 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Kirsten Ferrari. The Consolation of Philosophy by Anisius Monlius Severinus Boethius. Translated by H.R. James. Preface and Proan. Part 12. Preface. The book, called The Consolation of Philosophy, was throughout the Middle Ages, and down to the beginnings of the modern epoch in the 16th century, the scholar's familiar companion. Few books have exercised a wider influence in their time. It has been translated into every European tongue, and into English nearly a dozen times, from King Alfred's paraphrase to the translations of Lord Preston, Rid Path, and Duncan in the 18th century. The belief that what once pleased so widely must still have some charm is my excuse for attempting the present translation. The great work of Boethius, with its alternate prose and verse, skillfully fitted together like dialogue and chorus in a Greek play, is unique in literature, and has a pathetic interest from the time and circumstances of its composition. It ought not to be forgotten. Those who can go to the original will find their reward. There may be room also for a new translation in English, after an interval of close on a hundred years. Some of the editions contain a reproduction of a bust purporting to represent Boethius. Lord Preston's translation, for example, has such a portrait, which it refers to an original in marble at Rome. This I have been unable to trace, and suspect that it is apocryphal. The Hope Collection at Oxford contains a completely different portrait in a print, which gives no authority. I have ventured to use as a frontispiece a reproduction from a plaster cast in the Ashmolean Museum, taken from an ivory diptych preserved in the bibliotheca Quiriniana at Brescia, which represents Narius Manlius Boethius, the father of the philosopher. Portraiture of this period is so rare that it seemed that failing a likeness of the author himself, this authentic representation of his father might have interest, as giving the consular dress and insignia of the time, and also as illustrating the decadence of contemporary art. The consul wears a richly embroidered cloak. His right hand holds a staff surmounted by the Roman eagle, his left the mappas or sensis, or napkin used for starting the races in the circus. At his feet are palms and bags of money, prizes for the victors in the games. For permission to use this cast, my thanks are due to the authorities of the Ashmolean Museum, as also to Mr. T. W. Jackson, curator of the Hope Collection, who first called my attention to its existence. I have to thank my brother, Mr. L. James, of Radley College, for much valuable help, and for correcting the proof sheets of the translation. The text used is out of Piper, Leipzig, 1874. Proam. Manicus Manlius Severanus Boethius lived in the last quarter of the fifth century AD and the first quarter of the sixth. He was growing to manhood when Theodoric, the famous Ostrogoth, crossed the Alps and made himself master of Italy. Boethius belonged to an ancient family which boasted a connection with the legendary glories of the Republic and was still among the foremost in wealth and dignity in the days of Rome's abasement. Since dying early he was brought up by Simicus, whom the age agreed to regard as of almost saintly character, and afterwards became his son-in-law. His varied gifts, aided by an excellent education, won for him the reputation of the most accomplished man of his time. He was an orator, poet, musician, philosopher. It is his peculiar distinction to have handed on to the Middle Ages the tradition of Greek philosophy by his Latin translations of the works of Aristotle. Called early to a public career, the highest honors of the state came to him unsought. He was sole consul in 510 AD and was ultimately raised by Theodoric to the dignity of Magistor of Fisiorum, or head of the whole civil administration. He was no less happy in his domestic life, in the virtues of his wife, Rusticiana, and the fair promise of his two sons, Simicus and Boethius. Happy also in the society of a refined circle of friends. Noble, wealthy, accomplished, universally esteemed for his virtues, high in the favor of the Gothic king, he appeared to all men a signal example of the union of merit and good fortune. His felicity seemed to culminate in the year 522 AD when, by special and extraordinary favor, his two sons, young as they were for so exalted in honor, were created joint consuls and rode to the senate house attended by a throng of senators and the acclamations of the multitude. Boethius himself, amid the general applause, delivered the public speech in the king's honor usual on such occasions. Within a year he was a solitary prisoner at Pavia, stripped of honors, wealth, and friends with death hanging over him, and a terror worse than death, in the fear lest those dearest to him should be involved in the worst results of his downfall. It is in this situation that the opening of the consolation of philosophy brings Boethius before us. He represents himself as seated in his prison, distraught with grief, indignant at the injustice of his misfortunes, and seeking relief for his melancholy in writing verses descriptive of his condition. Suddenly there appears to him the divine figure of philosophy in the guise of a woman of superhuman dignity and beauty, who by a succession of discourses convinces him of the vanity of regret for the lost gifts of fortune, raises his mind once more to the contemplation of the true good, and makes clear to him the mystery of the world's moral government. End of preface and poem. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Alex Patterson. The Consolation of Philosophy by Anicus, Manolus, Severinus, Boethius. Translated by H.R. James. Book 1, The Sorrows of Boethius. Song 1, Boethius is Complaint, and Section 1. Boethius is Complaint. Who wrought my studious numbers smoothly once in happier days, now perforates in tears and sadness, learn a mournful strain to raise, lo, the muses grief disheveled, guide my pen and voice my woe, down their cheeks unfaim the teardrops to my sad complaining's blow. These alone in danger's hour, faithful found had dared attend, on the footsteps of the exile to his lonely journey's end. These that were the pride and pleasure of my youth and high estate still remain the only solace of the old man's mournful fate. Old, ah yes, swift ere I knew it, by the sorrows on me pressed, age hath come, lo, grief hath bid me, where the garb that fits her best, o'er my head untimely sprinkled, these white hairs my woe's proclaim, and the skin hangs loose and trivelled, on this sorrow shrunken frame. Blessed is death that intervenes not in the sweet, sweet years of peace, but unto the broken hearted, when they call him, brings release. Yet death passes by the wretched, wets his ear and slumbers deep, will not heed the cry of anguish, will not close the eyes that weep. For, while yet in constant fortune, poured her gifts and all was bright, death's dark hour had all but wound me, in the gloom of endless night. Now, because misfortune's shadow hath or clouded that false face, cool life still halts and lingers, though I loathe his weary race. Friends, why did ye once so lightly, want me happy among men? Surely he who so hath fallen was not firmly founded then. Section 1 While I was thus mutely pondering within myself, and recording my sorrowful complainings with my pen, it seemed to me that there appeared above my head a woman of countenance exceeding venerable. Her eyes were bright as fire, and of a more-than-human keenness. Her complexion was lively, her vigor showed no trace of enfeeblement, and yet her years were rightful, and she plainly seemed not of our age and time. Her stature was difficult to judge, at one moment if exceeded not the common height, at another her forehead seemed to strike the sky, and whenever she raised her at higher, she began to pierce within the very heavens, and to baffle the eyes of then that looked upon her. Her