Papers by Nicole Guenther Discenza
Literature Compass, 2006
Alfred the Great's translation of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy into the Old English Boeth... more Alfred the Great's translation of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy into the Old English Boethius is notable both for its richness and for its difficulties. After briefly introducing Boethius and his greatest text, this essay will turn to the OE Boethius and its problems, which include questions about authorship and poor editions. Soon, however, a new electronic and a new print edition will help scholars better see what medieval audiences read. Those audiences included upper-class laity of some leisure and poorly educated clergy, not the most obvious recipients of Boethius's difficult prosimetrum-yet Alfred's translation conveys Boethius's key themes and shows great interest in both theology and philosophy. At the same time, the Boethius also seeks to inculcate the king's own sense of the responsibilities of subjects and leaders. Despite its difficulty, later readers found the text worth copying and preserving. Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was a writer and public figure in late antique Rome. Born about 480, he served in many public offices, even the high office of consul (to which his two sons were later jointly appointed), while producing a body of scholarly work that included theology, music, mathematics, and translations of Aristotle's Greek works on logic into Latin. The same emperor who made him consul, Theodoric, a few years later had him arrested, condemned to death, and exiled to await the Senate's confirmation of the sentence. He denied the charge of treason in his most famous work, the De consolatione philosophiae, or Consolation of Philosophy, which he wrote while imprisoned. The work consists of five chapters, or books, and each book contains alternating sections of prose and verse, a mixture known as prosimetrum. Using allegory, Boethius figures himself as the narrator, a prisoner, whom the personified Lady Philosophy visits. Through a Socratic dialogue, Philosophy guides the prisoner to a better understanding of his condition and the world's workings. Though Boethius had previously written Christian theological tractates, allusions to the Bible and Christianity in The Consolation are oblique, and the argument relies wholly on reason, not revelation, making it accessible to Christians and non-Christians alike. 2 In Book 1, Philosophy recalls the prisoner from his passions and reminds him to rely on reason and philosophy instead. Book 2 reveals the true nature of Fortune, also personified: she gives and takes back her gifts arbitrarily, and we should not consider them truly ours.
43Rd International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, 2008
Compass Teaching Guides, 2007
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Fontes Anglo Saxonici World Wide Web Register Http Fontes English Ox Ac Uk, 2001
32Nd International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, 1997
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Papers by Nicole Guenther Discenza