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Boethius's Consolatio Philosophiae as a Sequel to Augustine's Dialogues and Soliloquia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2011

Edmund T. Silk
Edmund T. Silk
Affiliation:
Yale University
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Extract

Boissier long ago remarked that Augustine's Dialogues (that is, the Contra Academicos, De Beata Vita and De Ordine) reminded him in a way of Boethius's Consolatio Philosophiae. He was dealing with the vexed question of Boethius's Christianity. It seemed to him that Boethius in dealing purely philosophically in the Consolatio with problems lying more or less within the domain of theology had done nothing more than Augustine had done at Cassiciacum and that he was probably following Augustine's example. This meant that Boethius was just as much a Christian and probably the same sort of Christian as the young Augustine. Boissier did not carry his analysis of the resemblance between the two any farther.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , January 1939 , pp. 19 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1939

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References

1 In this paper the term Dialogues includes Contra Academicos (abbreviated Ac.), De Beata Vita (B.V.), De Ordine (O.), edited by Pius Knöll, CSEL (1922), LXIII. The Soliloquia are quoted from Migne, PL, XXXII. References to the Consolatio indicate the Loeb Library edition of Stewart and Rand (1926). The most important article on the Dialogues is that of Adolf Dyroff, ‘Über Form und Begriffsgehalt der augustinischen Schrift De Ordine’ in Aurelius Augustinus Festschrift der Görres-Gesellschaft zum 1500. Todestage des heiligen Augustinus, edited by Grabmann and Mausbach (Köln, 1930), pp. 15–62. Dyroff cites most previous literature on the Dialogues. See also in the same volume the article by Joseph Geyser, ‘Die erkenntnistheoretischen Anschauungen Augustiss zu Beginn seiner Schriftstellerischen Tätigkeit,’ pp. 63–86. Sister Mary Inez Bogan's The Vocabulary and Style of the Soliloquies and Dialogues of St. Augustine (Catholic University of America Patristic Studies, XLII, 1935) contains a bibliography, pp. ix–x. Most of the bibliography relating to Boethius will be found in H. R. Patch, The Tradition of Boethius (New York, Oxford University Press, 1935), pp. 127–191. An exhaustive bibliography relating chiefly to the Opuscula Sacra is given by Father Viktor Schurr, Die Trinitätslehre des Boethius (Forsch. zur christl. Lit.-u. Dogmengesch., XVIII, 1 heft, Paderborn, 1935), pp. xii–xxx. See also Prof. Rand's review in Speculum, XI (1936), 158–156. The letters ‘p’ and ‘m’ used in citations of the Consolatio Philosophiae refer respectively to ‘prose’ and ‘metre’.

2 Boissier, Gaston, ‘Le Christianisme de Boèce,’ Journal des Savants (1889), pp. 449–462Google Scholar, especially pp. 460–462. Boissier said in part: ‘Nous possédons de Saint Augustin un certain nombre de dialogues philosophiques … qui rappellent souvent la Consolation de Boèce. Je ne veux pas dire qu'ils lui soient tout à fait semblables. Derrière le langage d'école, dont Saint Augustin affecte de se servir, on entrevoit mieux le Christianisme … mais partout ailleurs il n'est question que de la philosophie … Elle.est le chemin qui mène à la vertu et elle fournit les moyens d'arriver jusqu’ à Dieu … le seul effet qu'il ait retiré des paroles de l'apôtre, c'est de lui faire mieux voir la face auguste de la philosophie (tanta mihi se Philosophiae facies aperuit [Ac. II, 6]). Sans doute la situation de saint Augustin n'est pas tout à fait aussi critique en ce moment que celle de Boèce: il n'est pas prisonnier et près de mourir; elle est grave pourtant, puisqu'il travaille à rompre tout à fait avec son existence passée….’

3 de Labriolle, P., Histoire de la Littérature Latine Chrétienne (Paris, 1920), p. 672Google Scholar. Cf. Fortescue, A. and Smith, G. D.in their edition of the Consolatio (London, Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1925), p. xxxiGoogle Scholar.

4 Carton, Raoul, ‘Le Christianisme et l'Augustinisme de Boèce,’ Revue de Philosophie, XXX (1930), 657Google Scholar.

5 No one, as far as I have been able to discover, except Boissier, Labriolle, Fortescue and Carton ever mentions Augustine's Dialogues in connection with the Consolatio Philosophiae.

6 Cf. Schurr, op. cit., pp. 10, 220.

7 Cf. Rand, E. K., ‘On the Composition of Boethius's Consolatio Philosophiae,’ Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, XV (1904), 1–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Founders of the Middle Ages (Harvard University Press, 1929), pp. 163Google Scholar ff. See also Carton, op. cit., pp. 580–582. Pierre Courcelle in ‘Boèce et l'école d'Alexandrie,’ Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire, LII (1935), 185–223, would see in Boethius chiefly a transmitter of the Alexandrian learning of his own day. He is inclined to think that Boethius learned his Greek and received his training in Alexandria itself.

8 For the present I am considering only the relation of the Dialogues to Boethius. The Soliloquia are reserved for treatment later on.

