Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
(c. 480 - 524)

Encyclopædia Orbis Latini

A patrician by birth, Boethius was consul in 510 during the Gothic occupation of Rome under Theodoric, to whom he became chief minister. His championing of Roman traditions and institutions earned Theoderic's displeasure, and Boethius was imprisoned, tortured, and eventually executed. His translations of Aristotle and treatises on music and mathematics were standard texts in medieval Europe but his most famous work is The Consolation of Philosophy, written while he was in prison. A dialogue between the author and the personification of philosophy, the Consolation seeks to prove that virtue alone remains constant and the knowledge of God is the only true wisdom.