Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy (12th c., Lombard script)

[Quinctus Fabius would weep, were Boethius, King of the Lydians, not to recognize him.]

In the time of King Theodoric, the distinguished author Boethius flourished, who held great influence among the Romans. But when King Theodoric wished to exercise tyranny in the city and exterminate all the good men, he killed Boethius out of guile and sorrow. For he who was born into all good things was pining away; he was indeed so learned in letters that he was admired in his blessed study, yet by impious hands he was humbled, shackled, and thrust into a dungeon. He caused the "baskets" (that is, the Muses), which he first set while shackled in the theater (that is, in prison), to be sung (that is, written and composed); these are the books through which Boethius imitates (that is, follows) Martianus and Felix Capella, who first wrote books on Philology and Mercury, written in the same variety of wisdom. He excels by far in nobility and eloquence, for he speaks with neither the presence of Tully nor the meter of Virgil.

This Boethius was among the Romans under the leader Theodoric. At that time, the Goths were present in Rome, and he had long since taken away their liberty. But when this man refused to endure it, he sent him into exile (that is, into prison). He, as if in the Tigurtulum, applied consolation to himself, namely Philosophy, lest he fall in this grief to Tragedy (that is, misery). He was debating; and it was very necessary for him to have paper with him, which easily decays. For there are two who remain for him in his suffering: namely Boethius, who is present, and nearby, bitterness and misery, for it is written there. He dismisses; and in the introduction, [he considers] the time, the place, the cause, and the person. For at the time when Theodoric laid his hands on the machine against him and Boethius himself, Boethius behaved in such a way as he writes in this book. But the person who killed Boethius: Boethius; The place: Rome; The cause: in consoling himself, he was placing himself into this same state.

A noble Roman and distinguished, known and proper to himself, so that among us, first [we shall be] recognizing [him] (that is, others may have been [recognized]).