de consolatione philosophiae
A little different this week - we’ll be looking at an early medieval polymath and one of his works, which Gibbons describes as “a golden volume not unworthy of the leisure of Plato or Tully, but which claims incomparable merit from the barbarism of the times and the situation of the author”. For similar posts, subscribe to free for my new blog about language below. 👇
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480–524 AD), born just four years after the fall of the Roman empire, was a politician, historian, and philosopher. Late in his life, he advised Theodoric the Amal (king of the Ostrogoths). Boethius also translated classical Greek texts (e.g. Aristotle), and analysed earlier Latin works (e.g. Cicero). Ultimately, Boethius was imprisoned by Theodoric and executed, although little evidence suggests he committed a crime. He has since been acknowledged as a Christian martyr, with a feast day on 23 October. While held in prison, Boethius wrote De Consolatione Philophiae (“on the consolation of philosophy”), a much-studied work.12
De Consolatione Philophiae features an extended discussion between Boethius the prisoner and Philosophy personified as a woman. Initially, Boethius is presented perplexed by his misfortune, but Philosophy tries to explain how he can still attain happiness. She argues, for example, that Boethius has merely lost worldy possessions (which are subject to chance, ephemeral, and worth little) but his virtue/wisdom/etc. remain intact. The work goes on to explore topics such as evil, fate and justice.
Below is a well-known extract from Book II, Song VII of De Consolatione Philophiae:
Vbi nunc fidelis ossa Fabricii manent,
Quid Brutus aut rigidus Cato?
Signat superstes fama tenuis pauculis
Inane nomen litteris.
Sed quod decora nouimus uocabula,
Num scire consumptos datur?
Iacetis ergo prorsus ignorabiles
Nec fama notos efficit.
Quod si putatis longius uitam trahi
Mortalis aura nominis,
Cum sera uobis rapiet hoc etiam dies,
Iam uos secunda mors manet.Where are Fabricius's bones, that honourable man? What now is Brutus? or unbending Cato? Their fame survives in this: it has no more than a few slight letters shewing forth an empty name. We see their noble names engraved, and only know thereby that they are brought to naught. Ye lie then all unknown, and fame can give no knowledge of you. But if you think that life can be prolonged by the breath of mortal fame, yet when the slow time robs you of this too, then there awaits you but a second death. - trans. CooperThe opening rhetorical questions of this extract are interesting: in medieval literature we see poems similarly asking about those lost to time, reflecting on life’s ephemerality.3 This literary motif is commonly referred to as “ubi sunt”, from the phrase ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt? (“where are those who came before us?”).4 Compare with e.g. De Brevitate Vitae (Latin), The Wanderer (Old English), Ballade des dames du temps jadis (French), or even modern texts e.g. Shakespeare’s Alas, poor Yorick! speech, Tolkien’s Lament of the Rohirrim song. For me, it’s so interesting to pick out one linguistic detail and explore intertextual similarities, and De Consolatione Philophiae, a fascinating work in content alone, proves especially fruitful for such an endeavour.
image credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (Cambridge, University Library Ii.3.12, fol. 61v, inset)