Intellectual Culture And Literary Practices 331
Boethius, who focused on philosophy to a stronger degree than his con-
temporaries in the Latin West, followed the Neoplatonic tradition in defining
philosophy as “the love and zealous study of and a kind of friendship with wis-
dom”, the highest wisdom which is “the living mind and the only primaeval
reason of all things”. Thus, he continued, “the study of wisdom is the study
of divinity and friendship with that pure mind”.66 Boethius also discussed the
division of philosophy into two branches, theoretical and practical, which ulti-
mately went back to Aristotle and had long been adopted in classical thought.
The theoretical, or speculative, branch was in its turn divided into naturalis
(which considered the forms of bodies, their motion, and their constituent
matter), mathematica (which investigated forms apart from matter), and theo-
logica (which discussed the divine substance that lacked matter or motion).67
Practical philosophy, also divided into three parts, considered moral issues,
from personal to political to domestic. Thus philosophy was to provide guid-
ance not only in the intellectual but also in the practical sphere; a vir philo-
sophicus such as Symmachus in Cassiodorus’ portrayal possessed wisdom and
moral perfection, while also actively participating in the affairs of the state.68
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (ca. 475/7–ca. 525/6) shared moral,
political, and intellectual ideas of his circle.69 Born into a distinguished sen-
atorial family, Boethius lost his father at a young age and was raised in the
household of Symmachus, whose daughter he later married. Like Symmachus,
he seems to have kept his distance from the king and from serious involve-
ment in political life until 522, the year in which his sons became consuls.
During the celebration of that occasion, Boethius delivered a panegyric in
honour of Theoderic (the text has not survived) and soon after that assumed
the senior administrative post of the magister officiorum. Boethius’ fall from
have addressed the role of Neoplatonism in late antiquity; for recent surveys see Cameron,
“Education and Literary Culture”, pp. 680–2; Sheppard, “Philosophy”.
66 Boethius, Commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge 1.3, p. 7: Est enim philosophia amor et
studium et amicitia quodammodo sapientiae, sapientiae vero non huius, quae in artibus
quibusdam et in aliqua fabrili scientia notitiaquae versatur, sed illius sapientiae, quae
nullius indigens, vivax mens et sola rerum primaeva ratio est. Est autem hic amor sapi-
entiae intelligentis animi ab illa pura sapientia inluminatio et quodammodo ad se ipsam
retractio atque advocatio, ut videatur studium sapientiae studium divinitatis et purae
mentis illius amicitia.
67 Boethius, De trinitate 2, p. 8.
68 On the influence of Neoplatonic ideas on sixth-century bureaucratic culture see Bjornlie,
Politics, pp. 53–9.
69 Chadwick, Boethius, especially pp. 1–56; Kirkby, “Scholar and His Public”, pp. 57–9;
Moorhead, “Boethius’ Life”, especially p. 31.