For though some have held that the Christianity of Boethius was foisted upon him， with his canonisation as St.Severinus， after his death by those who thought he must have been too good a man to have been a heathen， and though the authenticity of his theological works also has therefore been doubted， yet we may now be almost certain that he was a Christian， and an orthodox Christian， for if it is true that he wrote those works， he combated Arianism during his life， and during his imprisonment he was engaged upon a treatise on the Unity of the Trinity， as well as upon this work.Here perhaps lies an explanation of what must seem strange to us at first sight， namely， that a Christian should apparently look to Philosophy rather than to his religion for comfort in persecution and support at the approach of death.But it is to be feared that in his day， and in the society in which he moved， Christianity meant to many who professed it little more than a subject for rivalry and argument among sects and for the combating of heresies.With many of the contemporaries of Boethius， therefore， a new book of comfort sought for in Christian doctrine would not have had much influence， and there seems to be no reason why people of our own day， even those who draw the greatest help from their religion， should not enjoy the additional comfort which solaced an honest and pious thinker in a time of apparently intolerable and incredible misfortune.
The wide learning of Boethius may be partly shewn by a list of some of his writings， which included original works and translations in many branches of study.For instance， he translated into Latin a great number of Aristotle's works on different subjects， such as those on Rhetoric， Logic， the Categories， etc.He translated three books of Euclid， and wrote other mathematical works.He translated and wrote books upon Music and Mechanics， and one upon Astronomy.His theological Page 173works included treatises against the Nestorians and Arians.
But his Consolation is the work upon which his fame rests.The veneration in which this book was held in the middle ages and onward is abundantly shewn by the numerous translations made of it.It was very early rendered into German， and later on translated into the French of the day by Jehan de Meun and others in later times； into Greek by Maximus Planudes， into Italian and Spanish.In England translations have appeared at intervals during the last thousand years.For just that space of time has passed since that noble educator of his people， Alfred the Creat， translated it with Asser's help， thinking， it would seem， that this work was most worthy of his people's reading of all books after the Bible.But his version does not give us a very true knowledge either of Boethius or his Consolation.