The life, mind, and world of the polymath Boethius, whose Consolation of Philosophy has endured among readers for fifteen centuries
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (c. 480–524) rose to become one of the most learned men in the court of the Gothic ruler Theoderic I, who ultimately had him executed. Following Boethius’s rise, fall, and enduring afterlife, Seth Lerer combines historical research with personal reflection to trace how, for more than fifteen hundred years, Boethius’s erudition, intellect, and ambition have stood at the center of Western ideas about the humanities. Lerer’s account:
• reads his rise and fall in Theoderic’s service as a cautionary tale for any intellectual who seeks political influence
• centers Boethius’s philosophical, logical, and musical writings within a wider history of high culture
• makes the case that The Consolation of Philosophy’s argument—that our true selves lie with the soul, and our true home is not in the domiciles of despots but the house of God—still speaks to readers searching for practical wisdom today
Reading Boethius’s story as a guide to the present as much as to the past, Lerer argues for the place of higher education in public life, the power of art and poetry to inspire and console, and the central role of intellectuals in facing tyranny. Each age makes a classic work its own, and Lerer gives us a Boethius for his own time and ours.