Boethius teaching his students (initial in a 1385 Italian manuscript of the Consolation of Philosophy.) |
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| Full name | Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius |
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| Born | Rome 480 AD |
| Died | Pavia 524/5 AD |
| Era | Medieval philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| Main interests | problem of universals, religion, music |
| Notable ideas | The Wheel of Fortune |
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Influenced
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Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius,[1][2][3] commonly called Boethius (ca. 480–524 or 525 AD) was a philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born in Rome to an ancient and important family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls.[3] His father, Flavius Manlius Boethius, was consul in 487 after Odoacer deposed the last Western Roman Emperor. Boethius, of the noble Anicia family, entered public life at a young age and was already a senator by the age of 25.[4] Boethius himself was consul in 510 in the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. In 522 he saw his two sons become consuls.[5] Boethius was imprisoned and eventually executed by King Theodoric the Great,[6] who suspected him of conspiring with the Eastern Empire. While jailed, Boethius composed his Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical treatise on fortune, death, and other issues. The Consolation became one of the most popular and influential works of the Middle Ages. A link between Boethius and a mathematical boardgame Rithmomachia has been made.
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Boethius' exact birth date is unknown.[3] Boethius was born to a patrician family; his father Manlius Boethius' was appointed consul in 487. However, his father died when Boethius was young, and he was adopted by another patrician, Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus.[7] Memmius Symmachus raised him and instilled in him a love for literature and philosophy. Both Memmius Symmachus and Boethius were fluent in Greek, an increasingly rare skill at the time in the Western Empire, which has led some scholars to think that Boethius was educated in the East. According to John Moorhead, the traditional view is that Boethius studied in Athens based on Cassiodorus's rhetoric describing Boethius' learning in one of his letters. The French scholar Pierre Courcelle has argued that Boethius studied at Alexandria with the Neo-Platonist philosopher Ammonius Hermiae. However, Moorhead observes that the evidence supporting Boethius having studied in Alexandria "is not as strong as it may appear", and concludes "Perhaps Boethius was able to acquire his formidable learning without travelling."[8]
Although Boethius is believed to have been born into a Christian family, some scholars have conjectured that he abandoned Christianity for paganism, perhaps on his deathbed.[9] Momigliano argues "many people have turned to Christianity for consolation. Boethius turned to paganism. His Christianity collapsed — it collapsed so thoroughly that perhaps he did not even notice its disappearance." [10] However, while this has been a popular idea among scholars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it does not reflect the majority of current scholarship on the matter.[11]
Due to his erudition, Boethius entered the service of Theodoric the Great. His earliest documented acts on behalf of the Ostrogothic ruler was to investigate allegations that the paymaster of Theodoric's Bodyguards had debased the coins of their pay, to produce a water-clock which Theodoric intended to give to king Gundobad of the Burgunds, and to recruit a lyre-player to perform for king Clovis of the Franks.[12]
Boethius married his foster-father's daughter Rusticus, and their children included two boys, Symmachus and Boethius. He held many important offices during Theodoric's reign, including being appointed consul for the year 510, but Boethius confesses in his De consolatione philosophiae that his greatest achievement was to have both his sons made consuls for the same year (522), and finding himself sitting "between the two consuls and as if it were a military triumph let your largess fulfil the wildest expectations of the people packed in their seats around you."[13]
In 522, the same year his two sons were appointed joint consuls, Boethius accepted the appointment to the position of magister officiorum, the head of all the government and court services.[14] Also in 520, Boethius was working to revitalize the relationship between the Church in Rome and the Church in Constantinople. This may have led to loss of favour.[14]
