The Consolation of Philosophy

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Boethius
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Title: The Consolation of Philosophy
Author: Boethius
Release Date: December 11, 2004 [EBook #14328]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY ***
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[Greek:
homôs de kai en toutois dialampei to kalon,
epeidan pherê
tis eukolôs pollas kai megalas
atychias, mê di analgêsian, alla
gennadas
ôn kai megalopsychos.]
Aristotle's 'Ethics,' I., xi. 12.
[Illustration: Diptych representing Narius Manlius Boethius, father of
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius. The inscription in full would run
thus:--
NARIVS MANLIVS BOETHIVS VIR CLARISSIMVS ET
INLVSTRIS
EXPRAEFECTVS PRAETORIO PRAEFECTVS

VRBIS ET
COMES CONSVL ORDINARIVS ET PARTICIVS
(_For description vid. Preface, p. vi_)]
THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY OF BOETHIUS.
Translated into English Prose and Verse
by
H.R. JAMES, M.A., CH. CH. OXFORD.
Quantumlibet igitur sæviant mali, sapienti tamen corona non decidet,
non arescet.
Melioribus animum conformaveris, nihil opus est judice præmium
deferente, tu te ipse excellentioribus addidisti; studium ad pejora
deflexeris, extra ne quæsieris ultorem, tu te ipse in deteriora trusisti.
LONDON:
ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1897.
PREFACE.
The book called 'The Consolation of Philosophy' was throughout the
Middle Ages, and down to the beginnings of the modern epoch in the
sixteenth century, the scholar's familiar companion. Few books have
exercised a wider influence in their time. It has been translated into
every European tongue, and into English nearly a dozen times, from
King Alfred's paraphrase to the translations of Lord Preston, Causton,
Ridpath, and Duncan, in the eighteenth century. The belief that what
once pleased so widely must still have some charm is my excuse for
attempting the present translation. The great work of Boethius, with its
alternate prose and verse, skilfully fitted together like dialogue and
chorus in a Greek play, is unique in literature, and has a pathetic
interest from the time and circumstances of its composition. It ought
not to be forgotten. Those who can go to the original will find their

reward. There may be room also for a new translation in English after
an interval of close on a hundred years.
Some of the editions contain a reproduction of a bust purporting to
represent Boethius. Lord Preston's translation, for example, has such a
portrait, which it refers to an original in marble at Rome. This I have
been unable to trace, and suspect that it is apocryphal. The Hope
Collection at Oxford contains a completely different portrait in a print,
which gives no authority. I have ventured to use as a frontispiece a
reproduction from a plaster-cast in the Ashmolean Museum, taken from
an ivory diptych preserved in the Bibliotheca Quiriniana at Brescia,
which represents Narius Manlius Boethius, the father of the
philosopher. Portraiture of this period is so rare that it seemed that,
failing a likeness of the author himself, this authentic representation of
his father might have interest, as giving the consular dress and insignia
of the time, and also as illustrating the decadence of contemporary art.
The consul wears a richly-embroidered cloak; his right hand holds a
staff surmounted by the Roman eagle, his left the _mappa circensis,_ or
napkin used for starting the races in the circus; at his feet are palms and
bags of money--prizes for the victors in the games. For permission to
use this cast my thanks are due to the authorities of the Ashmolean
Museum, as also to Mr. T.W. Jackson, Curator of the Hope Collection,
who first called my attention to its existence.
I have to thank my brother, Mr. L. James, of Radley College, for much
valuable help and for correcting the proof-sheets of the translation. The
text used is that of Peiper, Leipsic, 1874.
PROEM.
Anicus Manlius Severinus Boethius lived in the last quarter of the fifth
century A.D., and the first quarter of the sixth. He was growing to
manhood, when Theodoric, the famous Ostrogoth, crossed the Alps and
made himself master of Italy. Boethius belonged to an ancient family,
which boasted a connection with the legendary glories of the Republic,
and was still among the foremost in wealth and dignity in the days of
Rome's abasement. His parents dying early, he was brought up by
Symmachus, whom the age agreed to regard as of almost saintly

character, and afterwards became his son-in-law. His varied gifts, aided
by an excellent education, won for him the reputation of the most
accomplished man of his time. He was orator, poet, musician,
philosopher.