The Consolation of Philosophy: Boethius

From the Introduction of this 134 page book: "'The Consolation of Philosophy' was one of the most popular and influential books in Western Europe from the time it was written in 524, until the end of the Renaissance. Its doctrine was a cornerstone of medieval humanism, its style a model of much important philosophical poetry in the late Middle Ages. The subject of the work is human happiness and the possibility of achieving it in the midst of the suffering and disappointment which play so large a part in every man's experience. [This book] can still be read with interest in the twentieth century, not only because it is a landmark in the history of Western thought, but because its subject is of no less concern now than it was then. And, since the problem and its solution are presented poetically as well as doctrinally, succeeding ages have found Boethius' work a remedy against desolation of the spirit which has never lost its curative power."