garments were of an imperishable thigh-brook, wrought with the finest threads and of the most delicate workmanship, and these, as her own lips afterwards assured me, she had herself woven with her own hands. The beauty of this vestiture had been somewhat tarnished by age and neglect, and wore that dingy look when marble contracts from exposure. On the lowermost edge was interwoven the Greek letter pi, on the topmost the letter theta, and between the two were to be seen steps like a staircase from the lower to the upper letter. This road, moreover, had been torn by the hands of violent persons who had each snatched away what he could clutch. Her right hand held a notebook. In her left hand she bore a staff, and when she saw the muses of Pocae, standing by my bedside, dictating the words of my lamentations, she was moved awhile to wrath, and her eyes flash sternly. Who, she said, has allowed young play-acting wantons to approach this sick man, these who, so far from giving medicine to heal his malady, even feed it with sweet poison. These it is who kill the rich cop of reason with the barren thorns of passion who accustom men's minds to disease instead of setting them free. Now, were it some common man whom your allurements were seducing as is usually your way, I should be less indignant. On such a one I should not have spent my pains for naught. But this is one nurtured in the Eliactic and academic philosophies. Nay, gitchy gone, ye sirens, whose sweetness last if not, leave him for my muses to tend and heal. At these words of upgrading, the whole band in deep in sadness, with downcast eyes, and blushes that confess their shame, dothily left the chamber. But I, because my sight was dimmed with much weeping, and I could not tell who was this woman, authority so commanding, I was dumbfounded, and, with my gaze fastened on the earth, continued silently to await what she might do next. Then she drew near me and sat on the edge of my couch, and, looking into my face, all heavy with grief, and fixed in sadness on the ground, she bewailed in these words the disorder of my mind. End of song 1, Bohethias' Complaint, and section 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Alex Patterson. The Consolation of Philosophy by Anacus Manilis Severnaeus Bohethias, translated by H.R. James. Book 1, The Sorrows of Bohethias. Song 2, His Dispondency, and section 2. Song 2, His Dispondency. Alas, in what abyss his mind, is plunged how wildly tossed, still, still towards the outer night, she sinks her true light lost. As oft as, last tumultuously, thy earth-born blasts, cares waves rise high. Yet once he ranged the open heavens, the sun's bright pathway tracked, watched how the cold moon waxed and waned, nor rested till there lacked, to his wide kin no star that steers amid the maze of circling spheres. The cause is why the blustrous winds vex ocean's tranquil face, whose hen doth turn the stable globe, or why his even race, from out the ready east the sun unto the western waves doth run. What is it tempers cunningly the placid hours spring, so that it blossoms with the rose for earth's engarlanding, who loads the year's mature prine with clustered grapes in autumn time. All this he knew thus erished strove, deep nature's lore to guess, now reft of reasons light he lies, and bonds his neck oppress, while by the heavy load constrained, his eyes to this still earth are chained. Section 2. But the time, she said, calls rather for healing than for meditation. Then, with her eyes bent full upon me, art thou that man she cries, who, erstwhile, fed with the milk, and reared upon the nourishment, which is mine to give, had it grown up in the full vigor of a manly spirit? And yet I have bestowed such armor on me, as would have proved an invincible defence, had thou not first cast it away. Does thou know me? Why art thou silent? Is it shame or amazement that hath struck thee dumb? Would it were but, as I see, a stupor hath seized upon thee? Then, when she saw me not only answering nothing, but mute and utterly incapable of speech, she gently touched my breast with her hand, and said, There is no danger. These are the symptoms of lethargy, the usual sickness of deluded minds. For a while he has forgotten himself. He will easily recover his memory, if only he first recognises me. In that he may do so. Let me now wipe his eyes, that are clouded with a mist of mortal things. There at, with a fold of her robe, she dried my eyes, all swimming with tears. End of song two, his despondency, in section two. This is LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Consolation of Philosophy by Inicius, Manlius, Severinus, Bothius. Translated by H.R. James, Book One, The Stars of Bothius. Song three, the mists dispelled, section four. Song three, the mists dispelled. Then the gloom of night was scattered, sight returned into mine eyes. So when happily rainy carous, rolls the storm clouds through the skies, hidden is the sun all heaven, is obscured in starless night, but if in wild onset sweeping, Boreus frees day's prison delight, all suddenly the radiant God streams and strikes her dazzled eyesight with his beams. Three, even so the clouds of my melancholy were broken up, I saw the clear sky and regained the power to recognize the face of my physician. Accordingly, when I had lifted my eyes and fixed my gaze upon her, I beheld my nurse, philosophy, whose halls I had frequented from my youth up. Ah, why I cried, mistress of all excellence, hast thou come down from my eye and entered the solitude of this my exile? Is it that thou, too, even as I, may be persecuted with false accusations? Could I desert thee, child, such she, and not lighten the burden which thou hast taken upon thee through the hatred of my name by sharing this trouble? Even forgetting that it were not lawful for philosophy to leave companionless the way of the innocent, should I think as thou fear to incur reproach or shrink from it, as though some strange new thing had befallen? Thinkest thou that now, for the first time in an evil age, wisdom hath been assailed by peril? Did I not often, in days of old, before my servant Plato lived, wage stern warfare with the rationalists of folly, and his lifetime, too, socrates, his master, one with my aid, the victory of an unjust death? And when, one after the other, the Epicurean heard, the Stoic and the Rest, each of them as far as in them lay went about to seize the heritage he left and were dragging me off protesting and resisting as their booty, they tore in pieces the garment which I had woven with my own hands, and clutching the torn pieces went off, believing that the whole of me had passed into their possession. And some of them, because some traces on my vesture were seen upon them, were destroyed through the mistake of the lewd multitude who falsely deemed them to be my disciples. It may be that thou knowest not of the banishment of anaxagoras, or the poison draught of Socrates, nor of Zeno's torturing, because these things happened in a distant country. Yet mightest thou have learnt the fate of Arius, of Seneca, of Saranus, whose stories are neither old nor unknown to fame. These men were brought to destruction for no other reason than that, settled as they were in my principles, their lives were a manifest contrast to the ways of the wicked. So there's nothing thou should wonder at, if on the seas of this life we are tossed by storm blasts. Seeing that we have made it our chiefest aim to refuse compliance with evildoers, and though, maybe, the host of the wicked is many a number, yet it is contemptible, since it is under no leadership, but is heard hither and thither at the blind driving of mad error. And if at times and seasons they set an array against us, and fall on an overwhelming strength, our leader draws off her forces into the citadel while they are busy plundering the useless baggage. But we, from our vanished ground, safe from all this wild work, laugh to see them making prize of the most valueless of things, protected by a bulwark which aggressive folly may not aspire to reach. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, auto-volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by David Barnes, London, May 2006. The Consolation of Philosophy by Aniceus Manlius Severinus Berthius, translated by H.R. James. Book 1. The Sorrows of Berthius Song 4. Nothing can subdue virtue. And Section 4. Whoso calm, serene, sedate sets his foot on haughty fate. Firm and steadfast, come what will, keeps his mean unconquered still. Him, the rage of furious seas, tossing high wild menaces, nor the flames from smoky forges that Vesuvius disgorges, nor the bolt that from the sky smites the tower can terrify. Why, then, shouldst thou feel a fright at the tyrant's weakling might? Dread him not, nor fear no harm, and thou shall his rage disarm. But who to hope or fear gives way, lost his bosom's rightful sway? He hath cast away his shield, like a coward fled the field. He hath forged all unaware, fetters his own neck must bear. Dost thou understand? she asks. Do my words sink into thy mind? Or art thou dull as the ass to the sound of the lyre? Why dost thou weep? Why do tears stream from thy eyes? Speak out, hide it not in thy heart. If thou lookest for the physician's help, thou must need disclose thy wound. Then I, gathering together what strength I could, began. Is there still need of telling? Is not the cruelty of fortune against me plain enough? Doth not the very aspect of this place move thee? Is this the library, the room which thou hath chosen as thy constant resort in my home, the place where we so often sat together, and held discourse of all things in heaven and earth? Was my garb and mean like this, when I explored with thee nature's hid secrets, and thou didst trace for me with thy wand the courses of the stars, moulding the while my character and the whole conduct of my life after the pattern of the celestial order? Is this the recompense of my obedience? Yet thou hast enjoined by Plato's mouth the maxim that states would be happy, either if philosophers ruled them, or if it should so befall that their rulers would turn philosophers. By his mouth likewise, thou didst point out this imperative reason why philosophers should enter public life, to wit, lest, if the reins of government be left to unprincipled and profligate citizens, trouble and destruction should come upon the good. Following these precepts I have tried to apply the consciousness of public administration, the principles which I learnt from thee in leisured seclusion. Thou art my witness and that divinity who hath implanted thee in the hearts of the wise that I brought to my duties no aim but zeal for the public good. For this cause I have become involved in bitter and irreconcilable feuds, and as happens inevitably the man holds fast to the independence of conscience, I have had to think nothing of giving offence to the powerful in the cause of justice. How often have I encountered and balked Conigastus in his assaults on the fortunes of the weak? How often have I thwarted Triguilla, steward of the king's household, even when his villainous schemes were as good as accomplished? How often have I risked my position and influence to protect poor wretches from the false charges innumerable with which they were forever being harassed by the greed and license of the barbarians? No one has ever drawn me aside from justice to oppression. When ruin was overtaking the fortunes of the provincials through the combined pressure of private rapine and public taxation I grieve no less than the sufferers. When at a season of grievous scarcity a forced sale disastrous as it was unjustifiable was proclaimed and threatened to overwhelm Campania with starvation I embarked on a struggle with the Praetorian Prefect in the public interest. I fought the case at the king's judgment seat and succeeded in preventing the enforcement of the sale. I rescued the consular Paulinas from the gaping jaws of the court bloodhounds who in their covetous hopes had already made short work of his wealth. To save Albinus who was of the same exalted rank from the penalties of a pre-judged charge I exposed myself to the hatred of Cyprian the informer. Thinkest thou I had laid up for myself some store of enmities enough? Well with the rest of my countrymen at any rate my safety should have been assured since my love of justice had left me no hope of security at court. Yet who was it brought the charges by which I have been struck down? Why one of my accusers is Basil who after being dismissed from the king's household was driven by his debts to lodge an information against my name. There is Opelio there is Gordentius men who for many and various offenses the king's sentence had condemned to banishment and when they declined to obey and sought to save themselves by taking sanctuary the king as soon as he heard of it decreed that if they did not depart from the city of Ravenna within a prescribed time they should be branded on the forehead and expelled. What would exceed the vigor of this severity? And yet on that same day these very men lodged an information against me and the information was admitted just heaven had I deserved this by my way of life did it make them fit accusers that my condemnation was a foregone conclusion? Has fortune no shame if not at the accusation of the innocent at least for the vileness of the accusers perhaps they will wonder what is the sum of the charges laid against me I wished they say to save the senate but how? I am accused of hindering an informer from producing evidence to prove the senate guilty of treason tell me then what is thy counsel oh my mistress shall I deny the charge lest I bring shame on thee but I did wish it and I shall never cease to wish it shall I admit it then the work of thwarting the informer will come to an end shall I call the wish for the preservation of that illustrious house a crime of a truth the senate by its decrees concerning me has made it such but blind folly though it deceive itself with false names cannot alter the true merits of things and mindful of the precept of Socrates I do not think it right either to keep the truth concealed or allow falsehood to pass but this however it may be I leave to thy judgment and to the verdict of the discerning moreover the force of events and the true facts should be hidden from posterity I have myself committed to writing an account of the transaction what need to speak of the forged letters by which an attempt is made to prove that I hoped for the freedom of Rome their falsity would have been manifest if I had been allowed to use the confession of the informers themselves evidence which has in all matters the most convincing force why what hope of freedom is left to us would there were any I should have answered with the epigram of Canius when Caligula declared him to have been cognizant of the conspiracy against him if I had known said he thou should never have known grief hath not so blunted my perceptions in this matter that I should complain because impious wretches contrive the villain is against the virtuous but at their achievement of their hopes I do exceedingly marvel for evil purposes are perchance due to the imperfections of human nature that it should be possible for scoundrels to carry out their worst schemes against the innocent while God beholdeth is verily monstrous for this cause not without reason one of thy disciples asked God exists whence comes evil yet whence comes good if he exists not however it might well be that wretches who seek the blood of all honest men and of the whole senate should wish to destroy me also whom they saw to be a bulwark of the senate and all honest men but did I deserve such a fate from the fathers also thou rememberest me thinks since thou didst ever stand by my side to direct what I should do or say thou rememberest I say how at Verona when the king eager for the general destruction was bent on implicating the whole senatorial order