9 Cf. Boethius, De Tr. (Stewart and Rand, 1926), p. 4, 31 ff.; Rand, ‘Comp. of Boethius's Cons.,’ p. 18; Fr. Klingner, ‘De Boethii Cons. Phil.,’ Philol. Unters. her. v. A. Kiessling u. U. v. Wilam.-Moell. XXVII (1921), 5, 6,71, 72, 99, 100, 101, 103, 104, 108, 110, 111; Konrad Bruder, Die philosoph. Elemente in den Op. Sacra des Boethius (Leipzig, 1928), pp. 12, 23, 24, 27, 28, 32, etc.; Carton, op. cit.; Schurr, op. cit. This is scarcely an exhaustive list; it is merely intended to show that Boethius's acquaintance with Augustine is a matter of common knowledge, or, at least, commonly accepted.

10 It is an interesting coincidence that both Boethius's first commentary on Porphyry and Augustine's De Ordine begin with an unusual night-scene. The speakers in the dialogues have been awakened by night sounds. One has noted that the other is awake, following which the philosophical conversation begins. Cf. Rand, Founders, p. 143.

11 See Stewart, H. F., Boethius an Essay (1891), pp. 57–80Google Scholar; Klingner, op. cit.; Rand, Founders, ca. pp. 165–178; Duckett, E. S., The Gateway to the Middle Ages (New York, Macmillan, 1938), pp. 197–211Google Scholar.

12 Cf. Rand, Founders, pp. 168, 172.

13 Cf. Ac. I, i, 4; B.V. i, 6; O. I, ii, 5 ff., etc.; Rand, op. cit., pp. 256 ff., 342, n. 9. See also Augustine, Conf. (Gibb and Montgomery, Camb. Univ. Press, 1927), pp. Ivii–lxiii, 236, 237, 239, 240, 245–247 (i.e. Conf. IX, 5, 7, 8, 12–14); Dyroff, op. cit., pp. 21–23.

14 The concept of Philosophy as healer is, of course, an ancient one. Cf. Zeller, Phil. der Gr. (numerous references under ‘Philosophic als Heilkunde'). Philosophy has already taken form as an allegorical personage in Cicero (Tusc. I, 64; II, 11, 16; III, 13; V, 5). The idea is greatly enriched by Augustine and is most fully exploited by Boethius.

15 Cons. I p 1, etc.; Ac. I, 1 (p. 3, 22–23); cf. Soliloquia I, 22.

16 Ac. ibid.

17 In addition to I p 1, Boethius's learning is emphasized in I m 2, I p 4, etc. Cf. the course that Augustine lays out for aspiring eruditi O. II, 24 ff.

18 O. II, 14.

19 O. II, 15: alios autem pios et bonos atque splendido ingenio praeditos, qui neque nos deseri a summo deo possunt in animum inducere et tamen rerum tanta quasi caligine atque commixtione turbati nullum ordinem uident uolentesque sibi nudari abditissimas causas errores suos saepe etiam carminibus conqueruntur. I am giving free English paraphrases of some of the passages of Augustine cited in this paper, since they are not entirely clear in the Latin apart from their context.

20 Cons. I m 5.

21 O. II, 44: … si … ilia omnia, quae per tot disciplinas late uarieque diffusa sunt, ad unum quiddam simplex uerum certumque redegerit, eruditi dignissimus nomine non temere iam quaerit ilia diuina, non iam credenda solum uerum etiam contemplanda intellegenda atque retinenda.

22 Ac. II, 5–6 (p. 27, 8–12).

23 Cf. Cons. I p 2, 11 ff., in particular, but Philosophia is constantly occupied in Book I with the problem of Boethius's malady and symptoms.

24 Ac. I, 3 (p. 5, 13).

25 O. I, 24 (p. 137, 2–9): … qua nominate [beata uita] omnes sese erigunt et quasi adtendunt in manus, utrum habeas, quod dare possis egentibus uariisque morbis impeditis. Quibus Sapientia [i.e. Philosophy] cum praecipere coeperit, ut medicum perferant seque cum aliqua patientia curari sinant, in pannos suos recidunt, quorum concalefactione tabificati scabiem uoluptatum aerumnosarum scalpunt libentius, quam ut monita medici paululum dura et morbis onerosa perpetiendo atque subeundo ualetudini sanorum lucique reddantur.

26 Cons. III p 1, 13–14.

27 Ac. II, 7 (p. 28, 13–16).

28 Cons. I p 5, 38 ff.

29 Cons. I m 7, 29–31.

30 Cons. I p 1, 26–44.

31 There is a good characterization of Licentius in Dyroff, op. cit., p. 19. See also Gibb and Montgomery's edition of the Confessions, p. lxi, n. 2.

32 Ac. III, 7 (p. 50, 17–21): Opto quidem, inquam, tibi, ut istam poeticam, quam concupisti, conplectaris aliquando, non quod me nimis delectat ista perfectio, sed quod uideo te tantum exarsisse, ut nisi fastidio euadere ab hoc amore non possis, quod euenire post perfectionem facile solet.

