1 An adequate understanding of the Consolatio requires a constant awareness of the distinction between Boethius-the-character and Boethius-the-author. In this paper we shall use the name Boethius (in italic) to refer to the character of the dialogue and the term Boethius (in roman) to identify the author.Google Scholar I owe a special debt of gratitude to Ilhaam Isaacs for her constant insight and support. I also would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.Google Scholar

2 More precisely, some scholars avoid mentioning the Consolatio or make passing reference to it (Favez, Holloway, Johann, Kassel), others (Buresch, von Moos, Scourfield) regard Boethius's text as an atypical consolation. See Buresch, C., Consolationum a Graecis Romanisque Scriptarum (Leipzig, 1886); Favez, C., La consolation latine chrétienne (Paris, 1937); Holloway, P. A., Consolation in Philippians: Philosophical Sources and Rhetorical Strategy (Port Chester, 2001); Johann, H. T., Trailer und Trost: Eine quellen- und strukturanalytische Untersuchung der philosophischen Trostschriften über den Tod (Munich, 1968); Kassel, B., Untersuchungen zur griechischen und römischen Konsolationsliteratur (Munich, 1958); von Moos, P., Consolatio: Studien zur mittellateinischen Trostliteratur über den Tod und zum Problem der christlichen Trauer, 4 vols. (Munich, 1970–72); Scourfield, D., Consoling Heliodorus: A Commentary on Jerome, Letter 60 (Oxford, 1993), 16–18; “Consolation,” in Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1996), 378.Google Scholar

3 Curley, T. F., “How to Bead the Consolation of Philosophy,” Interpretation 14 (1984): 211–63; idem, “The Consolation of Philosophy as a Work of Literature,” American Journal of Philology 108 (1987): 343–67; Dronke, P., Verse with Prose from Petronius to Dante: The Art and Scope of the Mixed Form (Cambridge, MA, 1994); Marenbon, J., Boethius (Oxford, 2002); Pabst, B., Prosimetrum: Tradition und Wandel einer Literaturform zwischen Spätantike und Spätmittelalter (Cologne, 1994); Payne, F. A., Chaucer and Menippean Satire (Madison, 1981), 55–85; Relihan, J. C., The Prisoner's Philosophy: Life and Death in Boethius's “Consolation” (Notre Dame, 2007).Google Scholar

4 Payne, , Chaucer and Menippean Satire ; Relihan, , The Prisoner's Philosophy ; Marenbon, , Boethius. Google Scholar

5 O'Daly, G., The Poetry of Boethius (London, 1991); Gruber, J., Kommentar zu Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae (Berlin, 2006); Rand, E. K., “On the Composition of Boethius' Consolatio Philosophiae,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 15 (1904): 1–28; Reiss, E., Boethius (Boston, 1982); Shanzer, D., “Interpreting the Consolation,” in Cambridge Companion to Boethius , ed. Marenbon, J. (Cambridge, 2009), 181–206. Shanzer argues that it is risky to classify a text as belonging to a specific genre since ancient authors liked to combine elements that belong to different literary genres.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 The limitation of the approach to the study of the literary genre of Boethius's Consolatio common in contemporary scholarship is made apparent as well by recent studies that have shown the diversity of the texts that are typically regarded as Greco-Roman consolations. Baltussen, H., “Personal Grief and Public Mourning in Plutarch's Consolation to His Wife,” American Journal of Philology 130 (2009): 67–98, at 69–70; Scourfield, Consoling Heliodorus, 16–17; idem, “The De Mortalitate: Consolation and Context,” Vigiliae Christianae 50 (1996): 12–41, at 12–13. The problems of this approach will be further discussed in section one.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 Curley, , “How to Read the Consolation“; idem, “The Consolation of Philosophy“; Fortin, J. R., “The Nature of Consolation in The Consolation of Philosophy,” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 78 (2004): 293–305; Haldane, J., “De consolatione philosophiae,” in Philosophy, Religion, and the Spiritual Life , ed. McGhee, M. (Cambridge, 1992), 31–45; Jones, J. D., “Does Philosophy Console? Boethius and Christian Faith,” Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 57 (1983): 78–87; Marenbon, , Boethius .Google Scholar

8 Chadwick, H., Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology, and Philosophy (Oxford, 1981); O'Daly, , The Poetry; Gruber, Kommentar zu Boethius ; Rand, , “On the Composition”; Reiss, , Boethius; Shanzer, “Interpreting the Consolation.”.Google Scholar

9 The problem with this approach is revealed by Relihan's fluctuating way of treating the literary genre of the Consolatio (Relihan, , The Prisoner's Philosophy , 47–58). On the one hand, he clearly indicates that the Consolatio's prosmetric structure and its covert satirical tone makes it a Menippean satire. At the same time, however, he tries to maintain that the Consolatio is a consolation by arguing that it is a “paradoxical” consolation. The Consolatio, Relihan argues, toys with many of the features typical of the consolatory genre and does not deliver the consolation that the reader is led to expect by the overt goal of the text. Yet, according to Relihan, these features are not at odds with the consolatory genre but make the Consolatio an experiment within the complex history of the genre of the consolation. Relihan's account gives the impression that he unwittingly struggles to reconcile the peculiarities in the style and context of the Consolatio with its overt goal and use of features that are typical of the consolatory genre and thus opts for a compromise. The different and not obviously interchangeable ways in which Relihan describes Boethius's text — i.e., “a parody” of a consolation (49), “an idiosyncratic consolation” (51), an “experimental” consolation (51) — seem to illustrate his difficulty in capturing the precise way in which the Consolatio occupies a peculiar place within the consolatory tradition. Section one of this paper will show that a thorough analysis of the distinctive features of Greco-Roman consolation will avoid the difficulties that Relihan's analysis ends up presenting.Google Scholar

