 A classic of philosophical thought--Key to the middle ages. |
| Review Date: October 20, 1998 |
| Reviewer: , |
| I didn't know exactly what to expect when I first picked up a modern-English translation of Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius' _The Consolation of Philosophy_. I knew that Boethius was held to be one of the greatest thinkers of his time--a child prodigy from a distinguished Roman family, a distinguished student of Greek, who essayed to translate all of Plato and Aristotle into Latin, and reconcile their philosophies (a task which he never completed). I knew that _The Consolation_ was held to be one of the most influential books of the middle-ages: translated into English by Geoffrey Chaucer and no less than two English monarchs. I didn't expect the fusion of allegorical tale, platonic dialogue, and lyrical poetry (the genre is officially called the Menippean Satire)that I found. The issues _The Consolation of Philosophy_ addresses were already the time-worn province of philosophical thought by the time that Boethius essayed to address them: the nature of predestination and free will, why evil men often prosper and good men (as Boethius thought himself) often fall into ruin, the nature of the relationship between time and eternity. And the answers are mostly not new with him either: long chains of sophistical reasonings that prove, among other things, that evil men do not wholly exist, and that by allowing them to obtain their evil desires, God is punishing them more terribly than if he had stopped them. The answers are familiar, in tone, if not in exact content: a mystic-based neoplatonic vision of God as an eternal oneness, to which the soul rises through the layers of being. A somewhat recursively defined and unworldly 'good,' to which all souls aspire. Long passages on the vanity of worldly gain, the fickleness of fortune--all of them are familiar to readers who've read much classical or medieval philosophy. But much of what feels familiar in _Consolations of Philosophy_ is not familiar from its sources, but from the many works for which it is the basis. It is in Boethius that much of the thought of the the Classical period was made available to the Western Medieval world. Thus, you find things in _The Consolation_ that echo throughout the Western Canon--the female figure of wisdom that informs Dante, the ascent through the layered universe that is shared with Milton, to say nothing of the ideas of the reconciliation of opposing forces that find their way into Chaucer in _The Knight's Tale_, among others. But beyond the influence of the ideas, what _The Consolation of Philosophy_ has that is lacking in most other philosophical texts is a feeling of the importance of these ideas: Boethius wrote this book while awaiting trial and execution (he was ground to death in a mortar) on charges of treason, and though the book isn't explicitly autobiographical, the problems that it deals with were of the utmost importance to him at the the time, and he didn't have time to spare on superfluities. What results, then, is a philosophy made explicitly to deal with suffering: compact and full of emotion. Whether you read this book as a key to Medieval thinkers, an introduction to Classical thought, or simply as a way of looking at the problems that still concern us to this day, you should, by all means, read it. |
Boethius and The Consolation
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| Review Date: March 9, 2000 |
| Reviewer: Nawfal, USA |
| This is a must for any student of philosophy. Boethius is the transition from Roman and Neo-Platonic philosophy into the Medieval Period. I would also recommend this book to those facing doubt in their studies, or college students thinking of quitting. It is a short work, easy to read and great in its comfort. "Be not overcome by your misfortunes, for the gifts of fortune are fleeting and happiness is not to be found in temporal goods. Only by being like God, who is the highest good, can lasting happiness come to man." Lady Philosophy counsels. Although the work is neo-Platonic Aristotle and Porphyry are heavily drawn from - so the advanced reader could consider those volumes too. |
A gripping book
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| Review Date: March 19, 2000 |
| Reviewer: D. Roberts, Battle Creek, Michigan United States |
| Axel Boethius wrote this book under the most horrifying circumstances imaginable; while awaiting his own rather grisly execution. What surfaces from these extreme and morose circumstances is a true masterpiece of philosophy. The book is told in the same general style as a Platonic dialogue, with two interlocutors; Boetheius and the personification of Philosophy. Boethius chooses a Lady figure to represent the avatar of Philosophy. Its construction reminds me very much of Diotema's parlance with Socrates in Plato's "Symposium." In the book, Boethius does a Christianizing interpretation of many classical myths and allegories. My favorite was the spin he put on the myth of Orpheus in the underworld. This is a fine book in the history of philosophy and religion; a must read for medieval scholars. |
A Philosopher for the Hard Questions
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| Review Date: May 16, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Lit Chic, The Lone Star State |
Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy
Translation and Introduction by V.E. Watts
There is no excuse for anyone to *not* read this book: it is a quick read, with a very thorough and enlightening introduction by V.E. Watts. However, it is profound, and Boethius, with his gentle tone and elegant style, by means of a Socratic dialogue thoroughly and irrefutably answers the most troubling questions we have about life and God.
As mentioned earlier, Boethius wrote this while unjustly imprisoned. His life prior had been spent in the study of the great philosophers. From what historians gather, he later died a death of torture. His situation was the gravest imaginable; he went from a position of wealth and respect to the worst fate possible. Ironically, that makes his argument that much more persuasive: that a man suffering the worst of life could still come to the conclusions that he does gives comfort and hope to anyone who has ever suffered.
