THE QUEST FOR THE HISTORICAL BOETHIUS: A Life of Enjoyment and Disenchantment
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, statesmen, philosopher, and theologian, was born around 480 A. D. He was born into a powerful aristocratic family and by birth had the resources to receive an education in Athens and Alexandria and also the status to claim his own position in political life. Eventually, he would follow in the footsteps of his father, who in 487 served as consul in Rome during the reign of the Arian King of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric the Great (475-526). Boethius made his own mark in political life when he served as consul and master of offices. His political lifestyle eventually led to his demise, when, around 523 A. D. he was executed upon the accusation of treason and of magic by the word of the King. According to one account, while Boethius was studying in Athens, in his younger years, his father unexpectedly died for unknown reasons or complications. This loss compelled Boethius back home to Rome. After the death of his father, Symmachus, a patrician, adopted him and through this adoption Boethius enhanced his political power, married Rusticiana, the daughter of Symmachus, and utilized the education, resources, and guidance of his new father.
Symmachus was a man with his own political and philosophical reputation. He was among one of the highest groups of educated elects in Rome and possessed high literary achievement. In seven books, he wrote a Roman history and also works on political and cultural ideals. In political life, he served as consul in 485, prefect, and head of the Senate, and to some accounts was appointed even within the high clergy of the Church of Rome.[1]
The typical adjective barbarian is misleading when attempting to describe the Ostrogothic kingdom, but even though king Theodoric “was illiterate, he had passed his youth in high Byzantine society. He was in some ways a better ruler than many Roman emperors had been.”[2] At the end of Boethius’ life, he found himself among ruling patrician families, political and educated leaders, and a life filled with the politics of the Ostrogothic Kingdom.
In 476, Odovacar, a barbarian soldier, forced the last Roman emperor into exile and set himself as the supreme power, but the old noble families and senators of Rome made themselves indispensable and continued to possess land and even had the influence to prevent increase in taxation. Despite the northern invasions of the Ostrogoths, the ruling Roman families “manifested a remarkable capacity for survival,” and found themselves working as politicians to keep national stability.[3] The structure of the Roman senate and noble families showed remarkable ability to remain under the shifting regime and in some respects their power was “enhanced by the removal of the western emperor.”[4] Both Symmachus and Boethius “took sides in supporting the Ostrogothic regime” and were given political duties.[5] With the reign of the new king, Boethius’ political abilities were apparent and Theodoric took notice and appointed him “Master of the Offices, in charge of the domestic administration and foreign policy of his kingdom.”[6] Despite this cooperation with the old Roman political structure and the new kingdom, the “Roman aristocracy were soon caught intriguing with the Eastern Emperor in the hope of delivering themselves from this alien,” and the King’s favor on Boethius and others would soon end.[7] Around 523, Boethius was accused of treason and magic and sent into exile in Pavia where he was placed into prison. During this period, he composed his most famous work The Consolation of Philosophy. A year later he was beheaded and, in one account, they “twisted ropes round his head till his eyes dropped out and finished him off with a bludgeon.”[8]
While waiting for his execution, Boethius utilized his disenchantment and composed his masterpiece, The Consolation of Philosophy, using Latin meter and prose, intellect, and philosophy. In this work, Boethius described the guiding aid of philosophy, personified as Lady philosophy, who descended upon him, in the moment of his distress, tears of injustice, and complaints against God. In Boethius’ own words, when I “set my pen to record this tearful complaint, there seemed to stand above my head a women. Her look filled me with awe; her burning eyes penetrated more deeply than those of ordinary men; her complexion was fresh with ever-lively bloom, yet she seemed so ancient that none would think her of our time…Her dress was made of very fine, imperishable thread, of delicate workmanship…In her right hand she carried a book, and in her left, a sceptre.”[9] Her presence was like the comfort of an ancient friend in which longevity and tradition provided stability during his distress. Through their discussion, Boethius began to realize that the pursuit of wisdom and love of God was the true source of human happiness and God alone and his guiding providence was able to console the human condition.
[1] See, Henry Chadwick, Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology, and Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), 7.
[2] C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964), 75.
[3] Chadwick, Boethius, 1.
[4] Chadwick, Boethius, 1.
[5] G. R. Evans, The Medieval Theologians (Malden: Blackwell Publishers Inc, 2001), 25.
[6] David Knowles, The Evolution of Medieval Thought (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1962), 52.
[7] Lewis, The Discarded Image, 75.
[8] Lewis, The Discarded Image, 76.
[9] OS, V, 133-135.