10 Magee offers a very detailed analysis of the sources of the Consolatio, yet his analysis of the influence of Greco-Roman consolations on Boethius's text is rather limited (Magee, J., “Boethius, Last of the Romans,” Carmina Philosophiae 16 [2009]: 1–22, at 6–8).Google Scholar

11 Means and Phillips offer very persuasive arguments in support of the interpretation that the Consolatio is a consolation; yet they give no consideration to Boethius's relation to Greco-Roman consolations (Means, M., The Consolatio Genre in Medieval English Literature [Gainesville, 1972], 18; Phillips, P., “Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae and the Lamentatio/Consolatio Tradition,” Medieval English Studies 9 [2001]: 5–27).Google Scholar

12 The very significant number of consolatory texts composed before and immediately after the Consolatio makes it impossible to study, within the limited scope of a paper, the relation between the Consolatio and ancient as well as medieval consolatory texts. Thus, we shall limit our study to the investigation of the relation between the Consolatio and some well-known Greco-Roman consolations. Greco-Roman consolatory texts present several advantages for our study: 1) scholars such as Gruber (Kommentar zu Boethius) have persuasively demonstrated that Boethius knew these texts; 2) many of the consolatory strategies contained in these texts are very clearly spelled out and easy to recognize; 3) these texts are amongst the earlier examples of consolations and hence it is reasonable to start from them when investigating the place of the Consolatio within the consolatory tradition.Google Scholar

13 Rutherford, R. B., The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: A Study (Oxford, 1989); Hadot, P., “Forms of Life and Forms of Discourse in Ancient Philosophy,” Critical Inquiry 16 (1990): 483–505.Google Scholar

14 The scholars who consider the Consolatio to be a “Menippean satire” believe that the goal of its philosophical arguments is not really to convey philosophical ideas, but to present flawed arguments that are supposed to illustrate the limitations (Marenbon) or failures (Payne, Relihan) of the discipline of philosophy. See Marenbon, , Boethius ; Payne, , Chaucer and Menippean Satire ; Relihan, , The Prisoner's Philosophy .Google Scholar

15 Curley, T. F., “How to Read the Consolation“; idem, “The Consolation of Philosophy“; Fortin, , “The Nature of Consolation”; Haldane, , “De consolatione philosophiae“; Jones, , “Does Philosophy Console?”; Marenbon, , Boethius .Google Scholar

16 Holloway, , Consolation in Philippians (n. 2 above), 67.Google Scholar

17 See Cicero, , Tusculan Disputations 3.12–13; Seneca, , Consolation to Marcia 6.1–2; idem, Consolation to Polybius 2.1, 4.1, 18.5; idem, Letters 63.1, 77.12.Google Scholar

18 Pliny's letters 1.12, 9.9 are not customarily classified as consolations; nonetheless, they do have a strong consolatory dimension.Google Scholar

19 “Scio a praeceptis incipere omnis qui monere aliquem uolunt, in exemplis desinere. Mutari hunc interim morem expedit; aliter enim cum alio agendum est: quosdam ratio ducit, quibusdam nomina clara opponenda sunt et auctoritas quae liberum non relinquat animum ad speciosa stupentibus” (Seneca, , Consolation to Marcia 2). The critical edition used for all Seneca's works is L. Annaei Senecae Dialogorum libri duodecim , ed. Reynolds, L. D. (Oxford, 1977).Google Scholar

20 Baltussen, , “Personal Grief and Public Mourning” (n. 6 above); Scourfield, , Consoling Heliodorus (n. 6 above); idem, “The De Mortalitate“ (n. 6 above), 12–13.Google Scholar

21 Baltussen, , “Personal Grief and Public Mourning”; Holloway, , Consolation in Philippians ; Scourfield, , “The De Mortalitate,” 12.Google Scholar

22 Scourfield, , Consoling Heliodorus , 16–17; idem, “The De Mortalitate,” 12–13.Google Scholar

23 For a study of this topic see Segal, C., “Gorgias and Psychology of the Logos,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 66 (1962): 99–155; Guthrie, W. K. C., A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 3 (Cambridge, 1969); Lain Entralgo, P., The Therapy of the Word in Classical Antiquity , ed. and trans. Rather, L. J. and Sharp, J. M. (New Haven, 1970); Kerferd, G. B., The Sophistic Movement (Cambridge, 1981), 78–83; Cole, T., The Origins of Rhetoric in Ancient Greece (Baltimore, 1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24 Gorgias, , The Encomium of Helen 8, 14, in Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker , ed. Diels, H. and Kranz, W., 6th ed. (Zurich, 1951–52).Google Scholar

25 Ps.-Plutarch, Lives of Ten Orators 883–84. For a study of this topic see Entralgo, Lain, Therapy of the Word ; Baltussen, , “Personal Grief and Public Mourning,” 74–75.Google Scholar

26 In Phaedo 261a Plato introduces the term psychagogia (i.e., leading of the soul) to capture the activity of employing language to guide the soul. See Baltussen, , “Personal Grief and Public Mourning,” 71–73.Google Scholar

27 Kuiper, K., “De Crantoris fragmentis moralibus,” Mnemosyne 29 (1901): 341–62; Graver, M., Cicero on the Emotions: Tusculan Disputations 3 and 4 (Chicago, 2002), 187–94.Google Scholar

