Rating: 
Summary: Is life a "Wheel of Fortunes?"
Review: Suffering imprisonment, fear, torture, and anger for feeling unjustly punished, Boethius seeks intellectual consolation. The result is a work of profound depth, which became the most popular secular reading during the Middle Ages with long lasting effects. It is truly rational in its approach, following the classical Neo-Platonic style, and although it does not rely on any Christian doctrine the inner core of Boethius's argument requires faith. The dialogue between the two characters (the author and Philosophy) follows a classical model, alternating with monologues and poems (Menippean satire).
Boethius questions the existence of evil, of impunity, and suffering of the innocent (a reminder of Job). Assisted and guided by a woamn who personifies Philosophy, Boethius discourse and rational dialogue will reach the conclusion that there is no merit in worldly riches and fame, the highest good governs the universe, and wisdom is eternal. Suffering serves a purpose when it draws the individual back on the true path. Worldly existence has two realities: human and divine (Providence). But if there is Providence, if God has already drawn the path for every individual's life, where does free will stand? For Boethius God knows the future, but humans have the desire for good implanted in their nature and it is upon everyone's will not to be lead astray through spiritual ailment. Freedom exists to the extent you are able to recognize God's fate! Happiness and the seed of truth lies within, good fortune deceives, bad fortune enlightens! The "Wheel of Fortunes" cannot take away from you that which you possess within yourself.Boethius philosophical reasoning might not be entirely satisfactory, or somehow passive, and that being the case Boethius reminds us (by means of Philosophy) that "it is not allowed to man to comprehend in thought all the ways of the divine work." Something else besides reason is required... and that could be faith! In real life, Boethius was executed by order of Theoderic the Ostrogoth, an authoritarian monarch. "The Consolation of Philosophy" might have brought the author the strength, peace, happiness and the "consolation" he so much needed in his life's trial... but in the end the "Wheel of Fortunes" took its turn.
Rating:
Summary: Is life a "Wheel of Fortunes?"
Review: Suffering imprisonment, fear, torture, and anger for feeling unjustly punished, Boethius seeks intellectual consolation. The result is a work of profound depth, which became the most popular secular reading during the Middle Ages with long lasting effects. It is truly rational in its approach, following the classical Neo-Platonic style, and although it does not rely on any Christian doctrine the inner core of Boethius's argument requires faith. The dialogue between the two characters (the author and Philosophy) follows a classical model, alternating with monologues and poems (Menippean satire).
Boethius questions the existence of evil, of impunity, and suffering of the innocent (a reminder of Job). Assisted and guided by a woamn who personifies Philosophy, Boethius discourse and rational dialogue will reach the conclusion that there is no merit in worldly riches and fame, the highest good governs the universe, and wisdom is eternal. Suffering serves a purpose when it draws the individual back on the true path. Worldly existence has two realities: human and divine (Providence). But if there is Providence, if God has already drawn the path for every individual's life, where does free will stand? For Boethius God knows the future, but humans have the desire for good implanted in their nature and it is upon everyone's will not to be lead astray through spiritual ailment. Freedom exists to the extent you are able to recognize God's fate! Happiness and the seed of truth lies within, good fortune deceives, bad fortune enlightens! The "Wheel of Fortunes" cannot take away from you that which you possess within yourself. Boethius philosophical reasoning might not be entirely satisfactory, or somehow passive, and that being the case Boethius reminds us (by means of Philosophy) that "it is not allowed to man to comprehend in thought all the ways of the divine work." Something else besides reason is required... and that could be faith! In real life, Boethius was executed by order of Theoderic the Ostrogoth, an authoritarian monarch. "The Consolation of Philosophy" might have brought the author the strength, peace, happiness and the "consolation" he so much needed in his life's trial... but in the end the "Wheel of Fortunes" took its turn.
Rating:
Summary: Philosophy as Religion
Review: That Boethius was the "last of the Romans and the first of the scholastics", as has often been said of him, makes him a most unusual character in the history of thought. Serving as a bridge between two worlds, his writings, infused with the ideas of both Aristotle and Plato -- the two giants of ancient Greek philosophy -- allowed for the transmission of Neoplatonism into the emerging Christian intellectual tradition. Through the figure of Boethius the Latin West came to inherit many of the achievements of Greek learning. The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius's magnum opus, was one of the most widely read works in medieval Europe, especially in the twelfth century. No doubt, the dramatic context in which the work was written must have greatly accentuated its popularity. But there is more to the Consolation then simply a dramatic background, and this feature in itself would hardly explain the influence of the work on figures ranging from King Alfred to St.Thomas Aquinas. Boethius, being at once a Christian and a philosopher, was confident that reason and faith were reconcilable, and his entire literary enterprise can be summarised in his own words: fidem rationemque coniunge (show the harmony of reason and faith). An inheritor of the Greek tradition, he held that the world was a KOSMOS -- rationally structured, therefore rationally knowable. What makes the Consolation unique is that although it is a religious text, it doesn't make recourse to revealed religion; in Boethius's case, Christianity. That Boethius sought to answer religious questions without reference to Christianity, relying solely on natural philosophy, caused some later figures to question his religious allegiance prior to his death. But Boethius, as has been pointed out, believed in the harmony of faith and reason; being a Christian-Neoplatonic philosopher, for him to have found solace in philosophy does not imply that he left Christianity. For the truths found in Christianity would be no different than the truths found in philosophy, and whether consolation was found in the religion of Christ or Socrates would make no great difference. In the words of Henry Chadwick, "If the Consolation 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, but is not a Christian work." The Consolation begins with Boethius lamenting his plight. Dame Philosophy descends to provide consolance to his bereaved soul, cure him of the extreme melancholy, and rid him of his misfortune, not that of his imprisonment and loss of worldly goods and status, but the spiritual ailment clouding his intellectual vision. Boethius's troubles, Lady Philosophy tells him, lie within himself. He has been driven into exile by himself. "For if you can remember your true country...'it has one ruler and one king'" and the "oldest law of your true city, [is] that the citizen who has chosen to establish his home there has a sacred right not to be driven away". Dame Philosophy is here referring to his self, the mind. For Boethius, being distracted by external matters, (both the fortunes of his luxurious life and the misfortunes of his political imprisonment), has forgotten his real source of happiness, whose fountain lies within. In short, the Consolation examines the raison d'etre of philosophy, and its capacity to bring about true and complete happiness -- a happiness which can be acquired by unearthing the hidden treasures which dwell within. Hence philosophy is not an end in itself -- a fruitless game of mental acrobatics -- anymore than a shovel is for one in search of Sophia's treasures. Boethius expresses the Socratic idea that all men seek the Good, and the Aristotelian idea that this Good is eudaimonia. The attainment of happiness is found through a return of the soul to its primordial state, since "You, too, who are creatures dream of your origin". By the end of the Consolation, Boethius, remembering who he truly is -- a rational being endowed with a purpose, to actualise the good and fulfil his true nature -- recovers from his spiritual amnesia through a discovery of the remedy for his extreme sickness: philosophy.
