Natural sciences and Philosophy. Woodcut attributed to Holbein illustrating a German edition of De Consolatione Philosophiae by Boethius (Augsburg, 1537), written in prison during the last year of the author's life. Boethius (Anicius Manlius Severinus) (c480-524) Roman philosopher and statesman. His commentaries on Aristotle and the Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry became the standard medieval European texts on Logic.