Boethius
Seek, in disgrace, the good that fortune cannot take back.
Boethius was a Roman senator and scholar in Ostrogothic Italy who set out to translate and explain Aristotle and Plato in Latin and to show how far they agreed. His logical commentaries and theological tractates shaped the vocabulary of the Latin Middle Ages; condemned for treason, he wrote in prison the Consolation of Philosophy, a dialogue on fortune, happiness, providence and freedom.
What remains of happiness when fortune withdraws?
Biography
Boethius was a Roman senator and scholar in Ostrogothic Italy who set out to translate and explain Aristotle and Plato in Latin and to show how far they agreed. His logical commentaries and theological tractates shaped the vocabulary of the Latin Middle Ages; condemned for treason, he wrote in prison the Consolation of Philosophy, a dialogue on fortune, happiness, providence and freedom.
02 /Philosophy
Fortune’s nature is change: her gifts never belonged to the one who possessed them, and adversity, by showing who remains a friend, can teach more than prosperity.
03 /Reading guides
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
04 /Bibliography
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
A first reading.
Fortune and happiness
Follow Philosophy’s argument in the Consolation, from the losses inflicted by Fortune to the search for the true good.
The Consolation of PhilosophyLogic and theology
Examine how the theological tractates use categories, definitions and axioms to clarify doctrines received through faith.
Theological TractatesThe question of universals
Reconstruct Porphyry’s three questions and the answer Boethius gives them in his second commentary on the Isagoge.
Commentaries on Porphyry’s Isagoge