BOETHIUS

Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius, philosopher and statesman; b. Rome, c. 480; d. near Pavia, c. 524. Educated in Athens and Alexandria, Boethius has been called a founder of the Middle Ages because of his lasting influence on the formation of medieval thought. His father was a consul in 487 under the Arian king of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric the Great (475–526), and in 510 he himself held the consulship. Accused of treason, Boethius was later imprisoned and put to death. During his long imprisonment, he wrote the Consolation of Philosophy, a work read by every educated man for more than 1,000 years. In it he describes the pursuit of wisdom and the love of God as the true source of human happiness.

Works. While one of his students, cassiodorus (c. 485– c. 580), employed the translator Epiphanius to make the Greek Fathers available to Latin readers, Boethius planned to translate into Latin the entire body of writings by Aristotle and Plato and to show their basic agreement in philosophy. It seems that only a small part of this farsighted project was carried out, however. Still extant is his translation (510) of Aristotle's De Interpretatione, which he explains in two commentaries, one for beginners (511) and one for more advanced students of logic (513). Also still in existence is his translation of Aristotle's Categories with a commentary written in 510. Before 505 he had already composed a commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge, translated by marius victorinus. Later (509) he decided to make his own translation of the Isagoge and comment on it (509–510). He mentions a translation of Aristotle's Topics and Prior Analytics (Patrologia Latina. 64: 1173C; 1216D; 1184D), perhaps still extant in MS Oxford, Trin. Coll. 47 (Topics ) and MSS Chartres 497–498 (excerpts from the Analytics ). The translations of Aristotle's two Analytics, his Topics and Elenchi, published under Boethius's name (Patrologia Latina. 64:639–762; 909–1040), date back to James of Venice (c. 1128).

Between 513 and 515, he wrote a commentary on Cicero's Topics, part of which is lost (Patrologia Latina. 64:1039–1174). In addition, Boethius wrote An Introduction to Categorical Syllogisms (Patrologia Latina. 64:761–94), two books each On the Categorical Syllogism (Patrologia Latina. 64:793–832) and, in 514, On the Hypothetical Syllogism (Patrologia Latina. 64:831–876).

While the book entitled De divisione (Patrologia La-tina. 64: 875–92) is authentic, the De definitione, attributed

"Boethius and Philosophy Personified." (Bettman/CORBIS)

to him (Patrologia Latina. 64:891–910) is the work of Marius Victorinus. Also spurious are the attributions to Boethius of the De unitate et Uno (Patrologia Latina. 63:1075–78), written by dominic gundisalvi, and of the De disciplina scholarium (Patrologia Latina. 64: 1223–38), whose unknown author lived in the 13th century. It is believed that about 520 Boethius composed the Theological Tractates, known as Opuscula sacra, which were to establish him as a theological authority almost equal to St. Augustine in questions concerning the Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation.

Teaching. Boethius's literary activities began in the field of logic, which is a necessary tool for all the sciences, especially philosophy. The famous definition of philosophy as "love of wisdom," found in his first commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge, is interpreted by him as the quest for God, the root of all being and knowledge (Patrologia Latina. 64:10D–11A).

Division of Philosophy. Boethius divides philosophy into two kinds: practical and speculative (or theoretical). Practical philosophy is subdivided into three parts: ethics, which teaches man as an individual how to direct his moral actions; politics, which teaches how the state is to be governed in accordance with the four cardinal virtues; and economics, which concerns the proper conduct of family life (Patrologia Latina. 64:11D–12A). Speculative philosophy is likewise subdivided into three parts: natural philosophy, also called physiology, which studies the nature of physical bodies as they exist in reality; mathematics, which deals with the forms of physical bodies by way of abstraction from matter and motion; and theology, which studies forms existing without matter and motion, such as God and souls (Patrologia Latina. 64: 11B–C). Natural philosophy deals with objects as presented by the senses. Mathematics studies the many forms abstracted by the intellect from such objects, to distinguish between the various forms that cause a physical body to be quantitative (large, small) or qualitative (red, warm, soft, etc.). Theology rises above these material objects and contemplates God as the immaterial Form that is the source of all other being,"for everything owes its being (esse ) to Form" (De Trin. 2).

Liberal Arts. To the people living during the Middle Ages, Boethius transmitted the Roman concept of education comprised of the seven liberal arts known as the trivium (logic, grammar, rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music), the "quadruple road to wisdom". He himself wrote On Arithmetic (Patrologia Latina. 63:1079–1168) and On Music (Patrologia Latina. 63:1167–1300), though not the two works titled On Geometry that have been attributed to him (Patrologia Latina. 63:1307–52 and 1352–64).

Universals. The Middle Ages inherited from Boethius a keen interest in the problem of universals. In his endeavor to reconcile aristotelianism and platonism, he dealt at length with general ideas, or universals, as discussed in logic by porphyry. His blending of the two different conceptions accounts for the confusion reflected in the divergent interpretations that divided medieval scholars from the days of abelard. Boethius himself leaned toward Plato; the question whether universals are real or simply conceptions of the mind he answered in the sense that universals (genus, species) are not only conceived separately from bodies, but also exist outside of them.