That following year, however, Boethius fell from power, was imprisoned and eventually executed. The primary sources are in general agreement over the facts of what happened. At a meeting of the Royal Council in Verona, the referandarius Cyprianus accused the ex-consul Caecina Decius Faustus Albinus of treasonous correspondence with Justin I. Boethius leapt to his defense, crying, "The charge of Cyprianus is false, but if Albinus did that, so also have I and the whole senate with one accord done it; it is false, my Lord King."[15] Cyprianus then also accused Boethius of the same crime, and produced three men who claimed they had witnessed the crime. Boethius and Basilius were arrested. First the pair were detained in the baptistery of a church, then Boethius was exiled to the Ager Calventianus, a distant country estate, where he was put to death. Not long afterwards Theodoric had Boethius' father-in-law Symmachus put to death, according to Procopius, on the ground that he and Boethius together were planning a revolution, and confiscated their property.[16]
"The basic facts in the case are not in dispute," writes Jeffrey Richards. "What is disputed about this sequence of events is the interpretation that should be put on them."[17] Boethius claims his crime was seeking "the safety of the Senate." He describes the three witnesses against him as dishonorable: Basilius had been dismissed from Royal service for his debts, while Venantius Opilio and Gaudentius had been exiled for fraud.[18] However, other sources depict these men in far more positive light: for example Cassiodorus describes Cyprianus and Opilio as "utterly scrupulous, just and loyal" and mentions they are brothers and grandsons of the consul Opilio;[19] Theodoric was feeling threatened by international events: the Acacian Schism had been resolved, and the Catholic Christians aristocrats of his kingdom were seeking to renew their ties with Constantinople; the Catholic Hilderic became king of the Vandals and put his sister Amalafrida to death; and Arian Christians in the East were being persecuted.[20] Then there is the matter that his previous ties to Theodahad, Boethius apparently found himself on the wrong side in the succession dispute following the untimely death of Eutharic, Theodoric's announced heir.
The method of Boethius' execution varies in the sources; he was perhaps killed with an axe or a sword, or was clubbed to death. His remains were entombed in the church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia. In Dante's Paradise of The Divine Comedy, the spirit of Boethius is pointed out by St. Thomas Aquinas:
Boethius's best known work is the Consolation of Philosophy (De consolatione philosophiae), which he wrote most likely while in exile under house arrest or in prison while awaiting his execution, but his lifelong project was a deliberate attempt to preserve ancient classical knowledge, particularly philosophy.[22] This work represented an imaginary dialogue between himself and philosophy, with philosophy being personified by a woman.[22] The book argues that despite the apparent inequality of the world, there is, in Platonic fashion, a higher power and everything else is secondary to that divine Providence.[6] There are several manuscripts that have survived and been expansively edited, translated and printed throughout the late 15th century and forward in Europe.[22] He intended to translate all the works of Aristotle and Plato from the original Greek into Latin.[23] His completed translations of Aristotle's works on logic were the only significant portions of Aristotle available in Europe until the 12th century. However, some of his translations (such as his treatment of the topoi in The Topics) were mixed with his own commentary, which reflected both Aristotelian and Platonic concepts.[22]
Unfortunately, the commentaries themselves were lost.[24] In addition to his commentary on the Topics, Boethius composed two treatises on Topical argumentation, In Ciceronis Topica and De topicis differentiis. The first work has six books, and is largely a response to Cicero's Topica.[25] The first book of In Ciceronis Topica begins with a dedication to Patricius. It includes distinctions and assertions important to Boethius's overall philosophy, such as his view of the role of philosophy to "establish our judgment concerning the governing of life",[26] and definitions of logic from Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. He breaks logic into three parts, that which defines, that which divides, and that which deduces.[26] He asserts there to be three types of arguments, those of necessity, of ready believability, and sophistry.[27] He follows Aristotle in defining one sort of Topic as the maximal proposition; these are propositions which are somehow shown to be universal or readily believable.[28] The other sort of Topic, the differentiae, are "Topics that contain and include the maximal propositions"; means of categorizing the Topics which Boethius credits to Cicero.[29] Book II covers two kinds of topics, those from related things and those from extrinsic topics. Book III discusses the relationship between things studied through Topics, Topics themselves, and the nature of definition. Book IV analyzes partition, designation and relationships between things (such as pairing, numbering, genus and species, etc.). After a review of his terms, Boethius spends Book V discussing Stoic logic and Aristotelian causation. Book VI relates the nature of the Topic to causes.
