun.Template:Sfn

De arithmetica

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Boethius' De arithmetica in a manuscript written for Charles the Bald

Boethius chose to pass on the great Greco-Roman culture to future generations by writing manuals on music, astronomy, geometry and arithmetic.Template:Sfn

Several of Boethius' writings, which were hugely influential during the Middle Ages, drew on the thinking of Porphyry and Iamblichus.Template:Sfn Boethius wrote a commentary on the Isagoge by Porphyry,Template:Sfn which highlighted the existence of the problem of universals: whether these concepts are subsistent entities which would exist whether anyone thought of them, or whether they only exist as ideas. This topic concerning the ontological nature of universal ideas was one of the most vocal controversies in medieval philosophy.

Besides these advanced philosophical works, Boethius is also reported to have translated important Greek texts on the topics of the quadriviumTemplate:Sfn His loose translation of Nicomachus's treatise on arithmetic (De institutione arithmetica libri duo) and his textbook on music (De institutione musica libri quinque, unfinished) contributed to medieval education.Template:Sfn De arithmetica begins with modular arithmetic, such as even and odd, evenly even, evenly odd, and oddly even. He then turns to unpredicted complexity by categorizing numbers and parts of numbers.Template:Sfn His translations of Euclid on geometry and Ptolemy on astronomy,Template:Sfn if they were completed, no longer survive. Boethius made Latin translations of Aristotle's De interpretatione and Categories with commentaries.Template:Sfn In his article The Ancient Classics in the Mediaeval Libraries, James Stuart Beddie cites Boethius as the reason Aristotle's works were popular in the Middle Ages, as Boethius preserved many of the philosopher's works.Template:Sfn

De institutione musica

File:Einsiedeln, MS Codex 358 (610) fol. 106v-107r Boethius De institutione musica.jpg

10th-century manuscript of Boethius' De institutione musica

Boethius' or was one of the first musical texts to be printed in Venice between the years of 1491 and 1492. It was written toward the beginning of the sixth century and helped medieval theorists during the ninth century and onwards understand ancient Greek music.Template:Sfn Like his Greek predecessors, Boethius believed that arithmetic and music were intertwined, and helped to mutually reinforce the understanding of each, and together exemplified the fundamental principles of order and harmony in the understanding of the universe as it was known during his time.Template:Sfn

In De Musica, Boethius introduced the threefold classification of music:Template:Sfn

• Musica mundana – music of the spheres/world; this "music" was not actually audible and was to be understood rather than heard
• Musica humana – harmony of human body and spiritual harmony
• Musica instrumentalis – instrumental music

In De musica I.2, Boethius describes 'musica instrumentis' as music produced by something under tension (e.g., strings), by wind (e.g., aulos), by water, or by percussion (e.g., cymbals). Boethius himself does not use the term 'instrumentalis', which was used by Adalbold II of Utrecht (975Template:Nsndns1026) in his Epistola cum tractatu.Template:Full citation needed The term is much more common in the 13th century and later. It is also in these later texts that musica instrumentalis is firmly associated with audible music in general, including vocal music. Scholars have traditionally assumed that Boethius also made this connection, possibly under the header of wind instruments ("administratur ... aut spiritu ut tibiis"Template:RefnTemplate:Sfn), but Boethius himself never writes about "instrumentalis" as separate from "instrumentis" explicitly in his very brief description.

In one of his works within De institutione musica, Boethius said that "music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired."Template:Sfn During the Middle Ages, Boethius was connected to several texts that were used to teach liberal arts. Although he did not address the subject of trivium, he did write many treatises explaining the principles of rhetoric, grammar, and logic. During the Middle Ages, his works of these disciplines were commonly used when studying the three elementary arts.Template:Sfn The historian R. W. Southern called Boethius "the schoolmaster of medieval Europe."Template:Sfn

An 1872 German translation of "De Musica" was the magnum opus of Oscar Paul.Template:SfnTemplate:Primary source inline

Opuscula sacra

Boethius also wrote Christian theological treatises, which supported orthodox theology and condemned Arianism and other heterodox forms of Christianity.Template:Sfn