28 Baltussen, , “Personal Grief and Public Mourning,” 89–91.Google Scholar

29 The historical identity of the addressee of the consolation is not always easy to determine; this is, however, a separate enterprise from that of establishing to whom the text is addressed.Google Scholar

30 The Latin text of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy is taken from Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, Opuscula theologica , ed. Moreschini, C., 2nd ed. (Munich, 2005). All translations of the texts of the Consolatio are mine. When discussing issues related to the full title of the Consolatio we should be aware that the full title quoted above, though quite common, is not the only one that occurs in the manuscript tradition. Other common titles are: De consolatione philosophiae, Philosophiae consolatio, De consolatione philosophica, and Philosophica consolatio. Nonetheless, in spite of their differences, the first two titles listed here maintain the ambiguity as to whether Boethius, Philosophy, or the author is to be consoled. Moreover, as is shown in this section, the title of the text simply alerts us to a possible ambiguity that is present in the text. Even if we used the titles De consolatione philosophica and Philosophica consolatio — which do not imply that Philosophy needs to be consoled — the problem of explaining the condition of neglect in which Philosophy is described to be would still need to be addressed.Google Scholar

31 Relihan, , The Prisoner's Philosophy (n. 3 above), 52–54.Google Scholar

32 Consolatio 1.m.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4.1–2; 1.5.10–12; 1.6.18–21; 2.1.5–8.Google Scholar

33 On the character of Philosophy in the Consolatio see Courcelle, P., “Le personnage de Philosophic dans la littérature latine,” Journal des Savants 4 (1970): 209–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34 Blumenthal argues that Lady Philosophy is the only recipient of consolation, since the goal of the Consolatio is to explore philosophy's inability to offer a cure to man's sufferings (Blumenthal, A., “New Muses: Poetry in Boethius's Consolatio,” Pacific Coast Philology 21 [1986]: 25–29).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

35 “Quarum speciem, ueluti fumosas imagines solet, caligo quaedam neglectae uetustatis obduxerat” (Consolatio 1.1.3).Google Scholar

36 It is difficult to assess why Boethius indicates that Lady Philosophy can no longer attract people's interest. It is possible that Boethius was trying to capture the attitude of his contemporaries towards philosophy. He might have felt that the interest in philosophy was fading during his days; his intention to translate the works of Plato and Aristotle into Latin is, indeed, usually interpreted as an attempt, among other things, to fight the decline in the knowledge of and interest in classical philosophy. Nonetheless, it is also true that the reign of Theoderic is marked by a renewed interest in the humanities. For a study of the state of humanist studies in Boethius's time see Courcelle, P., Les Lettres grecques en Occident: De Macrobe à Cassiodore (Paris, 1948); Kirkby, H., “The Scholar and His Public,” in Boethius: His Life, Thought and Influence , ed. Gibson, M. (Oxford, 1981), 44–69; Cracco Ruggini, L., “Nobiltà romana e potere nell'età di Boezio,” in Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Studi Boeziani , ed. Obertello, L. (Rome, 1981): 73–96.Google Scholar

37 Lady Philosophy's use of Stoic and Epicurean consolatory strategies will be documented at some length later in this paper. For a study of the presence of Stoic and Epicurean theories in the Consolatio , see Gruber, , Kommentar zu Boethius (n. 5 above).Google Scholar

38 For a recent, informed analysis of this debate see Sellars, J., The Art of Living: The Stoics on the Nature and Function of Philosophy (London, 2009), 15–33, 86–103.Google Scholar

39 This reading of 1.3.6–9 seems also to be supported by the following consideration: in antiquity it was quite common to think that Socrates was the representative of the unity of philosophy, which was successively broken by later thinkers. Such a theory is discussed at some length by, among others, Cicero in Tusculan Disputations 5.3. For a study of this topic see Alfonsi, L., “Studi Boeziani IV,” Aevum 25 (1951): 210–29, at 228–29.Google Scholar

40 See Chadwick, , Boethius (n. 8 above), 224.Google Scholar

41 For a recent study of Cicero's self-consolation see Baltussen, H., “Cicero's Consolatio ad se: Character, Purpose and Impact of a Curious Treatise,” in Greek and Roman Consolations: Eight Studies of a Tradition and Its Afterlife , ed. idem (Swansea, 2012).Google Scholar

42 Cicero, , Letters to Atticus 12.14; Plutarch, , Consolation to His Wife 608e–f.Google Scholar

43 Abelard, , Hexaëmeron 760C, ed. Romig, M. F. and Luscombe, D., CCM 15 (Turnhout, 2004); idem, Introductio ad Theologiam 1183A–B, in Dedeck-Héry, V. L., ed., “Boethius' De Consolatione by de Meun, Jean,” Medieval Studies 14 (1952): 165–275, at 171; John of Salisbury, Policraticus 7.15, ed. and trans. Nederman, C. (Cambridge, 1990).Google Scholar

44 A brief consideration of the titles of some of the most famous Greco-Roman consolations seems to confirm that these texts were not normally addressed to philosophers. None of the three consolations written by Seneca is addressed to people who had advanced knowledge of philosophy; Marcia and Seneca's mother Helvia were educated women, but their acquaintance with philosophy was very basic, as was common among women at that time (see Consolation of Helvia 17). The Polybius Seneca addresses in his consolation was Emperor Claudius's literary secretary; he must have been an educated man, but did not necessarily have technical expertise in philosophy, as the arguments contained in the text seem to confirm. Similarly, Plutarch's consolation to his exiled friend Menemachus of Sardis, possibly an aspiring politician, is written for someone who, the consolation's arguments suggest, does not possess any technical expertise in philosophy. The Consolation to Livia Augusta by Ps.-Ovid is, once again, written for a woman who was educated but not an expert in philosophy. Ps.-Plutarch's Consolation to Apollonius does not tell much about its addressee, but the text does not give any indication that he was an expert of philosophy.Google Scholar

