ng
object of homage than an Arian Italian king.

[Footnote 128: See p. 155.]

There were two men, united by the ties of kindred, who seemed marked out
by character and position as the leaders of a patriotic party in the
Senate, if such a party could be formed. These men were Boethius and his
father-in-law Symmachus, both Roman nobles of the great and ancient
Anician _gens_. Boethius, whose name we have already met with as the
skilful mechanic who was requested to construct a water-clock and a
sun-dial for the king of the Burgundians, was a man of great and varied
accomplishments--philosopher, theologian, musician, and mathematician.
He had translated thirty books of Aristotle into Latin for the benefit
of his countrymen; his treatise on Music was for many centuries the
authoritative exposition of the science of harmony. He had held the high
honour of the consulship in 510; twelve years later he had the yet
higher honour of seeing his two sons, Symmachus and Boethius, though
mere lads, arrayed in the _trabea_ of the consul.

Symmachus the other leader of the patriotic party in the Roman Senate
had memories of illustrious ancestors behind him. A century before,
another Symmachus had been the standard-bearer of the old Pagan party,
and had delivered two great orations in order to prevent the Christian
Emperors from removing the venerable Altar of Victory from the
Senate-house. Now, his descendant and namesake was an equally firm
adherent of Christianity, a friend and counsellor of Popes, a man who
was willing to encounter obloquy and even death in behalf of Nicene
orthodoxy. He had been consul so long ago as in the reign of Odovacar,
he had been an "Illustrious" Prefect of the City under Theodoric; he was
now Patrician and Chief of the Senate (Caput Senatus). The last two
titles conferred honour rather than power; the headship of the Senate
especially being generally held by the oldest, and if not by the oldest,
by the most esteemed and venerated member of that body. Such was
Symmachus, a man full of years and honours, a historian, an orator, and
a generous contributor of some portion of his vast wealth for the
adornment of his native city.

Boethius, left an orphan in childhood, had enjoyed the wise training of
his guardian Symmachus. When he came to man's estate he married that
guardian's daughter Rusticiana. Though there was the difference of a
generation between them, a close friendship united the old and the
midd