BOETHIUS, Anicius Manlius Severinus, a philosopher, was the son of Flavius Manlius Boethius, who held the consulship in 487. The fancy of Bertius, one of his editors, has prefixed the prænomen of Flavius to the philosopher's name, and the earlier editions inserted Torquatus into it on worthless authority. The exact date of his birth has been disputed, some assigning it to about 455, and others to about 475. The latter is the true one. For he tells us himself (De Consol. Phil. I. carm. 1, 9), that his exile brought on him premature grey hairs, and, as he was beheaded about the year 524, the statement would be absurd of a man of seventy. At an early period he lost his father, but some of the chief men in Rome took charge of the youth, and thus he had the benefit of a thorough education. He was a great student of mathematics and music, but his time was principally devoted to the study of Greek philosophy. Some authors indeed state that he went to Athens to prosecute his studies, but this is a mistake, arising from a misinterpretation, or rather an incorrect reading of a passage in Cassiodorus (Var. Ep. I., 45), which, correctly read, states exactly the reverse. He tells us himself that he had civil honours heaped upon him, that he was blessed with a chaste wife, and that he had the rare felicity of seeing his two sons proceed from his house as consuls amid a concourse of senators, of acting as public orator of the king's praises, while they occupied their curule chairs, and of showering down on the multitude a triumphal largess, as he sat in the circus between the two consuls. (De Consol. Phil. II. 3.) The name of his wife was Rusticiana. She was his only wife, though later traditions speak of Elpis, the authoress of a hymn (Daniel. Thes. Hymn. I., p. 156), as having been married to him. His two sons were called Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius and Q. Aurelius Memmius Symmachus. Boethius was not destined to enjoy uninterrupted prosperity. His very goodness seems to have brought upon him earthly misfortunes—we cannot say misery, for he was as happy in his disgrace as when fortune lavished her smiles upon him. Before he had been created consul, he had gained the friendship of Theodoric, king of the Goths, and through his assistance he had performed many important services to the state, especially in reforming the coinage, and preventing the people of Campania from being exposed to famine. He showed himself also a friend of the oppressed, and was often the means of liberating men who were accused for base purposes by informers of the court, though perfectly innocent. His active benevolence brought upon him the hatred of the courtiers, and so on the first opportunity that presented itself, he fell a victim to their malice. The informers against him were three scoundrels, one of whom, Basilius, had been discharged the royal service, and now thought to clear off some debt by informing against Boethius; while the other two, Opilio and Gaudentius, had been sentenced to banishment on account of innumerable frauds, but on the very day on which they were to have left, conceived the project of prolonging their stay by discovering a plot against the king. Boethius was accused of wishing to restore liberty to the Romans and their old rights to the senate, and he was said for this purpose to have sent a letter to the Emperor Justinus. Boethius expressly affirms that this letter was a forgery. (De Cons. Phil. I., 4.) Theodoric confined Boethius and his son Symmachus in the prison at Ticinum without granting them a hearing. It was in this prison that Boethius wrote his famous work, "De Consolatione Philosophiæ." His property was confiscated, and several years after he and his son were beheaded. His noble wife, Rusticiana, was reduced to such straits that she had to beg her daily bread. (Procop. Goth. III., 20.) The Roman catholic church subsequently canonized Boethius, and the story was current that the philosopher had been beheaded in consequence of his opposition to Arianism, and had given a decided proof of his Roman catholic saintship by holding up with both his hands his head, after it had been torn off by a royal javelin-thrower.