45 Seneca, , Consolation to Helvia 17.Google Scholar

46 For further comments on the lack of advanced philosophical expertise of a consolation's addressee, see Philostratus, , The Epistles of Apollonius of Tyana 55. It is noteworthy that although Philostratus's letters are customarily attributed to Apollonius of Tyana, some scholars contest such an attribution.Google Scholar

47 For a study of Boethius's notion of philosophy, see: D'Onofrio, G., “Boezio filosofo” in Boèce ou la chaîne des savoirs: Actes du colloque international de la Fondation Singer-Polignac, Paris, 8–12 juin 1999 (Louvain, 2003), 381–419.Google Scholar

48 Consolatio 1.1.9–11; 1.2.3–4; 1.3.4–5; 1.4.3–4; 1.4.5–10; 1.4.37–42.Google Scholar

49 Consolatio 1.2.3–4; 1.2.5; 1.6.17–20; 3.m.12; 4.1. Boethius's remembrance of the truths he has forgotten should not be confused with Plato's theory of anamnesis. Plato's theory refers to the process that all human beings should undergo in order to acquire the knowledge that is innate in them. Boethius's remembrance, on the contrary, consists in the activity through which a philosopher regains knowledge of those innate truths that he had once recollected but is no longer able to bring to mind. For a different interpretation, see Crabbe, A. M., “Anamnesis and Mythology in the De Consolatione Philosophiae,” in Atti del congresso , ed. Obertello, (n. 36 above), 311–25; Claassen, J. M., “Literary Anamnesis: Boethius Remembers Ovid,” Helios 34 (2007): 1–35.Google Scholar

50 A general list of the most common topics of Greco-Roman consolations is given by Cicero in Tusculan Disputations 3.34.81 and by Dio Chrysostom in Discourses 16.3. More specifically, the most common topics of Greco-Roman consolations are: (i) exile (e.g., Ovid, , Letters from the Black Sea 4.1; Plutarch, , On Exile; Musonius, That Exile Is Not an Evil ; Seneca, , Consolation of Helvia; Teles, On Exile), (ii) death of loved ones (e.g., Plutarch, Consolation to His Wife; Ps.-Ovid, Consolation to Livia Augusta; Ps.-Plutarch, Consolation to Apollonius ; Seneca, , Consolatio to Marcia; idem, Letters 93, 99; Statius, , Silvae 3.3, 5.1); (iii) suffering caused by ungrateful people (e.g., Seneca, , Letters 81), (iv) legal difficulties (e.g., Cicero, , Letters to His Friends 5.18; Seneca, , Letters 17, 25), (v) political or financial difficulties (e.g., Cicero, , Letters to His Friends 5.13, 5.16, 5.17; Seneca, , Letters 17, 25), (vi) forced separation (e.g., Cicero, , Letters to Brutus 2.2) and (vii) fraud (e.g., Juvenal, , Satires 13).Google Scholar

51 Consolatio 1.8–11; 1.2.3–4; 1.3.4–5; 1.4.5–10; 1.4.37–43; 1.5.9.Google Scholar

52 Ibid., 1.2.3–5; 1.5.10; 1.6.10; 1.6.16–20; 2.1.2.Google Scholar

53 Ibid., 1.3, 1.m.4, 2.m.4.Google Scholar

54 In this respect a telling text is ibid., 1.5.1–6.Google Scholar

55 “Quam quidem laudem sapientiae statuo esse maximam, non aliunde pendere nec extrinsecus aut bene aut male vivendi suspensas habere rationes. Quae cogitatio cum mihi non omnino excidisset — etenim penitus insederat — vi tamen tempestatum et concursu calamitatum erat aliquantum labefaetata atque convulse” (Cicero, , Letters to his Friends 5.13).Google Scholar

56 Plutarch, Ps., Consolation to Apollonius 118c. The critical edition used for Ps.-Plutarch's Consolation to Apollonius is Plutarch's Moralia , ed. and trans. Babbitt, F. G., vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA, 1928).Google Scholar

57 “Haec tibi scribo, is qui Annaeum Serenum carissimum mihi tam immodice flevi ut, quod minime velim, inter exempla sim eorum quos dolor vicit” (Seneca, , Letters 63.14).Google Scholar

58 “Tamen, quae in praesentia in mentem mihi venerunt, decrevi brevi ad te perscribere, non quo ea te fugere existimem, sed quod forsitan dolore impeditus minus ea perspicias” (Cicero, , Letters to his Friends 4.5).Google Scholar

59 “Videtur mihi cadere in sapientem aegritudo” (Cicero, , Tusculan Disputations 3.7).Google Scholar

60 “Cadere, opinor, in sapientem aegritudinem tibi dixisti videri. -Et vero ita existimo. -Humanum id quidem, quod ita existumas. Non enim e silice nati sumus, sed est natura in animis tenerum quiddam atque molle, quod aegritudine quasi tempestate quatiatur” (Cicero, , Tusculan Disputations 3.12).Google Scholar

61 For an informative analysis of this topic see Holloway, , Consolation in Philippians (n. 2 above), 62–65.Google Scholar

62 Thucydides, , The Peloponnesian War 2.44.Google Scholar

63 Plutarch, , On Exile 599B. The critical edition used for Plutarch's On Exile is Plutarch's Moralia , ed. and trans. De Lacy, P. and Einarson, B., vol. 7 (Cambridge, MA, 1959).Google Scholar

