The Consolation became one of the most popular and influential works of the Middle Ages. While jailed, Boethius composed his Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical treatise on fortune, death, and other issues. Boethius was imprisoned and eventually executed by King Theodoric the Great, who suspected him of conspiring with the Eastern Empire. In 522 he saw his two sons become consuls. Boethius himself was consul in 510 in the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. Boethius, of the noble Anicia family, entered public life at a young age and was already a senator by the age of 25. His father, Flavius Manlius Boethius, was consul in 487 after Odoacer deposed the last Western Roman Emperor. He was born in Rome to an ancient and prominent family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls. 480–524 or 525 AD) was a philosopher of the early 6th century. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Īnicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, commonly called Boethius (bow-EE-thee-us ca. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. The Consolation was extremely popular throughout medieval Europe and his ideas were influential on the thought of Chaucer and Dante.įor more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. Her instruction on the nature of fortune and happiness, good and evil, fate and free will, restore his health and bring him to enlightenment. It is a dialogue of alternating prose and verse between the ailing prisoner and his 'nurse' Philosophy. The Consolation was written in the period leading up to his brutal execution. When he became involved in a conspiracy and was imprisoned in Pavia, it was to the Greek philosophers that he turned. Boethius was an eminent public figure under the Gothic emperor Theodoric, and an exceptional Greek scholar.

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