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Religion & MysticismThe Theological Tractates and The Consolation of PhilosophyBoethiusThe Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy

The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy

Boethius

Religion & MysticismEnglish
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Imprisoned at Pavia and awaiting execution on a charge of treason he denied, the Roman statesman Boethius is visited in his cell by a majestic woman, Lady…

Catalogue details

Author
Boethius
Category
Religion & Mysticism
Language
English
Source
Project Gutenberg

About this book

Imprisoned at Pavia and awaiting execution on a charge of treason he denied, the Roman statesman Boethius is visited in his cell by a majestic woman, Lady Philosophy, who drives away the Muses of poetry that have been feeding his self-pity. In five books of alternating prose and verse, she reminds him that Fortune is a turning wheel that gives and takes away, that true happiness lies not in wealth, power or fame but in the highest good, which is God, and she reconciles God's foreknowledge with human free will.

Context and significance

Boethius (about 477–524), a scholar who had served the Ostrogothic king Theodoric in Italy, wrote the book shortly before his death. It became one of the most widely read books of the Middle Ages, translated into English by King Alfred and by Chaucer, and its image of Fortune's wheel echoes through medieval literature. This Loeb edition by H. F. Stewart and E. K. Rand also contains his theological tractates. Compare the Stoic Meditations.

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