"Boethuis, not perhaps literally the last person in the west who knew Greek, but certainly the last person who tried to make Greek knowledge known to people who could only read in Latin. He conceived the project of translating all of Plato and Aristotle into Latin. He started by doing a kind of introductory textbook. Like a lot of great projects, this one was not completed. In fact, this one barely got off the ground because he was accused by Theodoric of conspiring with the Byzantine Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire, to overthrow him.
He was imprisoned for a year. In prison he wrote one of the most magnificent works of philosophy, of why we are alive and why we die. The Consolation of Philosophy. And then he was executed.
Boethius is a Christian and he wrote on Christian topics, but The Consolation of Philosophy, interestingly enough, is a Stoical work, has very little explicitly about Christianity."
© Paul Freedman
Yale Lectures on The Early Middle Ages, 284 - 1000
[link]
He was imprisoned for a year. In prison he wrote one of the most magnificent works of philosophy, of why we are alive and why we die. The Consolation of Philosophy. And then he was executed.
Boethius is a Christian and he wrote on Christian topics, but The Consolation of Philosophy, interestingly enough, is a Stoical work, has very little explicitly about Christianity."
© Paul Freedman
Yale Lectures on The Early Middle Ages, 284 - 1000
[link]
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