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Tom Butler-Bowdon

self-help classics

The Consolation of Philosophy
(6 th Century) 
Boethius


It is difficult to overestimate the place of The Consolation of Philosophy in the self-help canon. Though Boethius is not a household name today, for over a millennium in the Christian West, his work was second only to the Bible in popularity.

Boethius' life was one of incredible privilege. He was a member of the Senatorial class of the later Roman Empire, but at a time when the Empire had metamorphosed into 'Christendom', split between East (Constantinople) and West (Ravenna). He had attained the position of Master of Offices in the 'barbarian' Theodoric's court, a sort of chief-of-staff who could smooth relations between the Senate and the new regime.

However, a court intrigue saw Theodoric accuse Boethius of treason, and despite assertions of innocence, he was sentenced to death by torture. The life that had had everything now lay in ruins. How could his beloved philosophy help him now?

This awful predicament, though, made him uniquely suited to answer the question, and it was on death row that The Consolation was written. The book begins when a despondent prisoner in his cell (whom we take to be Boethius himself) is visited by an apparition, Lady Philosophy. Having heard the prisoner rail against the injustice of his situation, Philosophy then begins her reasoned arguments on why he should not blame Fortune. These beautifully expressed arguments on the nature of good, evil providence and meaning make up the Consolation.

There was no better person than Boethius, who had enjoyed wealth, power, fame, and all the advantages of high birth, to be forced to consider the ultimate worth of material things. These were no protection against what befell him, and in fact set him up for his fate. In his last days, writing as 'the prisoner', he sees his life in perspective. His achievements, he realises, are not as important as the self-knowledge he is now gaining.

This, combined with the literary skills he had mastered, produced a masterpiece that would reverberate through the next thousand years, dominating the intellectual life of the Middle Ages. The Consolation inspired Dante, Chaucer, and Aquinas, and was personally rendered into English by King Alfred (9th century) and by Elizabeth I (16th century). At a general level, the book helped to inspire the piety and introspection that is part of the image of the Middle Ages.

Though Boethius was one of the great intellects of his time, his book is above all a personal work that speaks directly to the reader in whatever age they may inhabit, offering instant advice, solace and inspiration. Historically a manual for coping with adversity, it is in fact one of the most in-depth discussions of the nature of happiness you are ever likely to read.
​
Source: 50 Self-Help Classics: Your shortcut to the most important ideas on happiness and fulfilment by Tom Butler-Bowdon (London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey)
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© COPYRIGHT TOM BUTLER-BOWDON, 2021
​. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • 50 Classics Series
    • 50 Self-Help Classics >
      • James Allen - As A Man Thinketh
      • Dale Carnegie - How To Win Friends and Influence People
      • Stephen Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
      • Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self-Reliance
      • Benjamin Franklin - Autobiography
      • Louise Hay - You Can Heal Your Life
      • Joseph Murphy - The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
      • Samuel Smiles - Self-Help
      • Teilhard de Chardin - The Phenomenon of Man
    • 50 Success Classics >
      • Claude M Bristol - The Magic of Believing
      • Jim Collins - Good To Great
      • Russell H Conwell - Acres of Diamonds
      • Napoleon Hill - Think and Grow Rich
      • Catherine Ponder - The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity
      • David J Schwartz - The Magic of Thinking Big
      • Wallace Wattles - The Science of Getting Rich
    • 50 Spiritual Classics >
      • Carlos Castaneda - Journey to Ixtlan
      • Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet
      • Aldous Huxley - The Doors of Perception
      • Carl Jung - Memories, Dreams, Reflections
      • Margery Kempe - The Book of Margery Kempe
      • CS Lewis - The Screwtape Letters
      • Miguel Ruiz - The Four Agreements
      • 50 More Spiritual Classics
    • 50 Psychology Classics >
      • Eric Berne - Games People Play
      • Isabel Briggs Myers - Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type
      • Louann Brizendine - The Female Brain
      • David D Burns - Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy
      • Robert Cialdini - Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
      • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Creativity
      • Albert Ellis - A Guide To Rational Living
      • Milton Erickson - Teaching Tales
      • Erik Erikson - Young Man Luther
      • Hans Eysenck - Dimensions of Personality
      • Sigmund Freud - The Interpretation of Dreams
      • Malcolm Gladwell - Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
      • Carl Jung - The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
      • Alfred Kinsey - Sexuality In The Human Female
      • Abraham Maslow - Motivation and Personality
      • Stanley Milgram - Obedience To Authority
      • IP Pavlov - Conditioned Reflexes
      • Jean Piaget - The Language and Thought of the Child
      • Carl Rogers - On Becoming A Person
      • BF Skinner - Beyond Freedom & Dignity
    • 50 Prosperity Classics >
      • James Allen - The Path to Prosperity
      • Genevieve Behrend - Your Invisible Power
      • Richard Branson - Losing My Virginity
      • Warren Buffett - The Essays of Warren Buffett
      • Rhonda Byrne - The Secret
      • Andrew Carnegie - The Gospel of Wealth
      • Felix Dennis - How To Get Rich
      • Peter Drucker - Innovation and Entrepreneurship
      • Harv Eker - Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
      • Milton Friedman - Capitalism and Freedom
      • Michael E Gerber - The E-Myth Revisited
      • Benjamin Graham - The Intelligent Investor
      • Esther & Jerry Hicks - Ask And It Is Given
      • Conrad Hilton - Be My Guest
      • Joe Karbo - The Lazy Man's Way To Riches
      • Catherine Ponder - Open Your Mind To Prosperity
      • Ayn Rand - Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
      • Donald Trump - The Art of the Deal
      • Max Weber - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
      • Prosperity Principles
    • 50 Philosophy Classics >
      • Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex
      • Heraclitus - Fragments
      • Soren Kierkegaard - Fear and Trembling
      • Thomas Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
      • Marshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Massage
      • John Stuart Mill - On Liberty
      • Montaigne - Essays
      • Friedrich Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil
      • Plato - The Republic
      • Karl Popper - The Logic of Scientific Discovery
      • John Rawls - A Theory of Justice
      • Jean-Paul Sartre - Being and Nothingness
      • Nassim Nicholas Taleb - The Black Swan
      • Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophical Investigations
    • 50 Politics Classics
    • 50 Economics Classics
    • 50 Business Classics
  • BOOK INSIGHTS
  • Capstone Classics
    • Think and Grow Rich
    • The Science of Getting Rich
    • The Art of War
    • The Prince
    • The Wealth of Nations
    • The Republic
    • The Tao Te Ching
    • Meditations
    • Beyond Good and Evil
    • Origin of Species
  • Testimonials
  • Foreign Editions
  • Think Long
  • About the author
  • Contact
  • New Page