Boethius

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius ([boˈeːt(s)iʊs], also spelled Boëthius; * c. 480/485; † in the period 524 to 526 either in Pavia or in Calvenzano in the present province of Bergamo) was a late Roman scholar, politician, Neoplatonic philosopher and theologian. His activity coincided with the reign of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic, under whom he held high offices. He came under suspicion of abetting a conspiracy of supporters of the Eastern Roman emperor directed against the Ostrogothic rule. He was therefore arrested, condemned as a high traitor and executed.

Boethius strove to realize an ambitious educational program. He intended to make all the works of Plato and Aristotle accessible as basic texts of Greek philosophical and scientific literature in Latin translation and to comment on them. In addition, he wrote textbooks. In this way, he wanted to safeguard the core of the educational heritage for the future, since the knowledge of Greek in Latin-speaking Western Europe had declined sharply. Moreover, he intended to subsequently demonstrate the agreement between Plato and Aristotle, which he assumed to be in accordance with the prevailing view of the time. Due to his untimely death, the massive undertaking remained unfinished, but he became the most important communicator of Greek logic, mathematics, and music theory to the Latin-speaking world of the Middle Ages until the 12th century. The strongest after-effect was achieved by his writing Consolatio philosophiae ("The Consolation of Philosophy"), written during his imprisonment, in which he expounded his ideas on ethics and metaphysics. He also wrote theological treatises.

Text editions and translations

Collections

• Claudio Moreschini (ed.): Boethius: De consolatione philosophiae, opuscula theologica. 2nd edition, Saur, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-598-71278-2 (critical edition of the Consolatio philosophiae and the five theological treatises).
• Gottfried Friedlein (ed.): Anicii Manlii Torquati Severini Boetii de institutione arithmetica libri duo, de institutione musica libri quinque. Minerva, Frankfurt am Main 1966 (reprint of the Leipzig 1867 edition; still to be used for De institutione musica, obsolete for De institutione arithmetica).
• Hans-Ulrich Wöhler: Texte zum Universalienstreit. Band 1: Vom Ausgang der Antike bis zur Frühscholastik. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-05-001792-9 (contains partial translations of six logical and theological works of Boethius).

philosophical consolation

• Ludwig Bieler (ed.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii Philosophiae Consolatio. 2nd edition, Brepols, Turnhout 1984, ISBN 978-2-503-00941-4 (Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina. Vol. 94) (critical edition).
• Ernst Gegenschatz, Olof Gigon (eds.): Boethius: Trost der Philosophie. Consolatio philosophiae. 6th edition, Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7608-1662-2 (uncritical edition with German translation).
• Ernst Neitzke (ed.): Boethius: Trost der Philosophie. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-458-32915-3 (uncritical edition with German translation).

Old High German translation

• Evelyn Scherabon Firchow (ed.): Notker der Deutsche von St. Gallen: Latin Text and Old High German Translation of the Consolation of Philosophy (De consolatione Philosophiae) by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius. 3 vols., Olms, Hildesheim 2003, ISBN 3-487-11811-4.

Medieval English translations

• Malcolm Godden, Susan Irvine (eds.): The Old English Boethius. An Edition of the Old English Versions of Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae. 2 vols, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-925966-3.
• Tim William Machan (ed.): Chaucer's Boece. A Critical Edition Based on Cambridge University Library, MS Ii.3.21, ff. 9r-180v. Winter, Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8253-5432-9.

Medieval French translations

• Isabelle Bétemps et al. (eds.): La Consolation de la Philosophie de Boèce dans une traduction attribuée à Jean de Meun d'après le manuscrit Leber 817 de la Bibliothèque Municipale de Rouen. Université de Rouen, Rouen 2004, ISBN 2-87775-380-8.
• Glynnis M. Cropp (ed.): Le Livre de Boece de Consolacion. Droz, Geneva 2006, ISBN 2-600-01028-9 (critical edition).
• Rolf Schroth (ed.): Eine altfranzösische Übersetzung der consolatio philosophiae des Boethius (Handschrift Troyes Nr. 898). Edition and commentary. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1976, ISBN 3-261-01845-3.