in the charge of treason brought against albinus with what indifference to my own peril I maintained the innocence of its members one and all now knowest that what I say is the truth and that I have never boasted of my good deeds in a spirit of self praise for whenever a man by proclaiming his good deeds receives the recompense of fame he diminishes in a measure the secret reward of a good conscience what issues have overtaken my innocence thou seest instead of reaping the rewards of true virtue I undergo the penalties of a guilt falsely laid to my charge nay more than this never did an open confession of guilt cause such unanimous severity among the assessors but that some consideration either of the mere frailty of human nature or of fortunes universal instability availed to soften the verdict of some few had I been accused of a design to fire the temples or to the priests with impious sword of plotting the massacre of all honest men I should yet have been produced in court and only punished on due confession or conviction now for my too great zeal towards the senate I have been condemned to outlawry and death unheard and undefended at a distance of near 500 miles away oh my judges well do ye deserve that no one should hereafter be convicted of a fault like mine footnote the distance from Rome to Pavia the place of Berthius' imprisonment is 455 Roman miles yet even my very accusers saw how honourable was the charge they brought against me and in order to overlay it with some shadow of guilt they falsely asserted that in the pursuit of my ambition I had stained my conscience with sacrilegious acts and yet thy spirit indwelling in me has driven from the chamber of my soul all lust of earthly success and with thine eye ever upon me there could be no place left for sacrilege for thou didst daily repeat in my ear and instill into my mind the Pythagorean maxim follow after God it was not likely then that I should covet the assistance of the vilest spirits when thou worked moulding me to such an excellence as should conform me to the likeness of God again the innocencey of the inner sanctuary of my home the company of friends of the highest probity a father-in-law revered at once for his pure character and his active beneficence shield me from the very suspicion of sacrilege yet atrocious as it is they even draw credence from this charge from thee I am like to be thought implicated in wickedness on this very account that I am imbued with thy teachings and stabilised in thy ways so it is not enough that my devotion to thee should profit me nothing but thou also must be assailed by reason of the odium which I have incurred verily this is the very crown of my misfortunes that men's opinions for the most part look not to real merit but to the event and only recognise foresight where fortune has crowned the issue with her approval whereby it comes to pass that reputation is the first of all things to abandon the unfortunate I remember with chagrin how perverse is popular report how various and discordant men's judgments this only will I say that the most crushing of misfortune's burdens is that as soon as a charge is fastened upon the unhappy they are believed to have deserved their sufferings I for my part who have been banished from all life's blessings stripped of my honours stained in repute and punished well-doing and now me thinks I see the villainous dens of the wicked surging with joy and gladness all the most recklessly unscrupulous threatening a new crop of lying informations the good prostrate with terror at my danger every ruffian incited by impunity to new daring and to success by the prophets of audacity the guiltless not only robbed of their peace of mind but even of all means of defence wherefore I would feign cry out end of song 4 nothing can subdue virtue and section 4 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org this reading by Carl Manchester 2007 The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius translated by H.R. James song 5 Boethius Prayer Builder of Yonstari Dome Bowed at Wirlist Throne Eternal Heaven's swift globe and as they roam guides the stars by Law's Supernal so in full-sphereed Splendidite as the lamps of night but unto the orb fraternal closer drawn doth lose her light who at fall of eventide Hesper his cold radiant showeth Lucifer his beams doth hide pailing as the sun's light groweth brief while winter's frost holds sway by thy will the space of day swift when summer's further gloweth speed the hours of night away thou dost rule the changing year when rude Boreus oppresses for the leaves they reappear wooed by Zephyrs soft caresses fields that serious burns deep grown by Arcturus watch was sown each the reign of law confesses keeps the place is his own sovereign ruler lord of all can it be that thou disdainest only man against him poor thrall wanton fortune plays her vainest guilt's deserved punishment falleth on the innocent high uplifted the profanest on the just their malice vent Virtue cowers in dark retreats crimes foul stain the righteous beareth perjury and false deceits hurt not him the wrong who dareeth but when ere the wicked trust in ill strength to work their lust kings whom nations all declareeth mighty grovel in the dust look oh look upon this earth thou who on law's sure foundation framest all have we no worth we poor men of all creation sore we toss on fortunes tide master bid the waves subside and earth's ways with consummation of thy heaven's order guide five when I had poured my griefs in this long and unbroken strain of lamentation she with calm countenance and in no wise disturbed my complainings thus spake when I saw the sorrowful in tears I straightway knew the wretched and an exile but how far distant that exile I should not know had not thine own speech revealed it yet how far indeed from thy country has thou not been banished but rather has strayed or if thou wilt have it banishment has banished thyself what else could ever lawfully have had this power over thee now if thou wilt call to mind from what country thou art sprung it is not ruled as once was the Athenian polity by the sovereignty of the multitude but one is its ruler one its king who takes delight in the number of his citizens not in their banishments to submit to whose governance is perfect freedom art thou ignorant of that most ancient law of this country whereby it is decreed that no one whatsoever who hath chosen to fix there his dwelling may be sent into exile for truly there is no fear that one who is encompassed by its ramparts and defences should deserve to be exiled but he who has ceased to wish to dwell therein he likewise ceases to deserve to do so and so it is not so much the aspect of this place which moves me as thy aspect not so much the library wall set off with glass and ivory which I miss as the chamber of thy mind wherein I once placed not books but that which gives books their value the doctrines which my books contain now what thou has said of thy services to the common wheel is true only too little compared with the greatness of thy deserving things the things laid to thy charge whereof thou has spoken whether such as redowned to thy credit or mere false accusations are publicly known as for the crimes and deceits of the informers thou has rightly deemed it fitting to pass them over lightly because the popular voice has better and more fully pronounced upon them thou has bitterly complained of the injustice of the senate that I have received over my columniation and likewise has lamented the damage to my good name finally thine indignation blazed forth against fortune thou has complained of the unfairness by which thy merits have been recompensed lust of all thy frantic muse framed a prayer that the peace which reigns in heaven might rule earth also but since a throng of tumultuous passions has assailed thy soul art distraught with anger pain and grief strong remedies are not proper for thee in this thy present mood and so for a time I will use