This work is cited in Books for College Libraries, 3d ed. One of the most popular books in Western Europe from the time it appeared in Latin in 524 until the end of the Renaissance, its subject is achieving happiness amidst suffering. Boethius wrote his work of poetry, prose, and personification while imprisoned for treasonable offenses for which he was eventually executed by edict of the Senate he once served. The book opens with a poem whose first line is "I who once wrote songs with keen delight am now by sorrow driven to take up melancholy measures." Boethius continues with the prescriptions to follow nature, and ends by contemplating the eternal. Green, the translator, ends with a summary of the entire Consolation . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
