Boethius

1Consolation of Philosophy

By Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius

Consolation of Philosophy (Latin: Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius written in about the year 524 AD. It has been described as the single most important and influential work in the West in medieval and early Renaissance Christianity, and is also the last great work that can be called Classical. <br><br> Consolation of Philosophy was written during Boethius' one year imprisonment while awaiting trial, and eventual horrific execution, for the crime of treason by Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great. Boethius was at the very heights of power in Rome and was brought down by treachery. It was from this experience he was inspired to write a philosophical book from prison reflecting on how a lord's favor could change so quickly and why friends would turn against him. It has been described as “by far the most interesting example of prison literature the world has ever seen.” <br><br> The Consolation of Philosophy stands, by its note of fatalism and its affinities with the Christian doctrine of humility, midway between the heathen philosophy of Seneca the Younger and the later Christian philosophy of consolation represented by Thomas Aquinas. <br><br>The book is heavily influenced by Plato and his dialogues (as was Boethius himself). (Summary from Wikipedia)

Consolation of Philosophy (Latin: Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius written in about the year 524 AD. It has been described as the single most important and influential work in the West in medieval and early Renaissance Christianity, and is also the last great work that can be called Classical.<br /><br /> Consolation of Philosophy was written during Boethius' one year imprisonment while awaiting trial, and eventual horrific execution, for the crime of treason by Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great. Boethius was at the very heights of power in Rome and was brought down by treachery. It was from this experience he was inspired to write a philosophical book from prison reflecting on how a lord's favor could change so quickly and why friends would turn against him. It has been described as “by far the most interesting example of prison literature the world has ever seen.”<br /><br /> The Consolation of Philosophy stands, by its note of fatalism and its affinities with the Christian doctrine of humility, midway between the heathen philosophy of Seneca the Younger and the later Christian philosophy of consolation represented by Thomas Aquinas.<br /><br /> The book is heavily influenced by Plato and his dialogues (as was Boethius himself). - Summary by Wikipedia

The Consolation of Philosophy was written about 524 A.D. and has been called one of the most popular and influential books ever written. The book is presented as a dialogue between Boethius, the author, and Lady Philosophy, his tutor. Through her teaching, Boethius learns the true nature of fortune, misfortune, wealth, good, and evil.<br><br>This dramatic reading is an attempt to present this wonderful work in an audio format while maintaining the dialogic structure of the work. (Devorah Allen)<br><br><b>Cast List</b><br>Boethius, the Narrator: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8425">Larry Wilson</a><br>Philosophy: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11084">Devorah Allen</a><br>Headings and Footnotes: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/13278">KevinS</a>

It was in the last dozen years of his life that Boethius wrote on a vastly different topic, or what one might imagine a vastly different topic, namely, theology. There are preserved under his name four brief but pithy letters, addressed, one to Symmachus and the rest to a mutual friend, John the Deacon, dealing with theological subjects of great contemporary importance. That to Symmachus is entitled "How that the Trinity is one God and not three Gods", and presents a specially vigorous criticism of the Arian heresy. Number 2, addressed to John, continues this topic; it is entitled, "Whether Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may be substantially predicated of Divinity". The last in the series, "A Treatise against Eutyches and Nestorius", takes up one of the great controversies of the age, the doctrine of the Person of Christ. Boethius upholds the orthodox view against the divergent heresies of Eutyches, who discarded the human element in our Lord’s nature, and of Nestorius, who discarded the divine element. The little work, which was written most probably in 512, is one of the best contributions to the subject ever made. The definitions of nature and of person given by the author became classical and were constantly appealed to by the Schoolmen; “Nature,” according to Boethius, is the specific difference that gives form to anything; “Person” is the individual substance of a rational nature. <br><br>The philosopher is also evident in the title of the third letter “How Substantives can be good in virtue of their existence without being Absolute Goods”. If this piece had been separately transmitted as the work of the author of the Consolation of Philosophy and the other theological tractates had been all lost, nobody would have thought of questioning the authorship. As it is, it is part and parcel of this little collection, the genuineness of which has the best possible attestation in the manuscripts. To anybody who has read through, or read in sufficient extracts, Boethius’s works on logic, the theological tractates seem altogether of a piece. It is the same mind here as there, only exercising itself in a different field, with the result that Boethius has started a new method in theology, the application of Aristotelian logic to Christian problems. - Summary adapted from E.K. Rand