.jpg) Page from a 15th century French manuscript | |
| Author | Boethius |
|---|---|
| Translators | |
| Language | Latin |
| Subject | Fate,Christian theology |
Publication date | 524 |
Published in English | Mid-14th century (Middle English) |
| 082.1 | |
Original text | The Consolation of Philosophy at LatinWikisource |
| Translation | The Consolation of Philosophy at Wikisource |
| Part ofa series on |
| Neoplatonism |
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On the Consolation of Philosophy (Latin:De consolatione philosophiae),[1] often titled asThe Consolation of Philosophy or simply theConsolation, is a philosophical work by the Roman philosopher and Christian theologianBoethius. Written in 523while he was imprisoned and awaiting execution by theOstrogothic KingTheodoric, it is often described as the last great Western work of the Classical Period. Boethius'sConsolation heavily influenced the philosophy oflate antiquity, as well asMedieval and earlyRenaissance Christianity.[2][3]
On the Consolation of Philosophy was written in AD 523 during a one-year imprisonment Boethius served while awaiting trial—and eventual execution—for the alleged crime oftreason under theOstrogothic KingTheodoric the Great. Boethius was at the very heights of power inRome, holding the prestigious office ofmagister officiorum, and was brought down by treachery. This experience inspired the text, which reflects on how evil can exist in a world governed by God (an example oftheodicy), and how happiness is still attainable amidst fickle fortune, while also considering the nature of happiness and God. In 1891, the academicHugh Fraser Stewart described the work as "by far the most interesting example ofprison literature the world has ever seen."[4]
Boethius writes the book as a conversation between himself and a female personification of philosophy, referred to as "Lady Philosophy". Philosophy consoles Boethius by discussing the transitory nature of wealth, fame, and power ("no man can ever truly be secure until he has been forsaken by Fortune"), and the ultimate superiority of things of the mind, which she calls the "one true good". She contends that happiness comes from within, and that virtue is all that one truly has because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune.
Boethius engages with the nature ofpredestination andfree will, theproblem of evil and the "problem of desert",[5]human nature,virtue, andjustice. He speaks about the nature of free will anddeterminism when he asks whether God knows and sees all, or whether man has free will. On human nature, Boethius says that humans are essentially good, and only when they give in to "wickedness" do they "sink to the level of being an animal." On justice, he says criminals are not to be abused, but rather treated with sympathy and respect, using the analogy of doctor and patient to illustrate the ideal relationship between prosecutor and criminal.
On the Consolation of Philosophy is laid out as follows:
In theConsolation, Boethius answered religious questions without reference to Christianity, relying solely on natural philosophy and the ClassicalGreek tradition. He believed in the correspondence between faith and reason. The truths found in Christianity would be no different from the truths found in philosophy.[6] In the words of Henry Chadwick, "If theConsolation contains nothing distinctively Christian, it is also relevant that it contains nothing specifically pagan either...[it] is a work written by a Platonist who is also a Christian."[7]
Boethius repeats theMacrobius model of the Earth in the center of a spherical cosmos.[8]
The philosophical message of the book fits well with the religious piety of the Middle Ages. Boethius encouraged readers not to pursue worldly goods such as money and power, but to seek internalized virtues. Evil had a purpose, to provide a lesson to help change for good; while suffering from evil was seen as virtuous. Because God ruled the universe through Love, prayer to God and the application of Love would lead to true happiness.[9] The Middle Ages, with their vivid sense of an overruling fate, found in Boethius an interpretation of life closely akin to the spirit of Christianity. TheConsolation stands, by its note of fatalism and its affinities with the Christian doctrine of humility, midway between the pagan philosophy ofSeneca the Younger and the later Christian philosophy of consolation represented byThomas à Kempis.[10]
The book is heavily influenced byPlato and hisdialogues (as was Boethius himself).[10] Its popularity can in part be explained by itsNeoplatonic[citation needed][11] and Christian ethical messages, although current scholarly research is still far from clear exactly why and how the work became so vastly popular in the Middle Ages.