milder methods that the tumours which have grown hard through the influx of disturbing passion may be softened by gentle treatment till they can bear the force of sharper remedies End of Part 5 This is a Librivox recording All Librivox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer visit Librivox.org This reading by Carl Manchester 2007 The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius translated by H.R. James Song 6 All things have their needful order he who to the unwilling furrows gives the generous grain when the crab with baleful fervours scorches all the plain he shall find his garner bear acorns for his scanty fare Go not forth to cold sweet violets from the purpled steep while the furious blasts of winter through the valleys sweep nor the grape or hasty bring to the press in days of spring for to each thing God hath given its appointed time no perplexing change permits he in his plan sublime so who quits the ordered you shall a luckless issue rue 6 First then, wilt thou suffer me by a few questions to make some attempts to test the state of thy mind that I may learn in what way that thy cure ask what thou wilt, said I for I will answer whatever questions thou chooses to put then said she this world of ours thinkest thou it is governed haphazard and fortuitously or believeest thou that there is in it any rational guidance nay, said I in no wise may I deem that such fixed motions can be determined by random hazard but I know that God the creator presideth over his work nor will the day ever come that she'll drive me from holding fast the truth of this belief yes said she thou dost even but now affirm it in song lamenting that men alone had no portion in the divine care as to the rest thou wert unshaken in the belief that they were ruled by reason yet I marvel exceedingly how in spite of thy firm hold on this opinion thou art fallen into sickness but let us probe more deeply something or other is missing I think now tell me, since thou doubtest not that God governs the world does thou perceive by what means he rules it I scarcely understand what thou meanest I said much less can I answer thy question did I not say truly that something is missing whereby as though a breach in the ramparts disease hath crept in to disturb thy mind but tell me does thou remember the universal end towards which the aim of all nature is directed I once heard said I that sorrow hath dulled my recollection and yet thou knowest whence all things have preceded yes that I know said I and have answered that it is from God yet how is it possible that thou knowest not what is the end of existence when thou dost understand its source and origin however these disturbances of mind have forced to shake a man's position but cannot pluck him up and root him altogether out of himself but answer this also I pray thee rememberest thou that thou art a man how should I not said I then canst thou say what man is is this thy question whether I know myself for a being with reason and subject to death surely I do acknowledge myself such then she dost know nothing else that thou art nothing now said she I know another cause of thy disease one too of grave moment thou hast ceased to know thy own nature so then I have made full discovery both of the causes of thy sickness and the means of restoring thy health it is because forgetfulness of thyself has bewildered thy mind that thou hast bewailed thee as an exile as one stripped of the blessings that were his it is because thou knowest not the end of existence that thou deemest abominable and wicked men to be happy and powerful while because thou hast forgotten by what means the earth is governed thou deemest that fortunes changes ebb and flow without the restraint of a guiding hand these are serious enough to cause not sickness only but even death but thanks be to the author of our health the light of nature has not yet left the utterly in thy true judgment concerning the world's government in that thou believest its subject not to the random drift of chance but to divine reason we have the divine spark from which thy recovery may be hoped have then no fear from these weak embers the vital heat shall once more be kindled within thee but seeing that it is not yet time for strong remedies and that the mind is manifestly so constituted that when it casts off the opinions its straightaway puts on false wherefrom arises a cloud of confusion that disturbs its true vision I will now try and disperse these mists by mild and soothing application that so the darkness of misleading passion may be scattered and thou mayst come to discern the splendour of the true light End of Part 6 The Consolation of Philosophy Book 1 Song 7 by Boethius translated by H.R. James this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org Song 7 The Perturbations of Passion Stars shed no light through the black night when the clouds hide and the last wave if the winds rave or oceans tide Though once serene as day's fair sheen soon fouled and spoiled by the storm's spite shows to the sight turbid and soiled Off the fair rail down the steep hill strays some tumbled block of fallen rock hinders and stays Then art thou feign clear and most plain truth to discern in the right way firmly to stay nor from it turn joy, hope and fear suffer not near drive grief away shackle them blind and lost as the mind where these have sway End of Song 7 The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius Book 2 Part 1 Translated by H.R. James This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org Book 2 Part 1 Thereafter for a while she remained silent and when she had restored my flagging attention her heart pause in her discourse she thus began If I have thoroughly ascertained the character and causes of thy sickness thou are pining with regretful longing for thy former fortune It is the change as thou demest of this fortune that hath so wrought upon thy mind Well do I understand that sirens manifold while the fatal charm of the friendship she pretends for her victims is scheming to entrap them how she unexpectedly abandons them and leaves them overwhelmed with insupportable grief Be think thee of her nature character and desserts and thou wilt soon acknowledge that in her thou has neither possessed nor has thou lost aught of any worth Me thinks I need not spend much pains in bringing this to thy mind since even when she was still with thee even while she was caressing thee thou needst to assail her in manly terms to rebuke her with maxims drawn from holy treasure house But all sudden changes of circumstances bring inevitably a certain commotion of spirit Thus it hath come to pass that thou also for a while hath been parted from thy mind's tranquility But it is time for thee to take and drain a draft soft and pleasant to the taste which as it penetrates within may prepare the way for stronger potions Wherefore I call to my aid the sweet persuasiveness of rhetoric who then only walketh in the right way when she forsakes not my instructions and music my handmade I bid to join with her singing now in lighter now in graver strain What is it then poor mortal that hath cast thee into lamentation and mourning some strange unwanted sight me thinks have thine eyes seen Thou demest fortune to have changed towards thee thou mistakenest Such ever were her ways ever such her nature Rather in her very mutability hath she preserved towards thee her true constancy Such was she when she loaded thee with caresses when she diluted thee with the allurements of false happiness Thou hast found out how changeful is the face of the blind goddess She who still veils herself from others hath fully discovered to thee her whole character If thou likeest her take her is and do not complain If thou abhorrest her profidity turn from her in disdain renounce her for baneful are her delusions The very thing which is now the cause of thy grief ought to have brought thee tranquility Thou hast been forsaken by one of whom no one can be sure that she