Boethius didactically addresses:
How do we know God exists?
How do we know God is Divine?
What is the meaning of life? (And for all of you Adams fans, no, the answer is not 42. :-)
If God is good, how can evil exist?
What is the nature of evil?
If God is good, how come bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people?
Why do so many in the world suffer?
How can God be omniscient and humans still have free will? Why is foreknowledge not equated with predestination?
I came to this precious book for more understanding in Medieval study. When I discovered that this book is also appropriate--nay, necessary--to life today, I became greatly annoyed that it is not more well-known and more widely read. This book is a great comfort, and one worthy of lifelong meditation.
--The Medieval Chick |
The Final Document of Classical Antiquity
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| Review Date: May 26, 2000 |
| Reviewer: Lloyd A. Conway, Detroit |
| The Consolation of Philosophy is the last work that can be described as classical. Boethius, a Christian scholar (De Tractes)and public servant, penned the Consolation while awaiting death by torture on the orders of Theodoric, Ostrogothic King of Italy. Boethius consoled himself by writing an allegory in which Philosophy, in the bodily form of his nurse, comes to him to clarify his mind, weighed down with unhappieness over his misfortune. The style is called the Menippian Satire, which alternates prose sections with short verse stanzas that serve to reinforce the points made in the subsequent prose. Philosophy shows Boethius that he is not abused by Fortune because, as Boethius agrees that God exists, that He is good, and all-powerful, that nothing can happen which God does not permit. His treatment of divine foreknowledge and free will is sublime, as is his discourse on Time and Eternity. Boethius is heavily indebted to Plato for much of his natural theology. This book became the bedside companion of many people, and was translated by Alfred the Great and Elizabeth I. All this, in a work that runs less than 100 pages, depending on the edition. |
The Last Classsical Man
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| Review Date: June 15, 2007 |
| Reviewer: T. F. Johnson, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
The Consolation is a philosophical treatise written by Boethius (c. 480-524 A.D.) while awaiting his execution after being imprisoned by the Gothic emperor Theodoric. The first time I heard of Boethius and his most famous composition was, as so often is the case, when I was reading another work. The work in question is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole. The main character of O'Toole's novel, one Ignatius J. Reilly, had based his entire life and worldview around the philosophy of Boethius and his assessment of Fortune. A great work in its own right, A Confederacy of Dunces left a lasting impression in my mind and, when by chance I came across a copy of the Consolation in the used bookstore I jumped at the opportunity to see for myself what Boethius had to say.
The work is composed of five books beginning with Boethius struggling to make sense of his imprisonment and pending execution. Confronted with a fate that is seemingly at odds with the virtue and faith with which he has conducted his life, Boethius is about to succumb to the sorrow that is filling his thoughts. Just then he notices the presence of a woman in his cell, the awe-inspiring Philosophy. She bemoans that Boethius, once such an avid student of hers, is now about to abandon all that he had previously gained. Thus begins a journey of reason and contemplation between the two until Boethius in the end finds the consolation that he had almost given up upon. Interspersed between the dialogues of Boethius and Philosophy are a number of poems that range in subject matter and content. More numerous at the beginning of the work, the poems often times serve as transitions between arguments or help to put difficult concepts into a clearer light. Thus a remarkable harmony is reached between prose and poetry that can be appreciated even in an English translation, a rare feat indeed.
It is perhaps significant to understand the time in which Boethius lived a bit better to gain a more accurate reading of his work. Living long after Constantine's conversion to Christianity in the 4th century A.D., it is widely accepted that Boethius was a Christian and believer of the tenants of the Catholic Church (at a time when the Gothic emperor Theodoric, also a Christian but belonging like all Goths to the heretical Arian sect that believed that the father and son were not of one substance). One must find it a bit peculiar than that at no point in Boethius' text is Christianity mentioned in any overt context. To find a believer in his last days before death turning not to theology for comfort, as one might expect, but rather to philosophy has raised many questions about the nature of Boethius' belief. But one only has to look to the title of the work to see that Boethius is choosing philosophy for the subject of his work and could very well indeed have thought theology a better consolation, although one that would be and should be treated in an altogether separate treatise. With this in mind, Boethius draws on the works of the great philosophers and thinkers of antiquity; Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, St. Augustine, the Stoics, and the Neo-Platonists. This feat being all the more remarkable because Boethius apparently relied on his own memory to produce the arguments and passages seeing as he had no access to any literary sources while imprisoned.
Boethius has rightly been called the last classical man. Indeed his thoughts and works can be seen as forming a bridge etween the classical world and the Middle Ages. The Consolation influenced countless numbers of theologians throughout the Middle Ages and direct references are to be found in the works of masters such as Dante and Chaucer. His lonely contemplation of good and evil, fate and free will, fortune and the nature of happiness certainly still have an allure to inquisitive minds to this day.
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