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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Consolation of Philosophy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Classical Philosophy and Medieval Christianity
Wisdom, Fortune, and Happiness
The Problem of Evil
Human Free Will and God’s Foreknowledge
Summary
Analysis
In a song, Boethius compares the way his despair disappeared through his meeting with the mysterious woman to the Sun re-emerging after a storm.
Boethius establishes a metaphorical correspondence between the sunlight that literally illuminates the world, on the one hand, and the wisdom and consolation offered by Philosophy, which makes the world intelligible to humans’ rational nature, on the other.
Themes
Boethius realizes that his visitor is “Philosophy,” who has taken care of him since he was young. He asks if “she has come […] to suffer false accusation along with [him],” but she declares that she is not afraid of accusations.
Boethius shows that the Roman government’s attack on him (the “false accusation” mentioned here) is also an attack on philosophy and everything it stands for: reason, wisdom, and truth, which will nevertheless always be stronger and more resilient than even the most powerful of tyrants and the most evil of human beings.
Themes
Philosophy reminds Boethius that “wisdom has been threatened with danger by the forces of evil” many times, like when “Socrates was unjustly put to death,” and during the centuries of infighting since, among various philosophical “mobs.” These mobs “tore off little pieces from” her dress, and those who stole the pieces acted as though “they had obtained the whole of philosophy.” And numerous true philosophers have been rejected, tortured, and killed because they spent their lives “displeas[ing] wicked men” who blindly followed their ignorance. When these “wicked men” strike back with their “superior numbers,” Philosophy continues, philosophers must “withdraw […] to a strong point” and save their “citadel” from “the assaults of folly.”
Philosophy explains how her reappearance for Boethius is also a reappearance in the Roman world that has forgotten and abused her, manipulating pieces of the Greeks’ wisdom for personal gain rather than engaging its totality to find enlightenment. She also clearly labels Boethius as the next iteration in the long tradition of philosopher-martyrs, who refused to sacrifice their beliefs and dedication to the truth, even when they had to pay with their lives. This sacrifice, she suggests, allows truth and philosophy to survive even in the darkest of times, when it is relegated to the margins. Because they have truth, reality, and God on their side, she implies, philosophers always have “a strong point” to hold onto until the ignorance of “wicked men” runs its course.
Themes
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