SOURCE: "Literary Design in the De Consolatione Philosophiae, " in Boethius: His Life, Thought and Influence, edited by Margaret Gibson, Basil Blackwell, 1981, pp. 237-74.

In the following essay, Crabbe explores the literary influences on Boethius 's theme and style, paying particular attention to the works of Ovid and Augustine.

I

Champion of Philosophy, orator to kings, theologian, poet, supreme logician: the achievements of Boethius compose a multicoloured garment. Yet just as the brief literary portrait supplied by Cassiodorus [in his Anecdoton Holderi] seems dulled by its omission of the Consolatio, so the sum of Boethius' other writings does not prepare us for this final work. True, each shade finds its place there, clearly discernible, indispensable to the complex weave of argument and theme. There is the breadth—and the depth—of erudition we should expect, the balance of control and composition. Yet the surprise remains. As literature all is...