The Consolation of Philosophy

by

Boethius

The Consolation of Philosophy: Book II, Part VII Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Boethius tells Philosophy that he was never motivated by ambition, but rather joined politics in order to exercise and win praise for his virtue. Philosophy points out that it is ridiculous for intelligent people” to pursue the “puny and insubstantial […] fame” of being glorified by others. She reminds Boethius that, in relation to the cosmos, the earth is miniscule, and humans only live on a small part of it, which means one’s fame does not go very far. Plus, each person’s fame is unlikely to extend to societies beyond their own, which means that worldly fame is “cramped and confined” at best.
Boethius is half-right, half-wrong here. He is clearly calling on Plato’s argument in the Republic: the most virtuous and wise people should be called to govern human societies, but only out of a sense of obligation, because a desire for power indicates that one will likely misuse power. Boethius insists that he was wise and virtuous, but also admits that he was consciously seeking fame and recognition for his good character. Readers should ask if this desire for fame undermines his claim to have been virtuous. After all, Philosophy’s response clearly sets fame alongside wealth and power as meaningless worldly pursuits, which are unrelated to true happiness.
Themes
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 Philosophy continues, explaining that innumerable once-famous people have been forgotten “because there were no historians to write about them,” and much of what is written down gets lost forever through the ages. People hope for “a kind of immortality” through fame, but fame is meaningless when compared with the true scope of eternity. So Boethius is incredibly “shallow[]” to put popularity above virtue itself, when in reality popularity is an earthly obsession that has no bearing on the immortal soul, which “in the experience of heaven […] will rejoice.”
Here, Philosophy’s monologue operates on three different levels at the same time. On a literal level, she is telling Boethius that it is worthless to do things for the sake of fame, because most people who do so are forgotten anyway, and even people who are remembered do not get remembered forever. But they do end up as souls in the afterlife forever, so people should focus on that instead. At the same time, by pointing to the way that important events from history are forgotten throughout time, she also explains both the motivation for Boethius’s lifelong focus—the preservation of the works of Ancient Greek philosophers who were rapidly being forgotten in his time—and the ultimate insignificance of this project, for him, in relation to the far greater and more personal question of what to do in the face of impending death. And finally, when we encounter this monologue as contemporary readers, we should also wonder what has been left out of the historical record about Boethius’s own life, works, and reception: indeed, nobody has ever conclusively proven whether he was innocent or guilty of the crimes with which he was charged, and it is impossible to recover many of the most important details about his life and death.
Themes
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Wisdom, Fortune, and Happiness Theme Icon
In verse, Philosophy sings of people whose ambitions are limited to praise and fame, telling them to contemplate “the width and breadth of heaven” and remember that everyone is mortal, destined to die no matter how important they were in life. Fame is merely “inscribed in stone, / A line or two of empty reputation,” but cannot “lengthen life,” and itself eventually gets erased.
This song simply recapitulates Philosophy’s argument in a more literary form. It offers an opportunity to reflect on why Boethius would choose to alternate between philosophical argument in prose and these lyric verses, especially since he frequently talks about the infallibility of human reason and began the book with an attack on the Muses of art. There are many possible answers: they show his versatility as an author, they allow him to communicate his ideas to audiences who might resist straight logical persuasion, they offer a rest from the dense and difficult prose sections, and they give readers images and aphorisms that they may be more likely to remember and reflect on later.
Themes
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