In Topicis Differentiis has four books; Book I discusses the nature of rhetorical and dialectical Topics together, Boethius's overall purpose being "to show what the Topics are, what their differentiae are, and which are suited for what syllogisms".[30] He distinguishes between argument (that which constitutes belief) and argumentation (that which demonstrates belief). Propositions are divided into three parts, those that are universal, those that are particular, and those that are somewhere in between.[31] These distinctions, and others, are applicable to both types of Topical argument, rhetorical and dialectical. Books II and III are primarily focused on Topics of dialectic (syllogisms), while Book IV concentrates on the unit of the rhetorical Topic, the enthymeme. Topical argumentation is at the core of Boethius’s conception of dialectic, which “have categorical rather than conditional conclusions, and he conceives of the discovery of an argument as the discovery of a middle term capable of linking the two terms of the desired conclusion”.[32] Not only are these texts of paramount importance to the study of Boethius, they are also crucial to the history of topical lore. It is largely due to Boethius that the Topics of Aristotle and Cicero were revived, and the Boethian tradition of topical argumentation spans its influence throughout the Middle Ages and into the early Renaissance: “In the works of Ockham, Buridan, Albert of Saxony, and the Pseudo-Scotus, for instance, many of the rules of consequence bear a strong resemblance to or are simply identical with certain Boethian Topics . . . Boethius’s influence, direct and indirect, on this tradition is enormous”.[33]
It was also in De Topicis Differentiis that Boethius made a unique contribution to the discourse on dialectic and rhetoric. Topical argumentation for Boethius is dependent upon a new category for the topics discussed by Aristotle and Cicero, and "[u]nlike Aristotle, Boethius recognizes two different types of Topics. First, he says, a Topic is a maximal proposition (maxima propositio), or principle; but there is a second kind of Topic, which he calls the differentia of a maximal proposition..." .[34] Maximal propositions are "propositions [that are] known per se, and no proof can be found for these.".[35] This is the basis for the idea that demonstration (or the construction of arguments) is dependent ultimately upon ideas or proofs that are known so well and are so fundamental to human understanding of logic that no other proofs come before it. They must hold true in and of themselves. According to Stump, "the role of maximal propositions in argumentation is to ensure the truth of a conclusion by ensuring the truth of its premises either directly or indirectly.".[36] These propositions would be used in constructing arguments through the "Differentia," which is the second part of Boethius' theory. This is "the genus of the intermediate in the argument".[37] So maximal propositions allow room for an argument to be founded in some sense of logic while differentia are critical for the demonstration and construction of arguments.
Boethius’ definition of “differentiae” is that they are “the Topics of arguments...The Topics which are the Differentiae of [maximal] propositions are more universal than those propositions, just as rationality is more universal than man.”.[38] This is the second part of Boethius’ unique contribution to the field of rhetoric. Differentia operate under maximal propositions to “be of use in finding maximal propositions as well as intermediate terms,” or the premises that follow maximal propositions.[39]
Though Boethius is drawing from Aristotle’s Topics, Differentiae are not the same as Topics in some ways. Boethius arranges differentia through statements, instead of generalized groups as Aristotle does. Stump articulates the difference. They are “expressed as words or phrases whose expansion into appropriate propositions is neither intended nor readily conceivable”, unlike Aristotle’s clearly defined four groups of Topics. Aristotle had hundreds of topics organized into those four groups, whereas Boethius has twenty-eight “Topics” that are “highly ordered among themselves.”.[40] This distinction is necessary to understand Boethius as separate from past rhetorical theories.
Maximal propositions and Differentiae belong not only to rhetoric, but also to dialectic. Boethius define dialectic through an analysis of “thesis” and hypothetical propositions. He claims that “[t]here are two kinds of questions. One is that called, ‘thesis’ by the [Greek] dialecticians. This is the kind of question which asks about and discusses things stripped of relation to other circumstances; it is the sort of question dialecticians most frequently dispute about – for example, ‘Is pleasure the greatest good?’ [or] ‘Should one marry?’”.[41] Dialectic has “dialectical topics” as well as “dialectical-rhetorical topics,” all of which are still discussed in De Topicis Differentiis.[34]Dialectic, especially in Book I, comprises a major component of Boethius’ discussion on Topics.
