Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus

Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (c.475–525), was born at Rome and was consul in 510, in favour with the Goth Theodoric the Great who ruled over the city; but he incurred the suspicion of plotting against Gothic rule, was imprisoned and finally cruelly executed in 525 at Pavia. In prison he wrote the De Consolatione Philosophiae, his most celebrated work, which was translated into English in the 890s by Alfred and in almost every generation up to the 18th cent. notably by Chaucer (as Boece) and by Elizabeth I into florid, inkhorn language. It was translated into French by Jean de Meun, and was one of the most influential books of the Middle Ages. It is now generally believed that he was a Christian, though this is rarely explicit in the Consolation whose philosophy is broadly Neoplatonic. Its form is ‘Menippean Satire’, i.e. alternating prose and verse. The verse often consists of a story told by Ovid or Horace, used to illustrate the philosophy being expounded. The influence of the book is found everywhere in the work of Chaucer and his 15th-cent. followers. Before the Middle Ages, Boethius was of most importance for his translations of and commentaries on Aristotle which provided the main part of what was known of Aristotle before the recovery of most of his writings from Arabic scholars in the 12th cent.