33 Ibid. (p. 50, 21–24).

34 Ibid. (p. 50, 24–28).

35 Cons. I p 1, 32–34.

36 Ibid. 28.

37 Ac. III, 7 (p. 50, 29–51, 4).

38 O. I, 8 (p. 126, 20–26).

39 O. I, 24 (p. 137, 13–24). In his Retractationes (I, 3), Augustine regrets that he ever referred to the Muses even in jest as aliquas deas.

40 O. I, 6 ff. This whole scene is a piece of brilliant realistic writing.

41 O. I, 8–9.

42 O. I, 10 (p. 127, 21–128, 17).

43 Cons. I p 1, 39–41.

44 Op. cit., p. 115, n. 2. Klingner cited Catalepton V, in which the Muses although banished are invited to return sed pudenter et raro. Cf. Rand, E. K., Les Esprits Souverains dans la Littérature Romaine (Paris, 1936), p. 68Google Scholar.

45 On the ancient hostility of Philosophy towards the poets, cf. Weinberger's edition of the Consolatio (CSEL LXVII, 1934), p. 3Google Scholar. Cf. also Cic. Tusc. II, 27; III, 3.

46 In addition to Plato's and Cicero's animosity toward the poets, Boethius would naturally have been familiar with Augustine's grievance against the poets often expressed in his other works, e.g. Conf. I, 25–26; De C. D. II, 14, etc. The Dialogues, however, present Philosophy's grievance in a series of animated and colorful passages; these, it seems to me, were the most likely to come to Boethius's mind as he wrote the first part of the Consolatio.

47 B.V. I, 1.

48 Cf. Cons. I p 3, 38; I m 5, 45.

49 B.V. i, 2 (p. 89, 15–26).

50 Ibid. (p. 90, 4–9).

51 A mediaeval commentator on I m 1 grasped the dramatic character of the Cons.: Hoc non dicit pro se Boetius sed pro illis qui dolent de amissione mundanarum rerum. See Saeculi Noni Auct. in Boetii Cons. Ph. comm. (Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome, IX, 1935), p. 8, 12–14.

52 There are, in addition to the prefaces to Contra Ac., numerous passages in Augustine's Conf. and letters relating to Romanianus. See the references in the article of Phillott, H. W., Dict. of Chr. Biog. IV (1887), 550–551Google Scholar. Augustine's De Vera Religione is addressed to Romanianus.

53 An indispensable first step in the progress towards Philosophy's cure. Cf. Cons. I p 6, 33–42; O. I, 3.

54 Ac. I, 1 (p. 3, 17–4, 4).

55 Ac. I, 1–2 (p. 4, 4–5, 3). The italics are mine.

56 Ibid. 2 (p. 5, 7).

57 Cons. I m 1, 21–22.

58 Ac. I, 3.

59 Ac. I, 4. Boethius in his exile had good reason to recall Augustine's discourse to Romanianus on the uses of adversity. It is tempting to imagine that this recollection brought with it other reminiscences of the Dialogues and started the train of thought out of which the Consolatio grew.

60 B.V. II, 5.

61 P. 257.

62 Sol. II, 14.

63 Sol. II, 13–14.

64 Cf. Sol. I, 12, 16, 17, 26, 27.

65 Sol. II, 13 (end)-14.

66 I, 26. This passage is not entirely representative, because it gives no idea of the liveliness of many of Ratio's and Augustinus's disputes.

67 See Etienne Gilson, Introduction à l'étude de Saint Augustin (Paris, 1929), pp. 12–29, cited by Carton, op. cit., pp. 641.

68 Carton, ibid.

69 Klingner, op. cit., pp. 113 ff.; Rand, Founders, p. 161.

70 Sol. I, 1.

71 One passage of the Soliloquia (I, 24) may have provided Boethius with the theme of IV m 1. In both Augustine and the Cons. the divine interlocutor has just promised to point out the road to the goal. There is the same insistence upon the need of abandoning the concerns of earth, for this is a flight towards Light (lux illa, lumen uerendum). Cf. their words: Aug.: Penitus esse ista sensibilia fugienda cavendumque magnopere, dum hoc corpus agimus, ne quo eorum uisco pennae nostrae impediantur, quibus integris perfeciisque opus est, ut ad illam lucem ab his tenebris euolemus…. Boethius:

Sunt etenim pennae uolucres mihi

Quae celsa conscendant poli.

Quas sibi cum uelox mens induit,

Terras perosa despicit …

…….

Polum relinquat extimum

Dorsaque uelocis premat aetheris

Compos uerendi luminis …

Both Ratio and Philosophia promise that as soon as the goal is reached the winged soul will recognize at once the success of his journey. Both Augustinus and Boethius (beginning of p. 2) sigh wistfully. Neither is yet ready to make the flight.

72 Augustine's Dialogues were to be found in Cassiodorus's library at Vivarium. Cf. the references in Mynors's, R. A. B.edition of the Institutions (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1937), p. 187Google Scholar.

73 Boethius, De Tr. (Stewart and Rand), p. 4, 31–32.