will not forsake him Or dost thou indeed set value on a happiness that is certain to depart Again I ask is fortune's presence dear to thee if she cannot be trusted to stay and though she will bring sorrow when she is gone Why, if she cannot be kept at pleasure and if her flight overwhelms with calamity what is this fleeting visitant but a token of coming trouble Truly it is not enough to look only at what lies before the eyes Wisdom gauges the issues of things and this same mutability with its two aspects makes the threats of fortune void of terror and her caresses little to be desired Finally thou autest to bear with whatever takes place within the boundaries of fortune demands when thou hast placed thy head beneath her yoke but if thou wishest to impose a law of staying and departing the last of thine own accord chosen for thy mistress art thou not acting wrongfully art thou not embittering by impatience a lot which thou canst not alter it's thou commit thy sales to the winds thou wouldst voyage not whether thy intention was to go but whether the winds drave thee it's thou entrust thy seed to the fields thou wouldst set off the fruitful years against the barren thou hast resigned thyself to the sway of fortune thou must submit to thy mistresses caprices what art thou verily striving to stay the swing of the revolving wheel oh stupidest of mortals if it takes to standing still it ceases to be the wheel of fortune song one fortunes malice mad fortune sweeps along in wanton pride uncertain as as you rippuses surging tide now tramples mighty kings beneath her feet now sets the conquered in the victor's seat she heatheth not the wail of hapless woe but mocks the griefs that from her mischief flow such as her sport so proveth she her power and great the marvel when in one brief hour she shows her darling lifted high in bliss then headlong plunged in misery's abyss end of book one section one song one the consolation of philosophy by Boethius book two section two this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org book two section two now I would feign also reason with thee a little in fortune's own words do thou observe whether her contensions be just man she might say why dost thou pursue me with thy daily complainings what wrong have I done thee what good of thine have I taken from thee choose and thou wilt a judge and let us dispute before him concerning the rightful ownership of wealth and rank if thou succeedest in showing that any one of these things is the true property of mortal man I freely grant those things to be thine which thou claimest when nature brought thee forth out of thy mother's womb I took thee naked and destitute as thou wast I cherish thee with my sustenance and in the partiality of my favor for thee I brought thee up somewhat too indulgently and this it is which now makes thee rebellious against me I surrounded thee with the royal abundance of all those things that are in my power now it is my pleasure to draw back my hand thou hast reason to thank me for the use of what was not thine own thou hast no right to complain as if thou hast lost what was holy thine why then dost bemoan thyself I have done thee no violence wealth, honor and all such things are placed under my control my handmaidens know their mistress with me they come and at my going they depart I might boldly affirm that if those things the loss of which thou lamentest had been thine thou couldst never have lost them am I alone to be forbidden to do what I will with my own unrebuke the skies now reveal the brightness of day now shroud the daylight in the darkness of night the year may now in garland the face of the earth with flowers and fruits now disfigure it with storms and cold the sea is permitted to invite with smooth and tranquil surface today tomorrow to roughen with weave and storm shall man's insatiate greed blind me to a constancy foreign to my character this is my art this is the game I never cease to play I turn the wheel that spins I delight to see the high come down in the lowest end mount up if thou wilt but only on condition that thou wilt not think it a hardship to come down when the rules of my game require it worth thou ignorant of my character it's not know how crucis king of the lydians while dreaded rival of cirrus was afterward pitiably consigned to the flame of the pyre and only saved by a shower sent from heaven has it escaped thee how Paulus said a mead of pious tears to the misfortunes of king Perseus his prisoner what else do tragedies make such woeful outcry over save the overthrow of kingdoms by the indiscriminate strokes of them it's thou not learn in thy childhood how there stand at the threshold of Zeus two jars the one full of blessings the other of calamities how if thou has drawn over liberally from the good jar what if not even now have I departed wholly from thee what if this very mutability of mine is a just ground for hoping better things but listen now and cease to let thy heart consume away with fretfulness nor expect to live on thine own terms in a realm that is common to all song 2 man's covetousness what though plenty poor her gifts with a lavish hand numberless as are the stars countless as the sand will the race of man content cease to murmur and lament nay though God all bounty us give gold that man's desire honors rank and fame content not a whip as Nair but an all devouring greed yawns with ever widening need then what bounds can air restrain this wild lust of having when with each new bounty fed grows the frantic craving he is never rich whose fear sees grim want forever near end of book 2 section 2 and song 2 if fortune should plead thus against thee assuredly thou wouldst not have one word to offer in reply or if thou can't find any justification of thy complainings thou must show what it is I will give thee space to speak then said I if thou can't find any justification of thy complainings thou must show what it is I will give thee space to speak then said I the heart's indwelling sorrow is felt with renewed bitterness then said she I say nothing of how when orphaned and desolate thou was taken into the care of illustrious men how thou wasst chosen for alliance with the highest in estate and even before thou worked bound to their house by marriage worked already dear to their love which is the most precious of all ties did not all pronounce thee most happy in the virtues of thy wife the splendid honors of her father and the blessing of male issue I pass over for I cannot speak of blessings in which others also have shared the distinctions often denied to age which thou enjoyedst in thy youth I choose rather to come to the unparalleled culmination of thy good fortune if the fruition of any earthly success has weight in a scale of happiness can the memory of that splendor be swept away by any rising flood of troubles that day when thou didst see thy two sons ride forth from home joint consuls followed by a train of senators and welcomed by the goodwill of the people when these two sat in cural chairs in the senate house and thou by the panegyric on the king didst earn the fame of eloquence and ability when in the circus seated between the two consuls thou didst glut the multitude round with the triumphal largesse for which they looked me thinks thou didst cousin fortune while she caressed thee and made thee her darling thou didst bear off a boon which she had never before granted to any private person art thou then minded the cast up a reckoning with fortune now for the first time she has turned a jealous glance upon thee if thou compare the extent and bounds of thy blessings and misfortunes thou canst not deny that thou art still fortunate or if thou esteem not thyself favoured by fortune in that thy then seeming prosperity hath departed deem not thyself wretched since what thou now believe is to be calamitous passeth also what art thou but now come suddenly and a stranger to the scene of this life thinkest thou how there is any stability in human affairs when