While reading the introduction to Chaucer's translation, in an 1868 publication with Richard Morris as translator and commentator that the university library has an online link to, I could not help but chuckle at Morris' comments about how noble Boethius was and how terrible Theodoric was to suspect him of treason. Boethius wrote a book supporting the Catholic view on the trinity and condemning Arianism. What did he expect? When your king is an Arian, you are taking your life into your hands in calling him a heretic.(Boethius probably did not attack Theodoric in print but heresy was a serious business) Morris also compared him to Cato the Younger, who took his own life, and was an insufferable prig. He also called Boethius 'the last Roman'. I thought that title belonged to Aetius.
Alfred prefaced his translation with the historical background to the book. I think I shall tackle that first. I expect some bias in his presentation.
5 comments:
Lovely, I can't wait!
Guess we'll never know whether Alfred really did those translations - but he's the one always credited with them, so he has to have the benefit of the doubt unless shown otherwise. It's not implausible.
Absolutely. He was into books. Maybe he dictated it. Who knows?
You'll be pleased to know that Boethius gets a brief mention in the fiction book I'm currently reading, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - it's on p.302:
'The Great Books arrived in ten boxes stamped with their contents. Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates in one; Cicero, Marcus Aurelius, and Virgil in another. As we shelved the books in the built-in stacks on Middlesex, we read the names, many familiar (Shakespeare), others not (Boethius).'
Must be the first time I've ever seen his name referred to in a popular fiction book.
You can't read about the Middle Ages or medieval authors without coming across the name or the wheel. St. Augustine's City of God was equally influential.
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