SOURCE: "Boethius and the Legacy of Antiquity," in The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, edited by A. H. Armstrong, Cambridge at the University Press, 1967, pp. 538-64.

In the following excerpt, the critic provides a survey of Boethius's importance in the history of philosophy, maintaining that the work of the Roman senator defines the point where antiquity ends and the Middle Ages begin.

When we try to draw a borderline between antiquity and Middle Ages, in order to define the point where the history of medieval philosophy begins, the work of Boethius comes immediately to our mind. The last Roman and the first schoolman, the two titles with which he is normally introduced, express in their combination clearly his position between the two periods. His link with the Middle Ages is obviously very strong. Translations of two treatises from Aristotle's Organon, his introductions for the...