PREFACE

The book called The Consolation of Philosophy was the scholar’s familiar companion throughout the Middle Ages and down to the beginning of the modern era in the sixteenth century. Few books have exerted a wider influence in their time. It has been translated into every European language and into English nearly a dozen times, from King Alfred’s King Alfred the Great (849–899), who produced an influential Old English adaptation of the work. paraphrase to the translations of Lord Preston, Causton, Ridpath, and Duncan in the eighteenth century.

The belief that what once pleased so many must still possess some charm is my justification for attempting this current translation. The great work of Boethius, with its alternating prose and verse—skillfully fitted together like dialogue and chorus in a Greek play—is unique in literature and holds a poignant interest due to the time and circumstances of its composition. It should not be forgotten. Those who can read the original will find their reward. There may also be room for a new English translation after an interval of nearly one hundred years.