Sagesse biblique et sagesse philosophique dans laConsolation de Philosophieet dans quelques commentaires latins du Moyen Âge au chef-d’oeuvre de Boèce

Abstract

It is well known that Boethius, commentator of Aristotle and Plato, also authored theological tractates, such as the De trinitate and De fide catholica. Yet, it is not toward theology, but philosophical wisdom that he seems to turn at the end of his life. When accused of high treason, he loses his position at the head of government and writes his masterpiece, the Consolation of Philosophy, at Pavia, in the prisons of Theodoric, the Ostrogothic king. The purpose of this paper is to examine if and how biblical wisdom and philosophical wisdom are operating together in the work of this bridging figure, who has been called “the last of the Romans and the first of the scholastics.” To this aim, this article will scrutinise the passages of Boethius’s prosimetrum susceptible to echoing biblical quotes, as well as biblical citations or books which may have influenced Boethius. Furthermore, focus will be given to the status of the figure of Philosophy in the Consolation itself, then in the iconography, and finally, in the commentaries found in some medieval manuscripts of this masterpiece of world literature.