remorse
for the crime he had committed against his great counsellor.

Two or three centuries after the death of Boetius writers began to view
his death as a martyrdom. Several Christian books were ascribed to him,
and there was one especially on the Trinity (see below) which was
regarded as proof that he had taken an active part against the heresy of
Theodoric. It was therefore for his orthodoxy that Boetius was put to
death. And these writers delight to paint with minuteness the horrible
tortures to which he was exposed and the marvellous actions which the
saint performed at his death. He was locally regarded as a saint, but he
was not canonized. The brick tower in Pavia in which he was confined
was, and still is, an object of reverence to the country people.
Finally, in the year 996, Otho III. ordered the bones of Boetius to be
taken out of the place in which they had lain hid, and to be placed in
the church of S. Pietro in Ciel d'Oro within a splendid tomb, for which
Gerbert, afterwards Pope Silvester II., wrote an inscription. Thence
they were subsequently removed to a tomb beneath the high altar of the
cathedral. It should be mentioned also that some have given him a
decidedly Christian wife, of the name of Elpis, who wrote hymns, two of
which are still extant (Daniel, _Thes. Hymn._ i. p. 156). This is a pure
supposition inconsistent with chronology, and based only on a
misinterpretation of a passage in the _De Consolatione_.

The contemporaries of Boetius regarded him as a man of profound
learning. Priscian the grammarian speaks of him as having attained the
summit of honesty and of all sciences. Cassiodorus, _magister
officiorum_ under Theodoric and the intimate acquaintance of the
philosopher, employs language equally strong, and Ennodius, the bishop
of Pavia, knows no bounds for his admiration. Theodoric had a profound
respect for his scientific abilities. He employed him in setting right
the coinage. When he visited Rome with Gunibald, king of the
Burgundians, he took him to Boetius, who showed them, amongst other
mechanical contrivances, a sun-dial and a water-clock. The foreign
monarch was astonished, and, at the request of Theodoric, Boetius had to
prepare others of a similar nature, which were sent as presents to
Gunibald.

The fame of Boetius increased after his death, and his influence during
the middle ages was exceedingly powerful. His circumstances peculiarly
favoured this influence. He appeared at