In your plan: Week 15, Fri, 29 Jan 2027.
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Overview
The Consolation of Philosophy was written by the Roman statesman Boethius while he waited in prison for execution, around 524. It is a dialogue between the imprisoned author and Lady Philosophy, who answers his despair by arguing that fortune cannot take away what truly matters. Mixed prose and verse, it became one of the most widely read books of the Middle Ages and remains a short, humane study of resilience after loss.
Context
Boethius was born about 477 into a senatorial family in Rome. Italy was then ruled by Theodoric the Ostrogoth, who kept Roman offices and law. Boethius rose to consul in 510 and later became a senior court official, but was accused of treason, imprisoned near Pavia and executed. He had also planned to translate Plato and Aristotle into Latin, and his translations of Aristotle's logic carried Greek thought into medieval Europe.
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Curator's notes
- Why it matters
- Written in prison before execution. Fortune's wheel; what cannot be taken from you.
- Use in training and coaching
- Resilience after loss of status or career
- Connects to
- Stoics; Dante; Chaucer
- What to read
- Books 1–2
- Text (date)
- Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (c. 524)
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