Medieval Greek translation

• Manolis Papathomopoulos (ed.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii De consolatione philosophiae. Traduction grecque de Maxime Planude. The Academy of Athens, Athens 1999, ISBN 2-7116-8333-8 (critical edition).

Medieval Hebrew translation

• Sergio Joseph Sierra (ed.): Boezio: De Consolatione Philosophiae. Traduzione ebraica di ʿAzaria ben R. Joseph Ibn Abba Mari detto Bonafoux Bonfil Astruc 5183-1423. Turin u. a. 1967.

Medieval Italian translation

• Helmuth-Wilhelm Heinz (ed.): Grazia di Meo, Il libro di Boeçio de chonsolazione (1343). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1984, ISBN 3-8204-7325-4.

Logic

Translations of Boethius

• Lorenzo Minio-Paluello (ed.): Aristoteles Latinus. Vol. I 1-5: Categoriae vel praedicamenta. Desclée de Brouwer, Bruges et al. 1961 (contains the Categories translation of Boethius).
• Lorenzo Minio-Paluello (ed.): Aristoteles Latinus. Vol. I 6-7: Categoriarum supplementa: Porphyrii isagoge, translatio Boethii, et anonymi fragmentum vulgo vocatum "Liber sex principiorum". Desclée de Brouwer, Bruges et al. 1966 (contains the isagoge translation of Boethius).
• Lorenzo Minio-Paluello (ed.): Aristoteles Latinus. Vol. II 1-2: De interpretatione vel periermenias: translatio Boethii, specimina translationum recentiorum. Desclée de Brouwer, Bruges and Paris 1965 (contains Boethius' translation of De interpretatione).
• Lorenzo Minio-Paluello (ed.): Aristoteles Latinus. Vol. III 1-4: Analytica priora: translatio Boethii (recensiones duae), translatio anonyma, Pseudo-Philoponi aliorumque scholia, specimina translationum recentiorum. Desclée de Brouwer, Bruges et al. 1962 (contains pp. 1-191 the two versions of Boethius' translation of the Analytica priora; the scholia edited pp. 293-372 are also by Boethius).
• Lorenzo Minio-Paluello (ed.): Aristoteles Latinus. Vol. V 1-3: Topica: translatio Boethii, fragmentum recensionis alterius, et translatio anonyma. Brill, Leiden 1969 (contains Boethius' translation of the Topics).
• Bernard G. Dod (ed.): Aristoteles Latinus. Vol. VI 1-3: De sophisticis elenchis: translatio Boethii, fragmenta translationis Iacobi, et recensio Guillelmi de Moerbeke. Brill, Leiden 1975 (contains Boethius' translation of the Sophistici elenchi).

Comments

• Samuel Brandt (ed.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii in isagogen Porphyrii commenta. Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York 1966 (reprint of the Vienna 1906 edition; critical edition of both isagoge commentaries).
• Karl Meiser (ed.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii commentarii in librum Aristotelis ΠΕΡΙ ΕΡΜΗΝΕΙΑΣ. Parts 1 and 2, Teubner, Leipzig 1877-1880 (reprinted by Garland Publishing, New York 1987, ISBN 0-8240-6904-8; critical edition of both commentaries on De interpretatione).
• Andrew Smith: Boethius: On Aristotle, On Interpretation 1-3. Bloomsbury, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-4725-5789-6 (English translation).
• David Blank, Norman Kretzmann (eds.): Ammonius: On Aristotle On Interpretation 9, with Boethius: On Aristotle On Interpretation 9, first and second commentaries. Duckworth, London 1998, ISBN 0-7156-2691-4 (contains pp. 129-191 an English translation of excerpts from the two commentaries on De interpretatione on logical determinism).
• Jacques Paul Migne (ed.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boetii in categorias Aristotelis libri quatuor. In: Patrologia Latina. Vol. 64, Paris 1891, Sp. 159-294 (uncritical edition).
• Pierre Hadot (ed.): Un fragment du commentaire perdu de Boèce sur les Catégories d'Aristote dans le Codex Bernsis 363. In: Archives d'Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Age. Vol. 26 (= année 34), 1959, ISSN 0373-5478, pp. 11-27 (critical edition of the commentary fragment pp. 12-14).
• Johann Caspar von Orelli, Johann Georg Baiter (eds.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii commentarii in Ciceronis topica. In: Johann Caspar von Orelli, Johann Georg Baiter (eds.): M. Tullii Ciceronis opera quae supersunt omnia ac deperditorum fragmenta. Vol. 5, Part 1: M. Tullii Ciceronis scholiastae. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1833, pp. 269-395 (still the authoritative critical edition of the commentary on Cicero's Topica).
• Jacques Paul Migne (ed.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boetii in topica Ciceronis commentariorum libri sex. In: Patrologia Latina. Vol. 64, Paris 1891, Sp. 1039-1174 (uncritical edition).
• Alfredo Severiano Quevedo Perdomo (ed.): A Critical Edition of Boethius' Commentary on Cicero's Topica, Book I. Dissertation Saint Louis 1963.
• Eleonore Stump: Boethius's In Ciceronis Topica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1988, ISBN 0-8014-2017-2 (English translation).