64 Plutarch, Ps., Consolation to Apollonius 118b–c.Google Scholar

65 “Sed medicinae, inquit, tempus est quam querelae” ( Consolatio 1.2.1).Google Scholar

66 Marenbon, , Boethius (n. 3 above), 159; idem, “Rationality and Happiness: Interpreting Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy,” in Rationality and Happiness: From the Ancients to the Early Medievals , ed. Yu, J. and Gracia, J. J. E. (Rochester, 2003), 175–97, at 175; idem, “Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2010 Edition) , ed. Zalta, Edward N., http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2010/entries/boethius/.Google Scholar

67 This structure is very clear in Cicero, , Letters to his Friends 4.5, 4.6, 4.13, 5.16; idem, Letters to Atticus 15.1; Juvenal, Satire 13; Ovid, , Ex Ponto 1.9; Seneca, , Letters 63.Google Scholar

68 Rhetor, Menander, Treatise 2.413.21–415.5. Cf. Heath, M., Menander: A Rhetor in Context (Oxford, 2004).Google Scholar

69 See Pliny, , Letters 9.9; Statius, , Silvae 3.3, 5.1.Google Scholar

70 Cf. Manning, C. E., “The Consolatory Tradition and Seneca's Attitude to the Emotions,” Greece & Rome 21 (1974): 71–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

71 “Moleste fero decessisse Flaccum, amicum tuum, plus tamen aequo dolere te nolo. Illud, ut non doleas, vix audebo exigere; et esse melius scio…. Nobis autem ignosci potest prolapsis ad lacrimas, si non nimiae decucurrerunt, si ipsi illas repressimus. Nec sicci sint oculi amisso amico nec fluant; lacrimandum est, non plorandum” (Seneca, , Letters 63.1).Google Scholar

72 “Quid ergo est? Permittamus illis cadere, non imperemus; fluat quantum adfectus eiecerit, non quantum poscet imitatio” (Seneca, , Letters 99.16).Google Scholar

73 Plutarch, Ps., Consolation to Apollonius 102c–e.Google Scholar

74 The use of this strategy should not be surprising since Greco-Roman consolations often aimed to guide the suffering person not necessarily to reject or abandon his negative emotions but to learn how to keep them within reasonable limits. See Cicero, , Letters to Atticus 12.10; idem, Letters to his Friends 5.18.2; idem, Tusculan Disputations 3.76; Ps.-Plutarch, Consolation to Apollonius 102c–e; Seneca, , Consolation to Marcia 7; idem, Consolation to Polybius 18.5; idem, Letters 63.1, 99.14–16.Google Scholar

75 Marenbon, , Boethius , 159; idem, “Rationality and Happiness,” 175; idem, “Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius.”.Google Scholar

76 “Sunt qui unum officium consolantis putent malum illud omnino non esse, ut Cleanthi placet; sunt qui non magnum malum, ut Peripatetici; sunt qui abducant a malis ad bona, ut Epicurus; sunt qui satis putent ostendere nihil inopinati accidisse, <ut cyrenaici> [nihil mali]. Chrysippus aut caput esse censet in consolando detrahere illam opinionem maerenti, se officio fungi putet iusto atque debito” (Cicero, , Tusculan Disputations 3.76). See also ibid., 3.77.+[nihil+mali].+Chrysippus+aut+caput+esse+censet+in+consolando+detrahere+illam+opinionem+maerenti,+se+officio+fungi+putet+iusto+atque+debito”+(Cicero,+,+Tusculan+Disputations+3.76).+See+also+ibid.,+3.77.>Google Scholar

77 Plutarch, , On Exile 599d. See also Cicero, , Tusculan Disputations 3.76; Dio Chrysostom, Discourses 13.8, 16; Plutarch, Ps., Consolation to Apollonius 103f, 112b, 121f–122a; Seneca, , Consolation to Polybius 18; idem, Consolation to Helvia 5.Google Scholar

78 A study of all these texts is beyond the limits of this paper; in this context it is important to note that the Consolatio is employing a strategy which is common to Greco-Roman consolatory texts.Google Scholar

79 “Et earn mentium constat esse naturam ut quotiens abiecerint ueras, falsis opinionibus induantur, ex quibus orta perturbationum caligo uerum illum confundit intuitum” ( Consolatio 1.6.21).Google Scholar

80 Epicurus, , Vatican Sayings 55.Google Scholar

81 Epicurus, , Frag. 138, ed. Usener, H., Epicurea (Leipzig, 1887).Google Scholar

82 Epicurus, , Frag. 122, ed. Usener.Google Scholar

83 Philostratus, , The Epistles of Apollonius of Tyana 58.Google Scholar

84 “Potius ab istis te, quae torquent, ad haec tot et tanta, quae consolantur, converte ac respice optimos fratres, respice uxorem, filium respice: pro omnium horum salute hac tecum portione Fortuna decidit. Multos habes, in quibus adquiescas. Ab hac te infamia vindica, ne videatur omnibus plus apud te valere unus dolor quam haec tam multa solacia” (Seneca, , Consolation to Polybius 12.1). For other examples of this method, see Cicero, , Letters to his Friends 4.5.5, 4.13.4, 5.18.2; Philostratus, The Epistles of Apollonius of Tyana 58; Ps.-Ovid., Consolation to Livia Augusta 377–92; Seneca, , Consolation to Helvia 18.19; idem, Consolation to Marcia 2.3–4, 4, 5, 24.1–4.Google Scholar

