Boethius, << boh EE thee uhs, >> Anicius Manlius Severinus (A.D. 480?-524?), was a Roman philosopher. He was best known for Consolation of Philosophy, a book he wrote in prison awaiting execution for treason. The work is a dialogue between Philosophy, in the form of a woman, and Boethius. She teaches him that the highest good is the contemplation of God, which also reconciles a person to misfortune on earth. The book became popular during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Boethius was born in Rome. He was a high government official under the Ostrogoth king Theodoric. Boethius wrote books on arithmetic and music that were used as textbooks throughout the Middle Ages. He wanted to translate the works of the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle into Latin and demonstrate the agreement between the two. His translations of Aristotle’s works on logic preserved these theories during a time when classical learning was being lost.
