The Consolation of Philosophy

The Consolation of Philosophy – by Anicius Boethius is a seminal philosophical work written in the 6th century while the author was imprisoned and awaiting execution for treason. The book is a dialogue between Boethius and a personified “Lady Philosophy” that explores profound questions about happiness, the existence of good and evil, and the nature of fate and free will. The work is presented in an alternating form of prose and verse, a style known as Menippean satire. The narrative begins with Boethius lamenting his sudden and unjust fall from a high-ranking position as a Roman statesman and scholar to a prisoner facing a brutal death. He is visited by Lady Philosophy, who first scolds the Muses of poetry for comforting him in his self-pity and then offers a “medicine” of truth to cure his despair.