Five theological works are known:Template:Sfn

• De Trinitate – "The Trinity", where he defends the Council of Chalcedon Trinitarian position, that God is in three persons who have no differences in nature. He argues against the Arian view of the nature of God, which put him at odds with the faith of the Arian King of Italy.
• Utrum Pater et filius et Spiritus Sanctus de divinitate substantialiter praedicentur – "Whether Father, Son and Holy Spirit are Substantially Predicated of the Divinity", a short work where he uses reason and Aristotelian epistemology to argue that the Catholic views of the nature of God are correct.Template:Sfn
• Quomodo substantiae, Boethius' claim that all substances are good.Template:Sfn
• De fide catholica – "On the Catholic Faith"
• Contra Eutychen et Nestorium – "Against Eutyches and Nestorius," from Template:Circa, which dates it as the earliest of his theological works. Eutyches and Nestorius were contemporaries in the early to mid-5th century who held divergent Christological theologies. Boethius argues for a middle ground in conformity with Catholic faith.

His theological works played an important part during the Middle Ages in philosophical thought, including the fields of logic, ontology, and metaphysics.Template:Sfn

Dates of works

File:Musei civici8.jpg

Gravestone of Boethius in the Pavia Civic Museum

Dates of composition:Template:Sfn Template:Div col Mathematical works

• De arithmetica (On Arithmetic, Template:Circa) adapted translation of the Introductio Arithmeticae by Nicomachus of Gerasa (c. 160 – Template:Circa).
• De musica (On Music, Template:Circa), based on a lost work by Nicomachus of Gerasa and on Ptolemy's Harmonica.
• Possibly a treatise on geometry, extant only in fragments.Template:Sfn

Logical works

A) Translations

• Porphyry's Isagoge
• In Categorias Aristotelis: Aristotle's Categories
• De interpretatione vel periermenias: Aristotle's De Interpretatione
• Interpretatio priorum Analyticorum (two versions): Aristotle's Prior Analytics
• Interpretatio Topicorum Aristotelis: Aristotle's Topics
• Interpretatio Elenchorum Sophisticorum Aristotelis: Aristotle's Sophistical Refutations

B) Commentaries

• In Isagogen Porphyrii commenta (two commentaries, the first based on a translation by Marius Victorinus, (c. 504–05); the second based on Boethius' own translation (507–509) ).
• In Categorias Aristotelis (c. 509–11)
• In librum Aristotelis de interpretatione Commentaria minora (not before 513)
• In librum Aristotelis de interpretatione Commentaria majora (c. 515–16)
• In Aristotelis Analytica Priora (c. 520–523)
• Commentaria in Topica Ciceronis (incomplete: the end the sixth book and the seventh are missing)

Original treatises

• De divisione (515–520?)
• De syllogismo cathegorico (505–506)
• Introductio ad syllogismos cathegoricos (Template:Circa)
• De hypotheticis syllogismis (516–522)
• De topicis differentiis (c. 522–23)
• Opuscula Sacra (Theological Treatises)
  • De Trinitate (c. 520–21)
  • Utrum Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus de divinitate substantialiter praedicentur (Whether Father and Son and Holy Spirit are Substantially Predicated of the Divinity)
  • Quomodo substantiae in eo quod sint bonae sint cum non sint substantialia bona [also known as De hebdomadibus] (How Substances are Good in that they Exist, when They are not Substantially Good)
  • De fide Catholica
  • Contra Eutychen et Nestorium (Against Eutyches and Nestorius)
• De consolatione Philosophiae (524–525).

Legacy

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Depiction of Boethius in the Nuremberg Chronicle

Edward Kennard Rand dubbed Boethius the "last of the Roman philosophers and the first of the scholastic theologians".Template:Sfn Despite the use of his mathematical texts in the early universities, it is his final work, the Consolation of Philosophy, that assured his legacy in the Middle Ages and beyond. This work is cast as a dialogue between Boethius himself, at first bitter and despairing over his imprisonment, and the spirit of philosophy, depicted as a woman of wisdom and compassion. "Alternately composed in prose and verse,Template:Sfn the Consolation teaches acceptance of hardship in a spirit of philosophical detachment from misfortune".Template:Sfn

Parts of the work are reminiscent of the Socratic method of Plato's dialogues, as the spirit of philosophy questions Boethius and challenges his emotional reactions to adversity. The work was translated into Old English by King Alfred and later into English by Chaucer and Queen Elizabeth.Template:Sfn Many manuscripts survive and it was extensively edited, translated and printed throughout Europe from the 14th century onwards.Template:Sfn

