Boethius and The Consolation of Philosophy

Boethius (c. 477–524 CE) was a Roman aristocrat serving Theodoric, the Ostrogothic king of Italy. He set out to translate all of Plato and Aristotle into Latin and show their agreement, but he completed only some of Aristotle's logical works with commentaries. These translations were the main source of Aristotle's logic in the Latin West for some 600 years. Accused of treason, Boethius was imprisoned and executed around 524 CE.

In prison he wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, in which Lady Philosophy visits him and reasons with him about fortune, happiness and providence. She explains that fortune's wheel always turns, that true happiness lies in the highest good, and that God's foreknowledge does not destroy human freedom. Blending Platonic, Aristotelian and Stoic ideas, the Consolation became one of the most widely read books of the Middle Ages, translated by Alfred the Great, Chaucer and Elizabeth I.