The Consolation of Philosophy

A Book That I Read

Suman K Sharma

s2m2nr@gmail.com

'The Consolation of Philosophy' by Boethius (Bo-ee-thi-us) is a book of which Lord Francis Bacon would have said, "It is to be tasted, chewed and digested". Written in the shadow of death, the slim volume comes out as the sum and substance of life. The original text in Latin has seen numerous translations into English and several other European languages throughout the last fifteen centuries of its existence. Alfred the Great (848-899) rendered it into the Old English "for the education and enjoyment of his Anglo-Saxon subjects", as did Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) for speakers of the Middle English. Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) is reputed to have translated it into early Modern English in the matter of a day. The present article is based on Victor Watts's translation-and-introduction, (Penguin Books Revised Edition, 1999).

Anicius Manlius Servinus Boethius was born in AD 480 to an aristocratic family of Rome. A child prodigy, "(he) as a young man, (became) master of all liberal arts, from rhetorics, to logic and astronomy." It was thanks to him that the knowledge of Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle came to be preserved in the West, and later, in the rest of the world. Victor Watts has named a dozen other ancient philosophers and literary figures whom Boethius cites in the book directly or indirectly. His first love was books. Yet he entered into politics out of a sense of duty towards his country. King Theodoric made him his 'magister officiorum' - head of the civil services and chief of the palace officials. In 522, both of his sons were made consuls, an honour that was considered one of the greatest any Roman citizen could aspire to. Nothing could have pleased Boethius the more. But his downfall and disgrace was as steep. Palace intrigues, and ironically, his own unswerving character, made him a suspect in the eyes of his sovereign. In 524, at age 44, he was imprisoned in the historic city of Ravenna, and later bludgeoned there to death.

Boethius wrote 'The Consolation of Philosophy' while waiting for his execution. A great thinker that he was, he did not wallow in self-pity, nor did he seek refuge in religion. On the contrary, he found succour in philosophy during those bleak months of his life. Some of his ideas may at first appear alien to us Indians, but as Simon Boylan says, "Beneath the cacophony of sound generated by our world lies the quiet whisper of universal intelligence. Allow it to be heard."

Philosophy to Boethius was not abstract. 'She' was a flesh and blood physician, to whom he could tell what bothered him, and seek remedy -

"While I was […] giving vent to my sorrow with the help of my pen, I became aware of a woman standing over me. She was of awe-inspiring appearance, her eyes burning and keen beyond the usual power of men. She was so full of years that I could hardly think of her as of my own generation, and yet she possessed a vivid colour and undiminished vigour…" (pp 3-4).

The personification of philosophy enabled Boethius perhaps to come to terms with his plight. It also helped him explore the greater issues that have nagged mankind from time immemorial: How do fortune and providence play with man? What is the nature of good and evil? Is God a party to human actions and consequences that follow? If He is good and has foreknowledge of all that is going to happen, can man be held accountable for exercising freewill?

Before tackling such questions, Philosophy takes upon herself to diagnose what is wrong with Beothisus. "Now I know [….] the major cause of your illness: you have forgotten your true nature." She tells him. Loss of memory has affected his reasoning. He thinks of himself as banished and robbed of all his possessions. Yet, his hope lies in reposing his trust in the divine order of world, where nothing happens haphazardly.

Philosophy tells him he is mistaken if he believes that Fortune (Boethius personifies fortune as well) has deserted him. "Change is her normal behaviour, her true nature." Man cannot avoid the turn of the Wheel of Fortune. If it carries him to the top, it can as well bring him down to the bottom. Bad fortune, Philosophy reasons, is in fact more favourable to man than the good one. "Good fortune always seems to bring happiness, but deceives you with her smiles, whereas bad fortune is always truthful because by change she shows her true fickleness. Good fortune deceives; bad fortune enlightens."

Philosophy gives solace to Boethius. She then expounds to him the nature of happiness. There is false happiness and there is true happiness. Wealth, power, beauty, glory and bodily pleasures provide only false happiness. They are fleeting, they cloud our mind. True happiness is good, and man is born to be good to have true happiness. God is the essence of happiness. To find true happiness, therefore, we should pray to God, who is our Father, for enlightenment -

"Grant, Father, that our minds Thy seat may scan,

Grant us the sight of true good's source, and grant us light

That we may fix on Thee our mind's unblinded eye.

Disperse the clouds of earthly matter's cloying weight;

Shine out in all Thy glory; for Thou art rest and peace

To those who worship Thee; to see Thee is our end,

Who art our source and maker, lord, path and goal."

Boethius' Philosophy denies the existence of evil on the ground that God can do no evil. Likewise, she asserts that the wicked, who may seem stronger than the good people, are in fact weak because they fail to do good, which is the chief goal of every man. "(Just) as goodness is its own reward, so the punishment of the wicked is their wickedness." Wickedness is a disease and the wicked should be pitied rather than punished.

As for providence and fate, they are manifestations ultimately of God's will. "In the high citadel of its oneness, the mind of God has set up a plan for the multitude of events. When this plan is thought of as in the purity of God's understanding, it is called Providence, and when it is thought of with reference to all things, whose motions and order it controls, it is called…Fate." Providence and Fate are inter-related. Providence is the Godhead's unified plan; Fate is its execution in individual details. Providence apportions good and bad fortunes to the good and wicked humans eventually to promote good and banish evil.

Last, but not the least, is rather the ticklish issue of God's omniscience and man's freewill. God, says Philosophy, sees past, present and future at the same time. He is there all the time, everywhere. His vision is not restricted as is ours. The rewards and the paybacks of man's deeds are meted out in accordance with the Providence. But if God has set out everything in advance, then how can man be said to exercise freewill in whatever he does and face consequences of all his deeds?

Evidently, Boethius did not have time to delve into the oriental philosophy of Karma. But that's another story.