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From theCarolingian epoch[12] to the end of the Middle Ages and beyond,The Consolation of Philosophy was one of the most popular and influential philosophical works, read by statesmen, poets, historians, philosophers, and theologians. It is through Boethius that much of the thought of the Classical period was made available to the Western Medieval world. It has often been said Boethius was the "last of the Romans and the first of theScholastics".[3]
Translations into thevernacular were done by famous notables, includingKing Alfred (Old English),Jean de Meun (Old French),Geoffrey Chaucer (Middle English),Queen Elizabeth I (Early Modern English),Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston (English, 1695–1696), andNotker Labeo (Old High German).[13][14][15][16][17] Other English translators include George Colville (1556), Henry Rosher (H. J.) James (1897), Walter John (W. J.) Sedgefield (1899), and Richard H. Green (1962). Boethius'sConsolation of Philosophy was translated into Italian by Alberto della Piagentina (1332), Anselmo Tanso (Milan, 1520),Lodovico Domenichi (Florence, 1550),Benedetto Varchi (Florence, 1551),Cosimo Bartoli (Florence, 1551) andTommaso Tamburini (Palermo, 1657).
Found within theConsolation are themes that have echoed throughout the Western canon: the female figure of wisdom that informs Dante, the ascent through the layered universe that is shared with Milton, the reconciliation of opposing forces that find their way into Chaucer inThe Knight's Tale, and the Wheel of Fortune so popular throughout the Middle Ages.
Citations from it occur frequently inDante'sDivina Commedia. Of Boethius, Dante remarked: "The blessed soul who exposes the deceptive world to anyone who gives ear to him."[18]
Boethian influence can be found nearly everywhere inGeoffrey Chaucer's poetry, e.g. inTroilus and Criseyde,The Knight's Tale,The Clerk's Tale,The Franklin's Tale,The Parson's Tale andThe Tale of Melibee, in the character of Lady Nature inThe Parliament of Fowls and some of the shorter poems, such asTruth,The Former Age andLak of Stedfastnesse. Chaucer translated the work in hisBoece.
The Italian composerLuigi Dallapiccola used some of the text in his choral workCanti di prigionia (1938). The Australian composerPeter Sculthorpe quoted parts of it in his opera or music theatre workRites of Passage (1972–73), which was commissioned for the opening of theSydney Opera House but was not ready in time.
Tom Shippey inThe Road to Middle-earth says how "Boethian" much of the treatment of evil is inTolkien'sThe Lord of the Rings. Shippey says that Tolkien knew well the translation of Boethius that was made by King Alfred and he quotes some "Boethian" remarks fromFrodo,Treebeard, andElrond.[19]
Boethius andConsolatio Philosophiae are cited frequently by the main character Ignatius J. Reilly in thePulitzer Prize-winningA Confederacy of Dunces (1980).
It is aprosimetrical text, meaning that it is written in alternating sections ofprose and meteredverse. In the course of the text, Boethius displays a virtuosic command of the forms ofLatin poetry. It is classified as aMenippean satire, a fusion ofallegorical tale,platonic dialogue, and lyrical poetry.
Edward Gibbon described the work as "a golden volume not unworthy of the leisure ofPlato orTully."[20]
In the 20th century, there were close to four hundred manuscripts still surviving, a testament to its popularity.[21]
Of the work,C. S. Lewis wrote: "To acquire a taste for it is almost to become naturalised in the Middle Ages."[22]
In 2024, under the high patronage of the European Parliament, the Italian composerMirco De Stefani publishedCori di Boezio, for twelve male voices a cappella, on seven poems fromDe Consolatione Philosophiae, in the 15th centenary of the work.[23]
Hundreds of Latin songs were recorded inneumes from the ninth century through to the thirteenth century, including settings of the poetic passages from Boethius'sThe Consolation of Philosophy. The music of this song repertory had long been considered irretrievably lost because the notational signs indicated only melodic outlines, relying on now-lapsed oral traditions to fill in the missing details. However, research conducted by Sam Barrett at theUniversity of Cambridge,[24] extended in collaboration with Medieval music ensembleSequentia, has shown that principles of musical setting for this period can be identified, providing crucial information to enable modern realisations.[25] Sequentia performed the world premiere of the reconstructed songs from Boethius'sThe Consolation of Philosophy atPembroke College, Cambridge, in April 2016, bringing to life music not heard in over 1,000 years; a number of the songs were subsequently recorded on the CDBoethius: Songs of Consolation. Metra from 11th-Century Canterbury (Glossa, 2018). The detective story behind the recovery of these lost songs is told in a documentary film, and a website launched by the University of Cambridge in 2018 provides further details of the reconstruction process, bringing together manuscripts, reconstructions, and video resources.[26]
TheOpuscula sacra regard faith and reason as independent but parallel and compatible ways of attaining to higher metaphysical truths, and the independent validity of logical reasoning is also an underlying presupposition throughoutDe consolatione.
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The Consolation of Philosophy public domain audiobook atLibriVox