Boethius planned to completely translate Plato's Dialogues, but there is no known surviving translation, if it was actually ever begun.[42]
Boethius intended to pass on the great Greco-Roman culture to future generations by writing manuals on music and astronomy, geometry, and arithmetic.[4]
Several of Boethius' writings, which were largely influential during the Middle Ages, drew from the thinking of Porphyry and Iamblichus.[43] Boethius wrote a commentary on the Isagoge by Porphyry,[44] which highlighted the existence of the problem of universals: whether these concepts are subsistent entities which would exist whether anyone thought of them, or whether they only exist as ideas. This topic concerning the ontological nature of universal ideas was one of the most vocal controversies in medieval philosophy.
Besides these advanced philosophical works, Boethius is also reported to have translated important Greek texts for the topics of the quadrivium [42] His loose translation of Nicomachus's treatise on arithmetic (De institutione arithmetica libri duo) and his textbook on music (De institutione musica libri quinque, unfinished) contributed to medieval education.[44] De arithmetica, begins with modular arithmetic, such as even and odd, evenly-even, evenly-odd, and oddly-even. He then turns to unpredicted complexity by categorizing numbers and parts of numbers.[45] His translations of Euclid on geometry and Ptolemy on astronomy,[46] if they were completed, no longer survive. Boethius made Latin translations of Aristotle's De interpretation and Categories with commentaries. These were widely used during the Middle Ages.[14]
Boethius' De institutione musica, was one of the first musical works to be printed in Venice between the years of 1491 and 1492. It was written toward the beginning of the sixth century and helped medieval authors during the ninth century understand Greek music.[47]
In his "De Musica", Boethius introduced the fourfold classification of music:
In one of his works within De institutione musica, was to say "Music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired."[48]
During the Middle Ages, Boethius was connected to several texts that were used to teach liberal arts. Although he did not address the subject of trivium, he did write many treatises explaining the principles of rhetoric, grammar, and logic. During the Middle Ages, his works of these disciplines were commonly used when studying the three elementary arts.[46]
Boethius also wrote Christian theological treatises, which generally supported the orthodox position against Arianism and other dissident forms of Christianity.[49] These included On the Trinity, On the Catholic Faith, and a Book against Eutychius and Nestorius.[43]
Lorenzo Valla described Boethius as the last of the Romans and the first of the scholastic philosophers.[5] Despite the use of his mathematical texts in the early universities, it is his final work, the Consolation of Philosophy, that assured his legacy in the Middle Ages and beyond. This work is cast as a dialogue between Boethius himself, at first bitter and despairing over his imprisonment, and the spirit of philosophy, depicted as a woman of wisdom and compassion. "Alternately composed in prose and verse,[43] the Consolation teaches acceptance of hardship in a spirit of philosophical detachment from misfortune." [50] Parts of the work are reminiscent of the Socratic method of Plato's dialogues, as the spirit of philosophy questions Boethius and challenges his emotional reactions to adversity. The work was translated into Old English by King Alfred, and into later English by Chaucer and Queen Elizabeth;[49] many manuscripts survive and it was extensively edited, translated and printed throughout Europe from the 14th century onwards.[51] Many commentaries on it were compiled and it has been one of the most influential books in European culture. No complete bibliography has ever been assembled but it would run into thousands of items.[50] "The Boethian Wheel" is a model for Boethius' belief that history is a wheel,[52] that Boethius uses frequently in the Consolation; it remained very popular throughout the Middle Ages, and is still often seen today. As the wheel turns those that have power and wealth will turn to dust; men may rise from poverty and hunger to greatness, while those who are great may fall with the turn of the wheel. It was represented in the Middle Ages in many relics of art depicting the rise and fall of man. Descriptions of "The Boethian Wheel" can be found in the literature of the Middle Ages from the Romance of the Rose to Chaucer.[53]
Boethius is recognized as a martyr for the Catholic faith by the Roman Martyrology. His cult is held in Pavia and in the Church of Santa Maria in Portico in Rome. His feast day is October 23.[54] He was declared a saint by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1883, and Pope Benedict XVI explains the relevance of Boethius to modern day Christians by linking his teachings to an understanding of Providence.[55][56]
| Preceded by Flavius Inportunus (alone) |
Consul of the Roman Empire 510 |
Succeeded by Arcadius Placidus Magnus Felix, Flavius Secundinus |
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.