infl uence throughout the medieval times on writers such
as Thomas Aquinas, GEOFFREY CHAUCER, Dante, and
GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO. The work has been translated
numerous times and into many languages. Chaucer’s
translation, entitled Boece, used only prose, rather than
alternating prose and poetic forms. Queen ELIZABETH I
also translated The Consolation of Philosophy, perhaps as
an intellectual exercise or possibly to seek her own con-
solation at a diffi cult period in her life. Regardless of the
reasons for the numerous translations and references,
the impact of The Consolation remains beyond question.
BOETHIUS wrote The Consolation of Philosophy while
imprisoned and facing execution for an apparently
unfounded charge of treason against Emperor The-
odoric. The Consolation is prosimetric in style—that is,
it alternates verse and prose—and sets forth a conver-
sation between Boethius and Lady Philosophy con-
cerning the poet’s ill fortune, the problem of evil in the
world, and the existence of free will.
Book 1 begins with a verse in which Boethius
bemoans his current ill fortune and sorrowful state.
Lady Philosophy enters and casts the muses from his
room, indicating that Boethius has “forgotten himself”
but will be able to remember himself again if he is able
to return to wisdom. Lady Philosophy promises to
“remove the obscurity of deceitful affections” so that
Boethius may “behold the splendour of true light.”
In book 2, Lady Philosophy sets forth a critique of
Boethius’s current state of affairs. She concludes that
FORTUNE, which has smiled mightily on Boethius, is
necessarily fl eeting and inconstant. Furthermore, she
states, riches, prosperity, fame, glory, pleasure, and
power are not the source of true happiness.
Book 3 turns to a discussion of true happiness. Lady
Philosophy spends the fi rst half of this book describing
why no “temporal thing” can achieve or even contrib-
ute to true happiness. Perfect goodness and unity are
identical and identifi ed in God, who is perfect good-
ness, unity, and blessedness. Lady Philosophy then
asserts that God cannot do evil and, that being the
case, evil itself is nothing.
The assertion that God cannot do evil brings
Boethius to articulate his “chief sorrow,” which is that
evil appears to both exist and to exist unpunished.
Book 4 focuses on the question of why God permits
evil. In order to address this question, Lady Philosophy
distinguishes between Fate and Providence. Fate is the
changeable and temporal order of things, whereas
Providence is the unmovable and simple form of God’s
understanding. At the end of book 4, Lady Philosophy
concludes that everything that seems evil is in fact
intended to exercise, correct, or punish.
Book 5 begins with Boethius asking whether or not
in the view of Lady Philosophy there is such a thing as
chance. She replies that some actions appear as chance
but are in fact guided by Providence. Boethius then asks
if human beings have free will. Lady Philosophy replies
that those who use reason have judgment, and we are
free to the degree that we are in possession of reason.
Boethius remains unsatisfi ed and asks for a fuller
accounting to reconcile God’s foreknowledge with
human free will. In the end, Lady Philosophy asserts
that foreknowledge is not a necessity from the divine
perspective, as God does not reside in a temporal uni-
verse. In the same manner that a human being may
observe an action and that observation does not “cause”
the action, God exists in a “never fading instant,” a con-
stant present, and thus foresight does not imply neces-
sity and free will exists from a temporal, human
perspective. The Consolation of Philosophy ends with an
exhortation to pursue virtue and avoid evil since we all
live in the sight of a Judge who “beholdeth all things.”
Many commentators have wondered why Boethius,
to all appearances a Christian, would turn to the non-
Christian representation of Lady Philosophy at the end
of his life. Some have found in this fact reason to ques-
tion his religious orientation; others have seen in the
work an attempt to illustrate the compatibility of rea-
son and faith within religion. Still others have argued
that Lady Philosophy fails to respond to Boethius’s
fi nal question about free will, and then provides a weak
consolation to Boethius, implying through silence the
primacy of faith. In the end, The Consolation of Philoso-
phy resists simplistic interpretation, as is perhaps fi t-
ting for a work occupying such a pivotal position
between ancient and medieval times.
FURTHER READING
Chadwick, Henry. Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic,
Theology, and Philosophy. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1981.126 CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY, THE