85 Plutarch, Ps., Consolation to Apollonius 112d.Google Scholar

86 “‘Unde ergo tanta nobis pertinacia in deploratione nostri, si id non fit naturae iussu?’ Quod nihil nobis mali antequam eueniat proponimus, sed ut immunes ipsi et aliis pacatius ingressi iter alienis non admonemur casibus illos esse communes” (Seneca, , Consolation to Marcia 9). For other examples of this consolatory strategy, see Plutarch, , On Exile 599d. See also Ps.-Plutarch, Consolation to Apollonius 112d; Ps.-Ovid, Consolation to Livia Augusta 397–400; Seneca, , Consolation to Polybius 11; idem, Consolation to Helvia 5; idem, Consolation to Marcia 9.Google Scholar

87 “Postremo aequo animo toleres oportet quicquid intra fortunae aream geritur cum semel iugo eius colla summiseris. Quodsi manendi abeundique scribere legem uelis ei quam tu tibi dominam sponte legisti, nonne iniurius fueris et impatientia sortem exacerbes quam permutare non possis? Si uentis uela committeres, non quo uoluntas peteret sed quo flatus impellerent promoueres; si aruis semina crederes, feraces inter se annos sterilesque pensares. Fortunae te regendum dedisti, dominae moribus oportet obtemperes. Tu uero uoluentis rotae impetum retinere conaris? At, omnium mortalium stolidissime, si manere incipit fors esse desistit” ( Consolatio 2.1.16–19).Google Scholar

88 Cf. Plutarch, , Consolation to His Wife 8–10; Ps.-Ovid, Consolation to Livia Augusta ; Seneca, , Consolation to Marcia 19–21, 23; idem, Consolation to Polybius 9; idem, Letter 63.4–6, 93.5–8; Statius, , Silvae 3.3.33–110.Google Scholar

89 Cf. Plutarch, , On Exile 601e–602a; Seneca, , Consolation to Helvia 7–8.Google Scholar

90 For a study of the occurrence of these topoi in Greco-Roman consolation, see Holloway, , Consolation in Philippians (n. 2 above), 62–65.Google Scholar

91 Among some of the most influential works, see Alfonsi, , “Studi Boeziani IV” (n. 39 above), 210–22; Fowler, H. N., A History of Roman Literature (New York, 1905); Galonnier, A., Anecdoton Holderi, ou, Ordo generis Cassiodororum: Éléments pour une étude de l'authenticité boécienne des Opuscula sacra, Philosophes médiévaux 35 (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1997); Gruber, , Kommentar zu Boethius (n. 5 above), 29–32; Rand, , “On the Composition” (n. 5 above), 1–28.Google Scholar

92 This is very clear in Aristotle's Protrepticus. For an excellent analysis of this text see Berti, E., Aristotele, Il Protreptico: Esortazione alla filosofia (Padua, 1967).Google Scholar

93 Philostratus, , Epistles of Apollonius of Tyana 55.Google Scholar

94 Plutarch, , On Exile 600B.Google Scholar

95 “Itaque illo te duco quo omnibus qui fortunam fugiunt confugiendum est, ad liberalia studia: illa sanabunt uulnus tuum, illa omnem tristitiam tibi euellent…. Illae consolabuntur, illae delectabunt, illae si bona fide in animum tuum intrauerint, numquam amplius intrabit dolor, numquam sollicitudo, numquam adflictationis inritae superuacua uexatio” (Seneca, , Consolation to Helvia 17).Google Scholar

96 Curley, , “How to Read the Consolation of Philosophy“ (n. 3 above), 243–45; idem, “The Consolation of Philosophy” (n. 3 above); Dronke, , Verse with Prose from Petronius to Dante (n. 3 above), 30–31, 38–46; Marenbon, , Boethius (n. 3 above), 159–63; Payne, , Chaucer and Menippean Satire (n. 3 above); Relihan, , The Prisoner's Philosophy (n. 3 above), 187–94; Shanzer, , “Interpreting the Consolation“ (n. 5 above), 233–36.Google Scholar

97 Julian, , A Consolation to Himself 241D.Google Scholar

98 Chrysostom, Dio, Discourses 13.4.Google Scholar

99 Plutarch, Ps., Consolation to Apollonius 102b.Google Scholar

100 Ibid., 103c.Google Scholar

101 Scourfield, , Consoling Heliodorus (n. 2 above); Baltussen, , “Personal Grief and Public Mourning” (n. 6 above).Google Scholar

102 “Magnum opus est probare maerenti illum suo iudicio et, quod se ita putet oportere facere, maerere … ut in causis non semper utimur eodem statu — sic enim appellamus controversiarum genera—, sed ad tempus, ad controversiae naturam, ad personam accomodamus, sic in aegritudine lenienda, quam quisque curationem recipere possit, videndum est” (Cicero, , Tusculan Disputations 3.79).Google Scholar

103 “Speciosa quidem ista sunt, inquam, oblitaque rhetoricae ac musicae melle dulcedinis tum tantum cum audiuntur oblectant” ( Consolatio 2.3.2).Google Scholar

104 “Iam cantum illa finiuerat, cum me audiendi auidum stupentemque arrectis adhuc auribus carminis mulcedo defixerat” (ibid., 3.1.1).Google Scholar

105 “Summum lassorum solamen animorum, quam tu me uel sententiarum pondere uel canendi etiam iucunditate refouisti” (ibid., 3.1.2).Google Scholar

106 Payne, , Chaucer and Menippean Satire , 82; Marenbon, , Boethius, 161–63; Relihan, , The Prisoner's Philosophy, 187–94.Google Scholar