This view is based on the nature of being as under-stood by Boethius. Each thing owes its being to a number of forms that determine it to be the kind of thing it is. God is the Supreme Form, a pure form without matter. Lacking all composition, He is absolutely one. Creatures, on the other hand, are composed of parts or of a plurality of forms. An individual thing is a substance because it underlies accidents. If such a substance is of a rational nature, it is called a person. A substance becomes a substance by means of a subsistence, a term applicable to all created substantial forms. Numerical difference is the result of a variety of accidents.

Theology. It used to be disputed widely whether or not Boethius was a Christian. The fact that he has been venerated as a Christian martyr at Pavia was officially recognized by Rome in 1883. Doubts were raised in view of the apparent absence of specifically Christian teaching in his most popular and final work, Consolatio philosophiae. It is, however, generally admitted that toward the end of his life Boethius turned his attention to theology and produced then the Opuscula sacra. He tells us that before writing his first tract, De Trinitate, he had studied the writings of Augustine and that he deliberately adopted "new and unaccustomed words" in the exposition of the mystery. Characteristic of his thoroughness is the analysis of the Aristotelian categories and the statement: "But when these categories are applied to God they change their meaning entirely" (De Trinitate. 4). The explanation culminates in the summary conclusion: "So then, the category of substance preserves the Unity, that of relation brings about the Trinity" (De Trinitate. 6). Boethius addressed this work to his father-in-law and former consul Quintus Aurelius symmachus.

To John the Deacon he addressed a shorter tract on the Trinity and a treatise against Eutyches and Nestorius, often called the Liber de persona et duabus naturis, in which he clarifies the various meanings of the term nature and defines person as "an individual substance of a rational nature" (C. Eutych. 3).

More philosophical than these tracts is his brief exposition generally known as De hebdomadibus. In it, the conclusion is reached that the being of all existing things is good because God, who gave them being, is good. Boethius answers the objection that by parity of reason all things ought to be just because God, who willed them to be, is just, by saying that to be good involves being, while to be just involves an act. In God, being and action are identical, but they are not identical in creatures.

There is no general consensus concerning the authenticity of the tract entitled De fide catholica; most historians, however, hold that Boethius wrote it. The tract summarizes such doctrines as that of the Trinity and rejects the tenets of Arius, the Sabellians, and the Manichaeans. Speaking of the Church, the author declares, "This Catholic Church spread throughout the world is known by three particular marks: whatever is believed and taught in it has the authority of the Scriptures, or of universal tradition, or of local and more restricted Regulation" (De fide, Patrologia Latina. 64:1338A). He teaches that all corruptible things shall pass away, that men shall rise for future judgment, that each shall receive reward according to his deserts, and that the reward of bliss will be the contemplation of the Creator. The author finally speaks of the heavenly city "where the Virgin's Son is King and where will be neverending joy, delight, food, achievement, and unending praise of the Creator" (ibid. 1338B).

Influence. The doctrinal influence of Boethius reached its peak in the 12th century in the commentaries written by scholars of the school of Chartres. But only one of them, gilbert de la porrÉe, wrote commentaries on all four opuscula sacra (1, 2, 3, 5) generally accepted as authentic. thierry of chartres and his disciple, clarenbaud of arras, are known to have commented on the first and third Tractates. Clarenbaud openly accuses both Abelard and Gilbert of erroneous doctrines based on their misunderstanding of Boethius. The earliest commentary on the first Tractate was written by the Carolingian philosopher remigius of auxerre. Many marginal and interlinear glosses are still found in the libraries of Europe. In the 13th century St. thomas aquinas commented on the first Tractate.

The Tractates were first translated into English in 1926 by H. F. Stewart. However, translations of the Consolation have a much longer history: King Alfred the Great (849–899) translated it into Anglo-Saxon; Notker Labeo (c. 950–1022) made the first German translation; the Greek monk Maximos Planudes (1260–1310) translated it into Greek; and the French rendition by Jean (Clopinel) de Meung (c. 1240–c. 1305) is well known. While in prison, Albert of Florence (floruit 1323–32) wrote an outstanding Italian translation, Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400) translated it between 1372 and 1386, and even Elizabeth, Queen of England (1533–1603), translated what the English historian Edward Gibbon (1737–94) called "a golden volume, not unworthy of the leisure of Plato or of Tully." The English translation in vogue at present dates back to the 17th century. Only the initials (I.T.) of the translator's name are known.

See Also: scholasticism, 1.

Bibliography: A list of editions is found in e. dekkers and a. gaar, Sacris eruditi 3 (1951) 153–156. e. dekkers, ed. Clavis Patrium latinorum (Steenbrugge 1961) 196–198. f. l. cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (London 1957), 181–182. Studies and Bibliographies. É. h. gilson, History of Christian Pilosophy in the Middle Ages (New York 1955). a. a. maurer, Medieval Philosophy, v.2 of A History of Philosophy, ed. É. h. gilson, 4 v. (New York 1962–). Copleston 2:101–104. d. knowles, The Evolution of Medieval Thought (Baltimore 1962). h. r. patch, The Tradition of Boethius (New York 1935). h. m. barrett, Boethius: Some Aspects of His Time and Works (Cambridge, Eng. 1940). p. godet, Dictionnaire de théologie catholoque. 2.1:918–922. m. cappuyns, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 9:348–380. p. courcelle, Les Lettres grecques… à Cassiodore (rev. ed. Paris 1948); "Étude critique sur les commentaires de la Consolation de Boèce," Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen–âge 14 (1939) 5–140. j. p. minge, ed. Patrologia Latina. (Paris 1878–90).

[n. m. haring]