The Consolation of Philosophy

...a fatal outcome from their practices. All their care was therefore directed toward making his reputation suspect to their Master, and rendering his services useless to the Public. To this end, they forged letters from Boethius to the Emperor Justin Justin I, Eastern Roman Emperor and defender of Catholic orthodoxy, the sworn enemy of the Arians Arianism was a Christian theological movement that denied the full divinity of Christ; it was the faith of the Ostrogothic rulers, of whom Theodoric was the principal support in Italy. This plot was woven through the artifices of Cyprian, who had as witnesses to his calumny Opilio, Basilius, and Gaudentius. The King, without considering that envy always attaches itself to those who hold the primary confidence of the Prince, listened with too much faith to the suspicions they gave him regarding his fidelity?, and instead of standing firm in the defense of such a noble Minister, he very? basely abandoned him to the hatred of those who were jealous of him. Following the inclinations of Theodoric, the Senators—partly out of a desire to please, and partly out of a rivalry for greatness—condemned this great Man to banishment. Pavia had the good fortune of being the place of his prison, and the theater of his martyrdom. Theodoric having had the Governor of the City propose to him the confession of the conspiracy as an infallible means of his pardon, that courageous soul could not constrain himself to lie in order to live, choosing rather to suffer death than to love shamefully?