"Until about two hundred years ago it would, I think, have been hard to find an educated man in any European country who did not love it. To acquire a taste for it is almost to become naturalised in the Middle Ages." -C.S. LEWIS Imprisoned on false charges of conspiracy, the Roman philosopher and statesman Boethius penned this work in which he is comforted in his misfortune by Lady Philosophy. This book stands at the turning of the ages: Boethius took the best of pagan philosophy and made it the foundation of medieval philosophy and culture. It is a profound discussion of such issues as fortune and suffering, free will and predestination, and how doing good is its own reward. This Canon Classic will take you back to the Middle Ages and remind you that some things are more important than good fortune. The book called 'The Consolation of Philosophy' was throughout the Middle Ages, and down to the beginnings of the modern epoch in the sixteenth century, the scholar's familiar companion. Few books have exercised a wider influence in their time. It has been translated into every European tongue, and into English nearly a dozen times, from King Alfred's paraphrase to the translations of Lord Preston, Causton, Ridpath, and Duncan, in the eighteenth century. The belief that whatonce pleased so widely must still have some charm is my excuse for attempting the present translation. The great work of Boethius, with its alternate prose and verse, skilfully fitted together like dialogue and chorus in a Greek play, is unique in literature, and has a pathetic interest from the time and circumstances of its composition. It ought not to be forgotten. Those who can go to the original will find their reward. There may be room also for a new translation in English after an interval of close on a hundred years.

ISBN: 9781954887282