Boethius translated very many Greek works, and commented on them. He tells us himself that it was his wish to translate the whole of Aristotle's works, and to attempt the reconciliation of Aristotle's philosophy with that of Plato. He did not accomplish his design. He translated only Aristotle's Analytica priora et posteriora, and Aristotle's Topica and Elencha Sophistica; and wrote commentaries on the Isagoge of Porphyrius, on Aristotle's Categoriæ, on Aristotle's book περὶ ἑρμηνείας, on the Topica of Cicero, and also a commentary on the Topica of Aristotle, though this last has not come down to us. Besides this, he wrote "Introductio ad Categoricos Syllogismos," in one book; "De Syllogismis Hypotheticis," in two books; "De Definitione," in one book; "De Divisione," in one book; "De Differentiis Topicis," in four books; "De Arithmetica," in two books; "De Musica," in five books; "De Consolatione Philosophiæ," in five books. He also translated Nicomachus on Arithmetic, Pythagoras on Music, Euclid on Geometry, Ptolemy on Astronomy, and the Mechanics of Archimedes. Even this is not a complete list of the works ascribed to him by his contemporaries. The writers of the middle ages ascribed to him a vast number in addition to these. The works De Unitate et Uno and De Hebdomadibus have been generally assigned to him, though most probably they are not his. Four theological works have also been attributed to him—De Sancta Trinitate; Utrum Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus substantialiter prædicantur; De Duabus Naturis in Christo contra Eutychen et Nestorium; Complexio brevis Christianæ fidei.
His work "On the Consolation of Philosophy" is by far the most remarkable of his productions. It consists of five books. He sets out with lamenting the wretched fortune that sent him into exile, when a woman of dignified aspect, with clear and burning eyes and fresh colour, appears to him and holds conversations with him. This woman is Philosophy. She discusses the nature of his grief; shows that there is no real cause for it, by exhibiting the fleeting nature of earthly possessions and joys; and then points him to the source of true happiness. Finding in God the highest good, she proves that only the wicked are really unhappy; and she answers the doubts and difficulties which suggest themselves to him by discussing the true nature of providence and fate; and she ends with unfolding to him what is implied by the word chance and by freedom of the will. The book is written with great clearness and beauty, and the interest of it rises, like that of a great poem, till in the fifth book, the solution of the questions connected with free-will draws out the highest powers of the author, and charms, if it does not satisfy, the student of metaphysics. The structure of the book is peculiar, being half poetry half prose, the poetry generally being the poetical expression of what has been discussed in prose.
[His work on music is the most complete account extant of the ancient musical system. It contains extracts from several authors of important authority, whose writings are wholly lost, and, besides valuable deductions from these, extensive original views of Boethius himself. It maintains the principles of Pythagoras in opposition to those of Aristoxenus, referring the determination of ratios entirely to calculation, the effort of reason, which is infallible, rather than to hearing, the effort of sense, which may fail. It demonstrates, in the beautiful spirit of the old philosophy, the moral influence of music, which modern experience fully verifies. The most perfect MS. of this interesting treatise, is said to be in the Bodleian library, by which the edition of Meibomius was corrected. So great was the esteem in which, until a little more than a century since, the opinions of Boethius upon music were held, that the granting of degrees in this faculty at Oxford and Cambridge, depended upon the candidate's acquaintance with them; and, at the latter, an essay on his writings was the only necessary exercise for a doctor's diploma; he is, on this account, justly supposed to have retarded the progress of the art, his influence having occasioned it to be estimated solely by mathematical principles, long after its liberal exercise as an embodiment of passionate impulse had changed its character from an abstract theory to a living art.—G. A. M.]
The best edition of the complete works of Boethius is said to be that published at Basel, 1570. The "Consolation of Philosophy" was very frequently edited in the middle ages; indeed its influence was most powerful, and it was a favourite with almost all the great minds of those days. Dante praises Boethius; Asser wrote commentaries on the work. Alfred the Great translated it into Anglo-Saxon, and interpolated it with reflections of his own. It was also translated into Greek, and into the French and German of the middle ages. It was also frequently imitated, the imitation most worthy of note being that of Chaucer in his Testament of Love. The recent editions are that of Valpy in his Delphin Classics, London, 1823, Nos. 54 and 55 of the series; and that of Theodorus Obbarius, Jena, 1843. The latter is the only edition supplied with a critical apparatus. Prefixed are Prolegomena, consisting of three admirable chapters—one on the life of Boethius, another on his religion and philosophy, and the third on the editions and