man himself vanishes away in the swift course of time it is true that there is little trust that the gifts of chance will abide yet the last day of life is in a manner the death of all remaining fortune what difference then thinkest thou is there whether thou leaveest her by dying or she leave thee by fleeing away song three passes when in rosy chariots drawn fever skins to light the dawn by his flaming beams assailed every glimmering star is paled when the grove by Zephyr's fed with rose blossom blushes red doth rude Oster breathe thereon bear it stands its glory gone smooth and tranquil lies the deep while the winds are hushed in sleep soon when angry tempest slash wild and high the billows dash thus if nature's changing face holds not still a moment's space fleeting deem man's fortunes deem bliss as transient as a dream one law only standeth fast things created may not last end of book two the vanity of fortunes gifts section three and song three all passes Venus Boethius translated by HR James book two the vanity of fortune section four and song four the golden mean then said I true are thine admonishings thou nurse of all excellence nor can I deny the wonder of my fortune swift career yet it is this which chafes me the more cruelly in the recalling for truly in adverse fortune you have been happy well said she if thou art paying the penalty of mistaken belief thou canst not rightly impute the fault to circumstances if it is the felicity which fortune gives that moves thee mere name though it be come reckon up with me how rich thou art in the number and weightiness of thy blessings then if by the blessing of providence thou has still preserved unto thee reckon thy fortune thou wouldst have thought thy most precious possession what right hast thou to talk of ill fortune whilst keeping all fortunes better gifts yet simicus, thy wife's father a man whose splendid character does honor to the human race is safe and unharmed and while he bewails thy wrongs this rare nature in whom wisdom and virtue are so nobly blended is himself out of danger a boon thou wouldst have been quick and cautious at the price of life itself thy wife yet lives with her gentle disposition her peerless modesty and virtue this the epitome of all her graces that she is the true daughter of her sire she lives I say and for thy sake only preserves the breath of life though she loaths it and pines away in grief and tears for thy absence wherein if in not else I would allow some marring of thy felicity what shall I say of thy sons and their consular dignity how in them so far as may be in youths of their age the example of their fathers and grandfathers character shines out since then the chief care of mortal man is to preserve his life how happy thou art couldst thou but recognize thy blessings who possesses even now what no one doubts to be dearer than life wherefore now dry thy tears fortunes hate hath not involved all thy dear ones the stress of the storm that has assailed thee is not beyond measure intolerable since there are anchors still holding firm which suffer thee not to lack either consolation in the present or hope for the future I pray that they may still hold for while they still remain however things may go I shall ride out the storm yet thou seeest how much is shorn of the splendor of my fortunes we are gaining a little ground said she if there is something in thy lot wherewith thou art not yet all together discontented but I cannot stomach thy daintiness when thou complainest with such violence of grief and anxiety because thy happiness falls short of completeness why who enjoys such settled felicity as not to have some quarrel with the circumstances of his lot a troublous matter are the conditions of human bliss either they are never realized in full or never stay permanently one has abundant riches shamed by his ignoble birth another is conspicuous for his nobility but through the embarrassment of poverty would prefer to be obscure a third, richly endowed with both laments the loneliness of an unwedded life another, though happily married is doomed to childlessness and nurses his wealth for a stranger to inherit yet another, blessed with children mournfully bewails the misdeeds of son or daughter wherefore it is not easy to be at perfect peace with the circumstances of his lot there lurks in each several portions something which they who experience it know not nothing of but which makes the sufferer wince besides the more favored a man is by fortune the more fastidiously sensitive is he and unless all things answer to his whim he is overwhelmed by the most trifling misfortunes because utterly unschooled in adversity so petty are the trifles which rob the fortunate of perfect happiness how many are there dost thou imagine who would think themselves nigh heaven if but a small portion from the wreck of thy fortune should fall to them this very place which thou callest exile is to them that dwell therein their native land so true is it that nothing is wretched but thinking makes it so and conversely every lot is happy if born with equanimity who is so blessed by fortune as not to wish to change his state if once the heavens reign to a rebellious spirit with how many bitternesses is the sweetness of human felicity blent and yet if even that sweetness seemed to him to bring delight in the enjoying yet he cannot keep it from departing when it will how manifestly wretched then is the bliss of earthly fortune which lasts not forever with those whose temper is equitable and can give no perfect satisfaction to the anxious minded why then ye children of morality seek ye from out that happiness whose seat is only within us error and ignorance bewilder you I will show thee in brief the hinge on which perfect happiness turns is there anything more precious to thee than thyself nothing thou wilt say if then thou art master of thyself thou wilt possess that which thou wilt never be willing to lose and which fortune cannot take from me and that thou mayest see that happiness cannot possibly consist in these things which are the sport of happiness reflect that if happiness is the highest good of a creature living in accordance with reason and if a thing which can in any wise bereft away is not the highest good since that which cannot be taken away is better than it it is plain that fortune cannot aspire to bestow happiness by reason of its instability and besides a man born along by this transitory felicity must either know or not know its unstability if he knows not how poor is a happiness which depends on the blindness of ignorance if he knows it he must needs fear to lose a happiness whose loss he believes to be possible wherefore a never-ceasing fear suffers him not to be happy or does he count the possibility of this loss a trifling matter insignificant then must be the good whose loss can be born so equibly and further I know thee to be one settled in the belief that the souls of men certainly die not with them convinced thereof by numerous proofs it is clear also that the felicity which fortune bestows is brought to an end with the death of the body therefore it cannot be doubted but that if happiness is conferred in this way the whole human race sinks into misery when death brings the close of all but if we know that many have sought the joy of happiness not through death only but also through pain and suffering how can life make men happy by its presence when it makes them not wretched by its loss song 4 the golden mean who founded firm and sure would ever live secure in spite of storm and blast immovable and fast who so would feign deride the oceans threatening tide his dwelling should not seek on sands or mountain peak upon the mountains height the storm winds wreak their spite the shifting sands disdain burden to sustain do thou these perils flee fair though the prospect be and fix thy resting place on some low rocks sure base then though the tempest's roar sees thunder on the shore thou in thy stronghold blessed and undisturbed