ABSTRACT
Around 422, owing to accusations of treason, Boethius was imprisoned by Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, and sentenced to death. A few years later he was executed – an unseemly end for a man devoted to learning and the public good. As a young scholar, he had grand plans to translate all of Plato’s dialogues and Aristotle’s treatises into Latin – with commentaries to boot! 1 As a politician, he espoused ideals inspired by the books he had studied, especially Plato’s Republic. Sitting in prison, however, and condemned to death, Boethius was sick with grief, his unfinished projects and high ideals only exacerbating his sorrow.