"The Boethian Wheel" is a model for Boethius' belief that history is a wheel,Template:Sfn a metaphor that Boethius uses frequently in the Consolation; it remained very popular throughout the Middle Ages, and is still often seen today. As the wheel turns, those who have power and wealth will turn to dust; men may rise from poverty and hunger to greatness, while those who are great may fall with the turn of the wheel. It was represented in the Middle Ages in many relics of art depicting the rise and fall of man. Descriptions of "The Boethian Wheel" can be found in the literature of the Middle Ages from the Romance of the Rose to Chaucer.Template:Sfn

De topicis differentiis was the basis for one of the first works of logic in a western European vernacular, a selection of excerpts translated into Old French by John of Antioch in 1282.Template:Sfn

Veneration

File:0372 - Pavia - S. Pietro - Cripta - Tomba Boezio - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, Oct 17 2009.jpg

The Tomb of Boethius in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro

Boethius was regarded as a Christian martyr by those who lived in succeeding centuries after his death.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Currently, he is recognized as a saint and martyr for the Christian faith.Template:Sfn He is included within the Roman Martyrology, though to Watkins "his status as martyr is dubious".Template:Sfn His cult is held in Pavia, where Boethius' status as a saint was confirmed in 1883, and in the Church of Santa Maria in Portico in Rome. His feast day is 23 October, provided by some as a date for his death.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the current Martyrologium Romanum, his feast is still restricted to that diocese.Template:Sfn Pope Benedict XVI explained the relevance of Boethius to modern-day Christians by linking his teachings to an understanding of Providence.Template:Sfn

In popular culture

File:Augustins - Les adieux du consul Boetius à sa famille - Victor Schnetz D 1886 2.jpg

Boethius' Farewell To His Family by Jean-Victor Schnetz

In Dante's Divine Comedy, the spirit of Boethius is pointed out by Saint Thomas Aquinas and is mentioned further in the poem.

In the novel A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, Boethius is the favorite philosopher of the main character, Ignatius J. Reilly. The "Boethian Wheel" is a theme throughout the book, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981.Template:Sfn

C. S. Lewis references Boethius in chapter 27 of the Screwtape Letters.Template:Sfn

Boethius also appears in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People where he is played by Christopher Eccleston.

In 1976, a lunar crater was named in honor of Boethius.

The title of Alain de Botton's book, The Consolations of Philosophy, is derived from Boethius' Consolation.

A codex of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy is the focus of The Late Scholar, a Lord Peter Wimsey novel by Jill Paton Walsh.

In the video game Genshin Impact, the song "Metres of Boethius" plays within the Sea of Bygone Eras, where the sunken civilization of Remuria once worshipped the Grand Symphony.

See also

• De Fide Catolica
• Prison literature
• Elpis (wife of Boethius)

References

Sources

Books

• .
• Template:Cite CE1913

Journal articles

Weblinks

External links

Works

• Template:StandardEbooks
• Template:Internet Archive author
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• {en} De Trinitate (On the Holy Trinity) – Boethius, Erik Kenyon (trans.)
• {en} Theological Tractates; Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• A 10th-century manuscript of Institutio Arithmetica is available online from Lund University, Sweden
• The Geoffrey Freudlin 1885 edition of the Arithmetica, from the Cornell Library Historical Mathematics Monographs
• Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries Template:Webarchive
• Codices Boethiani: A Conspectus of Manuscripts of the Work of Boethius
• Works by Boethius at Perseus Digital Library
• MS 1083/30 Regiment of princes; Consolation of philosophy at OPenn
• MS 484/15 Commentum super libro Porphyrii Isagoge; De decim predicamentis at OPenn
• De Disciplina scholarium, Lyon, 1499, at the National Library of Portugal
• Digitized 12th-century manuscript of De Musica at the Alexander Turnbull Library

On Boethius' life and works

• Blessed Severinus Boethius at Patron Saints Index
• Blackwood, Stephen. The Meters of Boethius: Rhythmic Therapy in the Consolation of Philosophy.
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• Phillips, Philip Edward. Boethius: A Selected Bibliography for Students
• Boethius at The Online Library of Liberty
• On Boethius and Cassiodorus – Pope Benedict XVI

On Boethius' logic and philosophy

• Correia, Manuel. Template:Cite IEP
• Template:Cite SEP
• The Philosophical Works of Boethius. Editions and Translations
• Boethius' Logic and Metaphysics. An Annotated Bibliography

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