What s deal with the form of the book? Why does he mix poetry and prose?
The Consolation of Philosophy is in the form of a “Menippean satire.” Menippus was a 3rd century B.C. Greek philosopher (he was a cynic) who wrote works which mixed poetry and prose. (None of his works are extant.) Boethius probably modeled his Consolation on Martianus Capella’s The Marriage of Mercury & Philology, written a hundred years before and which represented a pleasing way to present philosophical ideas.
