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Boethius, d. 524; Boethius, d. 524. De consolatione philosophiae; Late Antique History; Medieval Philosophy; Happiness; Latin Literature; Vernacular Translations; Scholasticism; Medieval Science

Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr, Ph.D. (1985) in comparative literature, Vanderbilt University, is Professor of English, at Troy University. He has published extensively on Boethius, including The Medieval Consolation of Philosophy (1992), John Bracegirdle's Psychopharmacon (1999), New Directions in Boethian Studies (2007), and The Consolation of Queen Elizabeth I (2009). He is co-editor of Carmina Philosophiae and Executive Director of the International Boethius Society. Philip Edward Phillips, Ph.D. (1996) in English, Vanderbilt University, is Interim Associate Dean of the University Honors College and Professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of John Milton's Epic Invocations (2000) and the coeditor of New Directions in Boethian Studies (2007) and The Consolation of Queen Elizabeth I (2009). He is co-editor of Carmina Philosophiae and Secretary of the International Boethius Society.

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xv
Notes on Contributors	p. xix
Introduction: The Times, Life, and Work of Boethius	p. 1
Boethius's Astronomy and Cosmology	p. 47
The Latin Commentaries on Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae from the 9th to the 11th Centuries	p. 75
Boethius's De institutione arithmetica and its Influence on Posterity	p. 135
Boethius's Influence on Theology and Metaphysics to c.1500	p. 163
Boethius's Works on Logic in the Middle Ages	p. 193
Boethius's Influence in Anglo-Saxon England: The Vernacular and the De consolatione philosophiae	p. 221
Boethius's Influence on German Literature to c.1500	p. 255
Boethius in Medieval France: Translations of the De consolatione philosophiae and Literary Influence	p. 319
Readers and Interpreters of the Consolatio in Italy, 1300-1550	p. 357
Making the Consolatio in Middle English	p. 413
The Enduring Legacy of Boethian Harmony	p. 447
The Quadrtvium and the Decline of Boethian Influence	p. 479
Afterword: Boethius in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages	p. 519
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius: A Chronology and Selected Annotated Bibliography	p. 551
Index of Manuscripts Cited	p. 591
Index	p. 596
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PREFACEAnicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was a scholar and political figure in Italy during the late 5th and early 6th centuries. It is of Boethius the scholar, of his scholarship, and primarily of the influence of Boethius's scholarly work that the contributors to this volume have written. That influence, although extensive for a millennium, has declined during the last five centuries, and it is studied today primarily by historians of the period in which Boethius lived and in the disciplines he once defined by the books that comprise his intellectual legacy. His work of principal interest today, of course, is his final statement to the world, his De consolatione philosophiae. Among the lost works, a geometry (fragments of which seem to survive today) and an astronomy (now lost) are attested. We no longer possess these two translations, or Latin adaptations, if indeed they were produced and circulated for general audiences. We do, however, retain the Greek originals from which, we presume, Boethius worked: Euclid's Elements, Ptolemy's Almagest, and certain other resources he may have consulted. We possess Boethius's De arithmetica and a fragmentary De musica, which represent for readers today his dedicated interest in the disciplines of the quadriviumthe four mathematical sciences of his time. We also possess his translations and commentaries on logic, which represent for readers today the focus of his systematic interest in the triviumthe three basic language-arts courses of study in the period. Apart from Boethius's Latin textbooks on Greek knowledge, we possess five theological texts, which seem to have served a more limited audience. Then, most prominently, there is the Consolatio.THE FOCUS OF THIS VOLUMESpeaking in the Consolatio to Lady Philosophy concerning the dismal environment of the prison cell of his confinement near the end of his life, Boethius asks, both ironically and sardonically:Do you not recognize the library, which you once chose for yourself as a secure dwelling-place in my housethe very room in which you used often to sit with me discoursing on the knowledge of all things human and divine? Was this how I looked, was this my expression, when I used to seek out with you the secrets of Nature? When with your rod you drew for me the paths of the stars? When you shaped my character and the whole manner of my life according to celestial models?1 (1p4)In these most unfortunate circumstances, Boethius recalls his earlier, more fortunate situationsequestered in his library with his books.Later, to Lady Philosophy's question, [...] what is a man? Boethius-the-prisoner responds: Are