Textbooks

• John Magee (ed.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii De divisione liber. Brill, Leiden 1998, ISBN 90-04-10873-4 (critical edition with English translation and commentary).
• Dimitrios Z. Nikitas (ed.): Boethius' De topicis differentiis and the Byzantine reception of this work. The Academy of Athens, Athens 1990, ISBN 2-7116-9701-0 (critical edition of Boethius' De topicis differentiis and two Byzantine translations of this work).
• Luca Obertello (ed.): A. M. Severino Boezio: De hypotheticis syllogismis. Paideia, Brescia 1969 (critical edition with introduction, commentary and Italian translation).
• Eleonore Stump: Boethius's De topicis differentiis. Cornell University Press, Ithaca et al. 1978, ISBN 0-8014-1067-3 (English translation).
• Christina Thomsen Thörnqvist (ed.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii De syllogismo categorico. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Gothenburg 2008, ISBN 978-91-7346-611-0 (critical edition with English translation).
• Christina Thomsen Thörnqvist (ed.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii Introductio ad syllogismos categoricos. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Gothenburg 2008, ISBN 978-91-7346-612-7 (critical edition with commentary).

Medieval translations

• James C. King (ed.): Notker der Deutsche: Boethius' Bearbeitung der "Categoriae" des Aristoteles. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1972, ISBN 3-484-20057-X.
• James C. King (ed.): Notker der Deutsche: Boethius' Bearbeitung von Aristoteles' Schrift "De Interpretatione". Niemeyer, Tübingen 1975, ISBN 3-484-20089-8.
• Dimitrios Z. Nikitas (ed.): A Byzantine Translation of Boethius' "De hypotheticis syllogismis". Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1982, ISBN 3-525-25165-3 (critical edition).

Music Theory

• Calvin M. Bower, Claude V. Palisca: Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius: Fundamentals of Music. Yale University Press, New Haven 1989, ISBN 0-300-03943-3 (English translation of De institutione musica).
• Christian Meyer (ed.): Boèce: Traité de la musique. Brepols, Turnhout 2004, ISBN 2-503-51741-2 (uncritical edition of De institutione musica with French translation).

Mathematics

• Henri Oosthout, Jean Schilling (eds.): Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii De arithmetica. Brepols, Turnhout 1999, ISBN 2-503-00943-3 (critical edition).
• Jean-Yves Guillaumin (ed.): Boèce: Institution Arithmétique. Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1995, ISBN 2-251-01390-3 (critical edition with French translation).
• Michael Masi: Boethian Number Theory. A translation of the De Institutione Arithmetica. Rodopi, Amsterdam 1983, ISBN 90-6203-785-2.
• Menso Folkerts (ed.): "Boethius" Geometry II. A mathematical textbook of the Middle Ages. Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden 1970, pp. 69-82, 173-217 (Latin excerpts from Euclid's Elements, presumably from a lost work of Boethius).

Theology

• Michael Elsässer (ed.): Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius: Die Theologischen Traktate. Meiner, Hamburg 1988, ISBN 3-7873-0724-9 (uncritical edition with German translation).