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Summary: An excellent book on how to overcome despair!
Review: The Consolation of Philosophy (Penguin Classics) by Boethius, Victor Watts (Translator) is one of the last novels from the antiquity and in a way an introduction to early Christian thought. The idea that plays the most central part in the novel is not theology but the concept that a man/woman can overcome difficult circumstances if they are in the right mindset to do so. Even if I do not entirely agree that this can always work; I do find his courage, whilst he was facing a certain death, to be both admirable and courageous.
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Summary: The Final Document of Classical Antiquity
Review: 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.
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Summary: An Unexpected Surprise.
Review: The Consolation of Philosophy was an unexpected surprise for me. It was on the Syllabus for my Honors class at Franciscan University. The class covers great works of Western Literature in a particular time period. This was one of the last books on the syllabus and I thought that it was going to be a total bore. (I don't like philosophy.) Well, as I started to read it, I couldn't put it down. This is a wonderful book; no wonder it was read by almost everyone in the middle ages.
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Summary: Remains vital after fifteen hundred years
Review: The particular edition I am reviewing is the Oxford World's Classics translation by P. G. Walsh.
This is one of those classics that can catch an unsuspecting reader completely by surprise, especially if one has read many other works by near contemporaries. The circumstances under which it was composed are legendary, and lend the work a legitimacy granted to few other works. Boethius was among the foremost government officials in what was essentially the successor government to the end of the Roman Empire. Rome and much of the rest of what would later become Italy was under the control of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric. A product of one of the leading Roman familes, Boethius ascended to a power of great honor and authority under Theodoric, only to be accused of treason late in the latter's life, at which point Boethius was imprisoned and condemned to death. While awaiting his fate (including whether Theodoric actually intended on carrying out the sentence), Boethius wrote this remarkable dialog between a prisoner whose situation closely resembles Boethius' and Philosophy personified as a woman. Although many topics are discussed, the heart of the dialog is the nature of true happiness.
Although few of its readers are likely to face circumstances as dire as Boethius', the work remains remarkably pertinent in an age where ideals of happiness are dictated almost entirely by our modern consumer society. Philosophy carefully explains to the prisoner that that happiness can never be found in such things as fame or power or riches and other things that are confused with the true source of happiness. For Boethius' Philosophy, happiness is ultimately rooted in the Christian God, but even for non-Christians, the lightly theological tone of the work provides much reflection on the nature of happiness in almost any kind of situation.
The Walsh edition of this work is, in my opinion, the finest readily available edition in English. The notes are marvelous, both providing overviews to each upcoming section as well as providing detailed comments on specific lines in the text. The introduction gives any new reader of the work all the context and background that he or she would need to digest the work. Best of all, the translation is exceptionally readable, and the translations of the many poems far above the average for most academic translations of verse.
I recommend this work strongly to either of two kinds of readers. First, for anyone who is a student of intellectual history the work remains for an understanding of a host of writers in the middle ages, as well as for many 19th century poets. Second, anyone interested in devotional or reflectional works, whether religious or philosophical, this remains one of the most essential works in the history of thought. By almost any standard, this is a work that demands careful reading and study.
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Summary: Relihan's 'Consolation' Should Not Go Unoticed
Review: The Relihan translation emphasizes the philosophical depth of Boethius' Consolation, while faithfully and artfully reproducing the original beauty of his verse and the sublimity of its meaning. With this edition comes a detailed and informative introduction, along with exhaustive notes and a definitive glossary. Joel C. Relihan is one of the leading authorities in Boethian studies; his rendition of the Consolation is one that anyone serious about its study can hardly pass.
Rating:
Summary: Relihan's 'Consolation' Should Not Go Unoticed
Review: The Relihan translation emphasizes the philosophical depth of Boethius' Consolation, while faithfully and artfully reproducing the original beauty of his verse and the sublimity of its meaning. With this edition comes a detailed and informative introduction, along with exhaustive notes and a definitive glossary. Joel C. Relihan is one of the leading authorities in Boethian studies; his rendition of the Consolation is one that anyone serious about its study can hardly pass.
Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to medieval thought
Review: This book is a great way to introduce oneself to medieval philosophy. It is a short book that does not cover some of the heavier issues of this time period, however, it does provide valuable insight into the nature of true happiness, along with some poetry to keep things interesting
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