you asking me if I know that I am a mortal, rational animal? I do know that, and admit to being such (1p6; emphasis added).2 Boethius, therefore, perceives the universe not only through sense data and images but also through reason3 (5p4 and 5p5). Nature for Boethius was neither the mystical and verdant realm, uncontaminated by civilization, sung about by the Romantics of the late 18th century, nor the physical realm of flora and fauna, seemingly timeless in its origin, studied by the scientists of the 19th century. It was a mathematical realm to be apprehended abstractly, by reason, and understood through mathematical and musical proportions. Boethius was neither a naturalist nor a biologist. He inhabited his well-apportioned library, and he invited into that private space those compatible associates who shared his intellectual interests. He was a human (a mortal, rational) thinker who was aware of the epistemological chain from the mollusks to the quadrupeds below him, but who also could contemplate the divine understanding that he assumed to occupy an epistemological level above him.The chapters in this volume do not dwell upon Boethius's lost works, whichas evidenced by significant passages in the Consolatiomight reveal important dimensions of his mind and learning. Such a study would require speculation upon circumstantial evidence, which is beyond the scope of this book. The chapters presented here focus upon the Boethian works that exist today and, as stated above, the influence that those works have exerted through the centuries. The chapters examine the center of Boethian thought, the hub of its wheel, and the effects that Boethian thought has exercised upon the learning of later generations of scholarsincluding, to a degree, even scholars of the 21st century. In most cases, the titles of the chapters are descriptive of their content.THE CHAPTERSIntroduction: The Times, Life, and Works of Boethius (Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr.) provides a general summary of scholarship that places Boethius in the context of his historical period. The events that define the age in which Boethius lived and that influenced his writings are discussed under various rubrics (Life versus Legend, Boethius and Theodoric, Religious Divisions within the Late Empire, etc.), and the numerous notes provided on the material presented should lead scholars to further information on topics of their particular concern.Boethius's Astronomy and Cosmology (Stephen C. McCluskey) provides an introduction to one of the more fascinating aspects of Boethius's thought: his remarkable attempt, sustained throughout his highly productive intellectual life, to synthesize a unified understanding of the universe and of his place within it. The chapter examines the sources that Boethius would have consulted as well as the cosmology that he constructed out of those sources. It concludes that, in spite of the loss of texts, it is quite clear that Boethius's works contributed greatly to the transmission of important cosmological principles to his successors and thereby laid the foundations for subsequent developments in astronomy and cosmology.The Latin Commentaries on Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae from the 9th to the 11th Centuries (Rosalind C. Love) focuses very precisely upon the manuscripts dateable from the period up to around the year 1100 which transmit commentary and glosses on the Consolation in Latin. Particularly useful is a listing and partial description of all manuscripts in which comment upon the Latin text is found. The chapter defines the meaning of the word commentary as it applies to the Consolatio, lists the manuscripts in which annotations occur, and examines the origin and development of the annotations. It also credits the scholars who have devoted many years of their careers to this significant area of Boethian studies.Boethius's De institutione arithmetica and its Influence on Posterity (Jean-Yves Guillaumin) provides a lucid (and, for most readers, necessary) introduction to the concepts that guided Boethius's systematic approach to understanding the relationships between numbers and between various classes of numbers; it also shows effectively how Boethius conceived arithmetic to be the cornerstone of all mathematical studies. It then traces the influence that Boethius's ideas have had upon later theory and practice in the study of numbers.Boethius's Influence on Theology and Metaphysics to c.1500 (Siobhan Nash-Marshall) begins its argument by observing that what is meant when one claims that Boethius taught the medievals logic, vocabulary, and a theological method is that Boethius transmitted to the medievals what Luca Obertello calls the universo Boezianothe Boethian universeby which he means the 'organic set of doctrines' concerning reason, knowledge, and being, which comprised the 'mental universe.' The chapter proceeds to clarify what this observation actually implies. It also specifies the major problems that arose out of Boethius's methods and ideas. Great detail is given to Boethius's influence upon Scholasticism a