Living Memory: Boethius, Cassiodorus, and the Consolation of Philosophy

Fabio Troncarelli examines the Late Antique Cassiodorus edition of the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius in this study consisting of five chapters. The first one is a brief sketch of the biography of the two protagonists of the story. The second is about the medieval copies of the edition, some very close to the original archetype, preserving even its formal aspect and the indication of its first transcription in Ravenna in the 6th century. The third chapter establishes a comparison between some typical rhetorical, philosophical or editorial methods by Cassiodorus and the ones we find in the Boethius' edition. The fourth chapter explains what could have been the reasons for Cassiodorus to make such an edition, in the years of the breakdown of the Osthrogotic rule in Italy. The last chapter is about the afterlife of Boethius' reputation in Vivarium and the relationships between his murder and Amalsuntha's murder established by the Vivarian monks.