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majestic woman appears to him and he recognizes her as Philosophy, his one-
time teacher. Philosophy reproaches him for his state of despair, which to her
indicates that he had forgotten who he truly is. Having diagnosed his spiritual
illness, Philosophy offers her cure: like a patient teacher, she gradually leads
the prisoner to a deeper understanding of his own mind. She helps him return
to the realm of philosophical pursuits, discussing the nature of fortune and
happiness, the love that binds the universe together, the paths leading to God,
good and evil, divine prescience, and free will.
Drawing on various literary and philosophical traditions, Boethius created
a unique and complex text that invites multiple critical approaches, from
defining its genre to identifying its sources and understanding the nature and
purpose of its argumentation.86 Written in alternating segments of prose and
verse in the manner of a Menippean satire, Consolation is also a philosophical
dialogue, and its title, if not its contents, goes back to the classical genre of
consolatory literature.87 Reflecting literary tastes of his time, Boethius wrote
Consolation in an elaborate Latin, rich with allusions to classical poets such
as Virgil and Ovid. He also followed rhetorical principles of composition, evi-
dent in the structure of the entire work and in its constituent parts. The philo-
sophical themes that Boethius developed in Consolation can be traced back to
multiple sources and schools of thought, including Stoic and Aristotelian, but
the Platonic worldview forms the main core. Following Neoplatonic ideas and
images, Boethius described the universe, the central place of the One or the
Good in it, and the way in which the human mind can ascend to the divine. In
the poem that occupies a central position in the ordered structure of the work,
reminiscent of Neoplatonic hymns on cosmic theology, Boethius addressed
the supreme being who had created all things, from the earth and the heavens
to the human soul, and to whom all things eventually returned: “Grant to the
mind, Father, that it may rise to your holy foundations; Grant it may ring round
the source of the Good, may discover the true light.”88
The Neoplatonic language and imagery of the Consolation contained noth-
ing that would be incompatible with late antique Christian thought. Boethius’
last work, however, lacks specifically Christian references or discussions, apart
86 Compare interpretations in Chadwick, Boethius, pp. 223–47; Marenbon, Boethius,
pp. 96–163; Relihan, Prisoner’s Philosophy.
87 For the sources and genre see discussion in Gruber, Kommentar zu Boethius; also
Chadwick, Boethius, pp. 223–4.
88 Boethius, Consolatio 3, metre 9, trans. p. 72: “Da, pater, augustam menti conscendere
sedem/ da fontem lustrare boni, da luce reperta/ in te conspicuos animi defigere uisus.”
See also Gruber, Kommentar zu Boethius, pp. 275–6; Chadwick, Boethius, pp. 234–5.