Boethius: The Meaning of Life on Death Row
How a Condemned Philosopher Consoled Himself
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius was a man who had it all.
The noble-born statesman — known to us as Boethius — was one of the richest and most powerful men in the Kingdom of Italy in the late Latin era. He was the Magister officiorum (“Master of the Offices”): the senior administrator of court, commander of the palace guard and chief of the Roman bureaucracy.
At the time the Western Roman Empire had largely crumbled but Roman authority remained as the Ostrogothic kings of Italy — who ruled over the Goths and the Romans — respected its customs and law. These kings, having taken the Empire from within, ruled through the Roman system rather than over it, preserving its institutions of political authority.
Boethius had also served as a senator and consul on the ascent to the apex of a uniquely prestigious political career. His father was a consul and so too were his two sons. The statesman was also a prominent scholar who translated a number of classical Greek works into Latin. In doing so, he preserved many great works of antiquity for Medieval Europe.
But disaster struck for Boethius in 523 AD when the king he was serving — Theodoric the Great — imprisoned him on the charge of treason. Boethius…
