John Marenbon

Boethius has been something of a pet project of mine over the past couple of years. Having belatedly discovered his Consolation of Philosophy, I found it to be quite compelling. Boethius represents a literary and philosophical bridge between Late Antiquity and Medieval Europe. And without Boethius's translations, Aristotle would have been completely lost to European scholars until the Renaissance.

Boethius was a Christian, as were most people in Italy by the 5th century, but philosophically he was a Neoplatonist. His great project was to reconcile Aristotle with Plato and to translate the entire works of both. He did not live long enough to accomplish the latter, but the Consolation shows to some degree his success with the former. It also represents an attempt to reconcile Neoplatonic philosophy with Christianity.

Boethius was born into a Roman senatorial family and when his parents died, he was adopted by Symmachus, another respected Roman senator. In his own right, he served as consul and subsequently was appointed a chief minister in the government of Theodoric, the Ostragoth king of Italy. He fell from grace, however, probably through a political betrayal although the historical record is murky on that score, and was condemned to death. He wrote the Consolation of Philosophy while in custody awaiting what turned out to be a horrific execution.

John Marenbon has produced a study of all the known works of Boethius and in the process explains why Boethius was so important to the development of philosophy and education in Western Europe. It has been said that Boethius was the remote ancestor of scholasticism, because his works became foundational in the school curriculum for the better part of a millenium. His influence is apparent to students of Dante, Boccaccio, Chaucer and Thomas Aquinas. The Consolation was translated at various times into English by King Alfred, Chaucer and the first Queen Elizabeth.

Marenbon's book has been close at hand for the better part of a year. I first read the parts about the Consolation and about Boethius's influence throughout the Middle Ages because those were of immediate interest. In recent days I finally read the sections on his translations, commentaries and religious tractates. These are of lesser interest to me, but they do help to round out the picture of a remarkable man whose work is little read today except as a sort of historical curiosity.

I especially enjoyed the section of Marenbon's book where he discussed the poetry contained in the Consolation and how the original Latin verse forms were related to the subject matter.

By the way, If one is attracted to literary works with a philosophical bent, the Consolation is very accessible, in the style of a fanciful Platonic dialogue between Boethius himself and the Lady Philosophy. Each chapter begins or ends with a lovely poem that relates in some way to the dialogue. Many English translations from the original Latin are currently available, my own favorite being that of P.G. Walsh… (more)