Boethius is largely underrated in the history of Western thought. Scholarship often regarded him and his era - Late Antiquity -as mere intermediaries between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This volume shows that Boethius and his time can be appreciated in their own right.

Typically, theory and practice are regarded as polarities. Yet is this an appropriate perspective? In a survey of the philosophical and theological traditions of antiquity and late antiquity, this study traces key moments in the development of principles in the domain of practice, and comes to a surprising conclusion: theory and practice are not opposites, but instead, are fundamentally interrelated and based on a common principle.