{"product_id":"2940015768220","title":"THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY by BOETHIUS (Complete and Unabridged NOOK Version) The Definitive Translation of BOETHIUS THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY - The Bestselling Work of Christian Philosophy Inspired by Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas","description":"OVERVIEW\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConsolation of Philosophy (Latin: Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius, written around the year 524. It has been described as the single most important and influential work in the West on Medieval and early Renaissance Christianity, and is also the last great Western work that can be called Classical.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConsolation of Philosophy was written during a one-year imprisonment Boethius served while awaiting trial – and eventual horrific execution – for the crime of treason under the Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great. Boethius was at the very heights of power in Rome and was brought down by treachery. This experience inspired the text, which reflects on how evil can exist in a world governed by God (the problem of theodicy), and how happiness can be attainable amidst fickle fortune, while also considering the nature of happiness and God. It has been described as \"by far the most interesting example of prison literature the world has ever seen.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEven though reference is often made to God, the book is not strictly religious. A link is often assumed, yet there is no reference made to Jesus Christ or Christianity or any other specific religion. God is however represented not only as an eternal and all-knowing being, but as the source of all Good.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBoethius writes the book as a conversation between himself and Lady Philosophy. She consoles Boethius by discussing the transitory nature of fame and wealth (\"no man can ever truly be secure until he has been forsaken by Fortune\"), and the ultimate superiority of things of the mind, which she calls the \"one true good\". She contends that happiness comes from within, and that one's virtue is all that one truly has, because it is not imperilled by the vicissitudes of fortune.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBoethius engages questions such as the nature of predestination and free will, why evil men often prosper and good men fall into ruin, human nature, virtue, and justice. He speaks about the nature of free will versus determinism when he asks if God knows and sees all, or does man have free will. To quote V.E. Watts on Boethius, God is like a spectator at a chariot race; He watches the action the charioteers perform, but this does not cause them. On human nature, Boethius says that humans are essentially good and only when they give in to “wickedness” do they “sink to the level of being an animal.” On justice, he says criminals are not to be abused, rather treated with sympathy and respect, using the analogy of doctor and patient to illustrate the ideal relationship between prosecutor and criminal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the Consolation, Boethius answered religious questions without reference to Christianity, relying solely on natural philosophy and the Classical Greek tradition. He believed in the correspondence between faith and reason. The truths found in Christianity would be no different from the truths found in philosophy. In the words of Henry Chadwick, \"If the Consolation contains nothing distinctively Christian, it is also relevant that it contains nothing specifically pagan either...[it] is a work written by a Platonist who is also a Christian, but is not a Christian work.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEXCERPT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWho wrought my studious numbers\u003cbr\u003e     Smoothly once in happier days,\u003cbr\u003e Now perforce in tears and sadness\u003cbr\u003e     Learn a mournful strain to raise.\u003cbr\u003e Lo, the Muses, grief-dishevelled,\u003cbr\u003e     Guide my pen and voice my woe;\u003cbr\u003e Down their cheeks unfeigned the tear drops\u003cbr\u003e     To my sad complainings flow!\u003cbr\u003e These alone in danger’s hour\u003cbr\u003e     Faithful found, have dared attend\u003cbr\u003e On the footsteps of the exile\u003cbr\u003e     To his lonely journey’s end.\u003cbr\u003e These that were the pride and pleasure\u003cbr\u003e     Of my youth and high estate\u003cbr\u003e Still remain the only solace\u003cbr\u003e     Of the old man’s mournful fate.\u003cbr\u003e Old? Ah yes; swift, ere I knew it,\u003cbr\u003e     By these sorrows on me pressed\u003cbr\u003e Age hath come; lo, Grief hath bid me\u003cbr\u003e     Wear the garb that fits her best.\u003cbr\u003e O’er my head untimely sprinkled\u003cbr\u003e     These white hairs my woes proclaim,\u003cbr\u003e And the skin hangs loose and shrivelled\u003cbr\u003e     On this sorrow-shrunken frame.\u003cbr\u003e Blest is death that intervenes not\u003cbr\u003e     In the sweet, sweet years of peace,\u003cbr\u003e But unto the broken-hearted,\u003cbr\u003e     When they call him, brings release!","brand":"The Consolations of Philosophy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47173331091696,"sku":"2940015768220","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015768220","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}