Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Danielle Malloy
Saint Xavier University
Echoes of the Master:
Boethius’ Influence on Medieval Voices from King Alfred to Chaucer
Introduction
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly referred to as Boethius, was born in the fifth
century and wrote the majority of his philosophical texts in the sixth century. Boethius had an eventful life
in Rome; he married the daughter of Symmachus, a powerful consul and devoted Christian who, like
Boethius, was quite concerned with traditional literary culture. Boethius’ adoption into Symmachus’ family
granted Boethius aristocratic status, and he was eventually made Master of Offices, a position in which he
acted as the intermediary between King Theoderic of Rome and all those who sought access to him. But he
eventually made enemies when he strongly and vocally opposed corruption in the Roman court. This
vociferous intolerance of corruption eventually resulted in his unjust arrest on false accusations of treason
and sacrilege, and it is during his imprisonment when he wrote his most famous treatise, The Consolation of
Philosophy.
The Consolation centers around a fictitious “Boethius” and his weighty philosophical discussions with
Lady Philosophy, who acts as a kind of mentor to the protagonist throughout the text, holding forth to him
at length the transience of life, predestination, free will, the futility of earthly goods or wealth, and the
search for the true good through God’s guidance. While Boethius was a Christian, his text does not serve as
an explicitly Christian treatise but rather a more secular philosophical guide to its readers. While Boethius
is considered the last of the classical scholars, it was, in fact, the medieval era when Boethius’ authority was
most respected and revered.
77