107 See also 3.1.2.Google Scholar

108 “Adsit igitur rhetoricae suadela dulcedinis, quae tum tantum recta calle procedit cum nostra instituta non deserit cumque hac musica laris nostri uernacula nunc leuiores nunc grauiores modos succinat” (Consolatio 2.1.8). On musica meaning poetry, see Mueller-Goldingen, C., “Die Stellung der Dichtung in Boethius' Consolatio Philosophiae” Rheinisches Museum 132 (1989): 369–95; O'Daly, , The Poetry (n. 5 above), 34–36.Google Scholar

109 See Alfonsi, L., “Boezio Poeta,” Antiquitas 9 (1954): 4–13; Curley, , “The Consolation of Philosophy“ (n. 3 above), 356–67; idem, “How to Read the Consolation“ (n. 3 above), 245–53; Glei, R., “Dichtung und Philosophic in der Consolatio Philosophiae des Boethius,” Würzburger Jahrbücher 11 (1985): 225–38; O'Daly, , The Poetry, 39–42.Google Scholar

110 See Alfonsi, , “Boezio Poeta,” 4–6; Curley, , “The Consolation of Philosophy,” 357–58; idem, “How to Read the Consolation,” 246.Google Scholar

111 Boethius also pronounces another poem: 1.3. However, this poem is not particularly relevant to our investigation since it is not concerned with a particular philosophical view but, rather, its main purpose is to describe Boethius's state after his recognition of Lady Philosophy.Google Scholar

112 Here I agree with Curley (“The Consolation as a Work of Literature,” 357–58; idem, “How to Read the Consolation of Philosophy,” 246) that these poems seem to show that Boethius has learned the “proper use of poetry.” O'Daly (The Poetry, 41) is correct in pointing out that Boethius's new use of poetry does not indicate that he no longer needs Lady Philosophy's guidance. For our purposes, however, what matters is that Boethius is using poetry no longer to fuel his emotions but to reflect on his condition.Google Scholar

113 We do not aim to offer a comprehensive picture of the role of poetry in the Consolatio; we only intend to point out that the poems of the Consolatio contribute to the text's consolatory strategy. Of course, this does not mean that poems in the Consolatio have only a consolatory purpose. For a comprehensive study of the role of poetry in the Consolatio see O'Daly, , The Poetry , 30–73.Google Scholar

114 See 1.m.4; 1.m.5; 2.m.1; 2.m.2; 2.m.7; 3.m.1; 4.m.2; 4.m.6; 5.m.5.Google Scholar

115 See 1.m.6 refers to 1.5.11–12; 3.m.3 concentrates on 3.3.18–19; 3.m.4 recalls 3.4.1–11, 4–17; 3.m.6 focuses on 3.m.6.9; 5.m.2 captures 5.m.2.11.Google Scholar

116 Curley suggests that it is possible to see an evolution in the way poetry is used in the Consolatio (“The Consolation of Philosophy,” 356–67; “How to Read the Consolation,” 245–53; see O'Daly, The Poetry, 30). Curley argues that in the initial part of the Consolatio the poems have a therapeutic purpose, while in the second part their goal is only to offer Boethius some relief from Lady Philosophy's technical arguments. Although a study of this topic is beyond the limits of this paper, our indication that the poems throughout the Consolatio recall in part or completely what was or is about to be said in the prose sections suggests that Curley's thesis needs to be reconsidered. Moreover, this thesis relies on the idea that in 1.6.21 Lady Philosophy regards poetry as an initial and temporary cure for Boethius's condition but 1.6.21 does not give any clear and uncontroversial indication in this respect.Google Scholar

117 It is noteworthy that the positive evaluation of the Consolatio's use of poetry and rhetoric that we suggest was not uncommon among medieval interpreters of Boethius's text. For example, the Vita Boethii clearly states that the rhetorical and poetic parts of the Consolatio should be taken as seriously as its philosophical sections. On this topic see Troncarelli, F., “La più antica interpretazione della “Consolatio Philosophiae,” Nuova Rivista Storica 72 (1988): 501–50.Google Scholar

118 See Bowersock, G. W., Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1969); Moles, J. L., “The Career and Conversion of Dio Chrysostom,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 98 (1978): 79–100; O'Daly, , The Poetry, 53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

119 Alfonsi, L., “Problemi filosofici della Consolatio boeziana,” Rivista di filosofia neo-scolastica 35 (1943): 323–28; idem, “Storia interiore e storia cosmica nella Consolatio boeziana,” Convivium: Rivista di lettere, filosofia e storia 23 (1955): 513–21; Klingner, F., De Boethii Consolatione Philosophiae (Berlin, 1921), 1–3, 22–24, 83–84.Google Scholar

120 Phillips suggests that the difference between the first and second parts of the Consolatio can be explained by taking into account the therapeutic dimension of the text. He claims that Lady Philosophy introduces technical discussions only in the second part of the Consolatio, since at the beginning of the text Boethius is emotionally too disturbed to engage in complex philosophical arguments (Phillips, P., “Lady Philosophy's Therapeutic Method: The ‘Gentler’ and ‘Stronger’ Remedies in Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae,” Medieval English Studies 10 [2002]: 5–26).Google Scholar

121 O'Daly, , The Poetry , 14–29; Rand, “On the Composition” (n. 5 above).Google Scholar

122 Payne, , Chaucer and Menippean Satire (n. 3 above), 4; Relihan, , The Prisoner's Philosophy (n. 3 above), 49–50.Google Scholar

