Abstract

After looking at the verse in the Consolation of Philosophy and other more literary aspects of it, this chapter proposes an interpretation of the work as a whole, which takes account of the fact that it is a prosimetrum – a genre in which the claims of learning were often challenged. Boethius, the chapter argues, regards philosophy with great respect, but considers it limited when it comes to providing a comprehensive and coherent understanding of the order of things. The differing attitudes of Boethius and Augustine, as Christians, to pagan Neoplatonism are contrasted.