Part 1: Consolation of Philosophy, written by Boethius Boethius was a popular member of the senatorial family. He was a philosopher that agreed with Plato that government should be solely in the hands of wise men. After becoming consul, charges of treason were brought against him. He lived in a time in Roman society when everyone was mainly Christian. He was an Arian Christian and believed that Christ was neither truly God nor truly man. Because of his beliefs, he was seen as a heretic in the eyes of the Roman Church. This religious controversy was the root of many of Boethiuss beliefs and writings. 2. The literary genre of the Consolation of Philosophy is a satura. A satura is a combination of poems and prose. The model for Boethiuss work is Augustine. A lot of his work parallels Augustines beliefs and readings (especially in Book 5). Cicero was also a model for Boethius. He was a philosopher that had many ideas that Boethius agreed with. The work is structured by a combination of poems and prose. Book 1 starts off with a poem and alternates prose and Book 2-5 starts with a prose and alternates with poems. The prose is considered the story part and the poem summarizes the prose. They are very much like saying the same thing in two different ways. The poems were often Boethiuss response and the prose was Lady Philosophys consolations. 3. The benefits of bad luck are that it makes a person stronger because when a person has bad luck, they dont necessarily emphasize the importance of material and human desires. It is only without these things that a person has the potential to find true happiness. Without bad luck a person would never know what happiness is because they would always take what they have for granted. In the wheel of fortune, it is inevitable that a person will fall from the top (good luck) and become entangled in a viscous cycle. Philosophy argues that misfortune is more beneficial than good fortune, for good fortune dec...