123 Marenbon, , Boethius (n. 3 above), 159–63.Google Scholar

124 Glei argues that Boethius deliberately leaves Lady Philosophy's argument unfinished since he intends to create a specific literary effect that Glei calls “aesthetics of abruption” (Glei, R., “In carcere et vinculis? Fiktion und Realität in der Consolatio Philosophiae des Boethius,” Würzburger Jahrbücher 22 [1998]: 199–213).Google Scholar

125 In this paper we avoided tackling the problematic discussion of why Boethius, who was a Christian, does not introduce any explicit Christian reference in the Consolation if not for the reference to the Book of Wisdom in 3.12.22. This choice was motivated by the conviction that, in order to assess whether Boethius's text is a consolation, it is more appropriate to focus on the text itself and reach a decision based on the information that we can get from it. It is, of course, possible to think, as Marenbon and Relihan do, that there is a correlation between the lack of Christian elements and the Consolatio's partial (Marenbon) or complete (Relihan) inability to console: the failure of the philosophical consolation indicates that only Christianity can offer true consolation (Marenbon, , Boethius , 154–59; Relihan, , The Prisoner's Philosophy, 56–58). However, this approach presents, in our view, a methodological risk since it relies on a problematic assumption that a Christian imbued with classical culture such as Boethius would seek to be consoled necessarily through a Christian consolation. For a discussion on the Christian dimension of the Consolation , see de Vogel, C. J., “The Problem of Philosophy and Christian Faith in Boethius' Consolatio,” in Romanitas et Christianitas: Studia Iano Henrico Waszink a. d. VI Kal. Nov. a. MCMLXXIII XIII lustra complenti oblata (Amsterdam, 1973), 357–70; Bechtle, G., “Der Trost der Freiheit: Das fünfte Buch der Consolatio Philosophiae des Boethius,” Philologus 150 (2006): 265–89; Chadwick, , Boethius (n. 8 above), 248–50; Lewis, C. S., The Discarded Image (Cambridge, 1994), 77–79; Magee, J., “Note on Boethius' Consolatio 1, 1, 5; 3, 7: A New Biblical Parallel,” Verbum Caro 42 (1988): 79–82; Marenbon, , Boethius, 154–59; idem, “Boethius and the Problem of Paganism,” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 78 (2004): 329–49; Moreschini, C., “Neoplatonismo e cristianesimo: Partecipare a Dio secondo Boezio e Agostino,” in Sicilia e Italia suburbicaria tra IV e VIII secolo: Atti del convegno di studi , ed. Pricoco, S., Rizzo Nervo, F., and Sardella, T. (Soveria Mannelli, 1991), 283–95; Obertello, L., Severino Boezio, vol. 1 (Genoa, 1974), 767–77; Relihan, , The Prisoner's Philosophy, 15–33; Shanzer, , “Interpreting the Consolation“ (n. 5 above), 240–45. Mohrmann offers an intriguing analysis of the Christian undertones of some of the terms used in the Consolation (Mohrmann, C., “Some Remarks on the Language of Boethius' Consolatio Philosophiae,” in Latin Script and Letters A.D. 400–900: Festschrift Presented to Ludwig Bieler on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday , ed. O'Meara, J. J. and Naumann, B. [Leiden, 1976], 54–61).Google Scholar

126 “Quod me ab hoc maerore recreari vis, facis ut omnia; sed me mihi non defuisse tu testis es. Nihil enim de maerore minuendo scriptum ab ullo est, quod ego non domi tuae legerim; sed omnem consolationem vincit dolor. Quin etiam feci, quod profecto ante me nemo, ut ipse me per litteras consolarer. Quern librum ad te mittam, si descripserint librarii. Adfirmo tibi nullam consolationem esse talem” (Cicero, , Letter to Atticus 12.14).Google Scholar

127 “Monstrabo etiamnunc non quidem firmius remedium sed familiarius. Si quando te domum receperis, tunc erit tibi metuenda tristitia … Itaque non est quod ullum tempus vacare patiaris a studiis: tunc tibi litterae tuae tam diu ac tam fideliter amatae gratiam referrant, tunc te illae antistitem et cultorem suum vindicent, tunc Homerus et Vergilius tam bene de humano genere meriti, quam tu et de illis et de omnibus meruisti, quos pluribus notos esse voluisti quam scripserant, multum tecum morentur: tutum id erit omne tempus, quod illis tuendum commiseris; tunc Caesaris tui opera, ut per omnia saecula domestico narrentur praeconio, quantum potes, compone: nam ipse tibi optime formandi condendique res gestas et materiam dabit et exemplum…. Difficile est quidem, ut ad haec hilariora studia tarn vehementer perculsus animus tarn cito possit accedere: hoc tamen argumentum habeto iam conrobo-rati eius et redditi sibi, si poterit a severioribus scriptis ad haec solutiora procedere. In illis enim quamvis aegrum eum adhuc et secum reluctantem avocabit ipsa rerum, quas tractabit, austeritas; haec, quae remissa fronte commentanda sunt, non feret, nisi cum iam sibi ab omni parte constiterit. Itaque debebis eum severiore materia primum exercere, deinde hilariore temperare” (Seneca, , Consolation to Polybius 8). See also idem, Consolation to Helvia 9.4, 17.2–5, 20.2; idem, Consolation to Marcia 1.6.Google Scholar

128 “Nunc itaque te studiis tuis immerge altius, nunc illa tibi velut munimenta animi circumda, ne ex ulla tui parte inveniat introitum dolor” (idem, Consolation to Polybius 18.1).Google Scholar