534 Glossary of Select Sources
Boethius (ca. 480–524) A member of the famous Roman family the Anicii, Boethius
was courted by the Gothic Amal family as an important link to the senatorial aris-
tocracy at Rome. Theoderic advanced Boethius’ public career, although the stages
of this career are a matter of some conjecture. Boethius received the western con-
sulship in 510 and his sons held the consulships of the West and the East in 522,
the year of his appointment as Magister Officiorum. In gratitude Boethius recited
a (non-extant) panegyric addressed to Theoderic. In 523, detractors at Theoderic’s
court accused a senator and ex-consul, Albinus, of treason. Boethius’ attempt to
defend his colleague caused him to fall under suspicion, although various reasons
have been suggested to explain his fall from favour. In any case, Theoderic placed
Boethius under arrest on an estate outside of Pavia, where he was eventually exe-
cuted. Boethius was survived by a lustrous scholarly reputation, earned for his
translation of Greek scientific and philosophical works into Latin (for example, De
arithmetica, De institutione musica, De topicis differentiis, In Porphyrium commen-
taria) and for a number of short theological tracts (Tractates). His lasting reputa-
tion was secured by his authorship of the Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical
dialogue between himself and Philosophia, written during his imprisonment. It is
not known how the Consolation survived his execution, and its transmission during
the 6th century is speculative at best. The brief biographical text known as the Ordo
Cassiodororum compares the literary and public lives of Boethius, his father-in-law
Symmachus (also executed for treason by Theoderic), and Cassiodorus, although
the familial connection between Boethius and Cassiodorus is debated.
Caesarius of Arles (ca. 469/70–542) A Gallo-Roman noble born in Burgundian
Chalon-sur-Saône, monk of Lérins, abbot of Arles, and bishop of Arles from 502
until his death, he was an active promoter of Christianization and reform in Gaul
and was deeply committed to preaching and an ascetic ideal. As bishop he revised
the monastic rule for the monks under his charge (Regula ad monachos) and later
founded the city’s first convent, for whose nuns he composed another rule (Regula
ad virgines). More than 250 of his sermons survive and provide evidence for the
style and content of his preaching, which were heavily influenced by Augustine.
He presided over five church councils, whose canons are extant: Agde (506), Arles
(524), Carpentras (527), Vaison (529), and Orange (529). Following the Ostrogothic
annexation of Provence in 508/11, he was sent to Ravenna under guard but exoner-
ated by Theoderic. Shortly thereafter, Pope Symmachus granted him the pallium,
confirming Arles’ metropolitan status in 513; later, he was made papal vicar to Gaul
and Spain and developed close ties with the Ostrogothic praetorian prefect of Gaul,
Liberius. A handful of letters exchanged between Caesarius and his peers survive;
so, too, does his testament, which sought to endow and protect the convent he
founded. His Vita, finally, was written shortly after his death by five close associates.
Taken as a whole, the Caesarian corpus provides invaluable insight into the social