shall rest live all thy days serene and mock the heaven's spleen end of book 2 the vanity of fortune section 4 and song 4 the golden mean this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information and to find out how you can volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by David Barnes London May 2006 the consolation of philosophy by Anisius Manlius Severinus Birtius translated by H.R. James book 2 the vanity of fortune's gifts section 5 and song 5 the former age section 5 but since my reasonings begin to work a soothing effect within thy mind me thinks I may resort to remedies somewhat stronger come suppose now the gifts of fortune were not fleeting and transitory what is there in them capable of ever becoming truly thine or which does not lose value when looked at steadily and fairly weighed in the balance are riches I pray thee precious either through thy nature or in their own what are they but mere gold and heaps of money yet these fine things show their quality better in the spending than in the hoarding for I suppose his plain that greed always makes men hateful while liberality brings fame but that which is transferred to another cannot remain in one's own possession and if that be so then money is only precious when it is given away by being transferred to others ceases to be one's own again if all the money in the world were heaped up in one man's possession all others would be made poor sound fills the ears of many at the same time without being broken into parts but your riches cannot pass to many without being lessened in the process and when this happens they must need impoverished those whom they leave how poor and cramped a thing then is riches which more than one cannot possess as an unbroken whole which falls not to any one man's lot without the impoverishment of everyone else or is it the glitter of gems that allures the eye yet how rarely excellence so ever may be their splendor remember the flashing light is in the jewels not in the man indeed I greatly marvel at men's admiration of them for what can rightly seem beautiful to a being endowed with life and reason if it lack the movement and structure of life and although such things do in the end take on them more beauty from their maker's care and their own brilliancy still they in no wise merit your admiration since their excellence is set at a lower grade than your own does the beauty of the fields delight you surely yes it is a beautiful part of a right beautiful whole fitly indeed do we at times enjoy the serene calm of the sea admire the sky the stars the moon the sun yet is any of these thy concern thus thou venture to boast thyself of the beauty of any one of them art thou decked with springs flowers is it thy fertility that swelleth in the fruits of autumn why art thou moved with empty transports why embraces thou an alien excellence as thine own never will fortune make thine that which the nature of things has excluded from thy ownership doubtless the fruits of the earth are given for the sustenance of living creatures but if thou art content to supply thy wants so far as suffices nature there is no need to resort to fortune's bounty nature is content with few things and with a very little of these if thou art minded to force superfluities upon her when she is satisfied that which thou addest will prove either unpleasant or harmful but now thou thinkest it fine to shine in raiment of diverse colours yet if indeed there is any pleasure in the sight of such things it is the texture or the artist's skill which I shall admire or perhaps it is a long train of servants that makes thee happy why if they behave viciously they are a ruinous burden to thy house and exceeding dangerous to their own master while if they are honest how can't thou count other men's virtue in the sum of thy possessions from all which tis plainly proved that not these things which thou reckonest in the number of thy possessions is really thine and if there is in them no beauty to be desired why shouldst thou either grieve for their loss or find joy in their continued possession while if they are beautiful in their own nature what is that to thee they would have been not less pleasing in themselves though never included among for they derive not their preciousness from being counted in thy riches but rather thou has chosen to count them in thy riches because they seemed to thee precious then what seek ye by all this noisy outcry about fortune to chase away poverty I wean by means of abundance and yet ye find the result just contrary why this varied array of precious furniture needs more accessories for its protection it is a true saying that they want most who possess most and conversely they want very little who measure their abundance by nature's requirements not by the superfluity of vain display have ye no good of your own implanted within you that ye seek your good in things external and separate is the nature of things so reversed that a creature divine by right of reason can in no other way be splendid in his own eyes save by the possession of lifeless chattels yet while other things are content with their own ye who in your intellect are godlike seek from the lowest of things an ornament for a nature of supreme excellence and perceive not how greater wrong ye do your maker his will was that mankind should excel all things on earth ye thrust down your worth beneath the lowest of things for if that in which each thing finds its good is plainly more precious than that whose good it is by your own estimation ye put yourselves below the vilest of things when ye deem these vile things to be your good nor does this fall out undeservedly indeed man is so constituted that he then only excels other things when he knows himself but he is brought lower than the beasts if he lose this self-knowledge for that other creature should be ignorant of themselves is natural in man it shows as a defect how extravagant then is this error of yours in thinking that anything can be embellished by adornments not its own it cannot be for if such accessories add any lustre it is the accessories that gain the praise while that which they veil and cover remains in its pristine ugliness and again I say that is no good which injures its possessor is this untrue no quite true thou sayest and yet riches have often hurt those that possessed them since the worst of men who are all the more covetous by reason of their wickedness think none but themselves to possess all the gold and gems the world contains so thou who now dreadest pike and sword mightest have trolled a carol in the robber's face hadst thou entered the road of life with empty pockets oh wondrous blessedness of perishable wealth whose acquisition robs thee of security song five two blessed the former age their life who in the fields contented led and still by luxury unspoiled on frugal acorns sparely fed no skill was theirs the luscious grape with honey's sweetness to confuse nor china's soft and sheenie silks temperple with brave Tyrion Hughes the grass their wholesome couch their drink the stream their roof the pines tall shade not theirs to cleave the deep nor seek in strange far lands the spoils of trade the trump of war was heard not yet nor soiled the fields by bloodshed stain for why should war's fierce madness arm when strife brought wound but brought not gain our would our hearts might still return to following in those ancient ways alas the greed of getting glows more fierce than Edna's fiery blaze woe woe for him who ere it was who first gold's hidden store revealed and perilous treasure trove dug out the gems that fame would be concealed end of book 2 the vanity of fortune's gifts section 5 and song 5 the former age the consolation of philosophy by Boethius translated by H.R. James this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org the consolation of philosophy book 2 section 6 and song 6 narrows in for me what now shall I say of rank and power whereby because you know not true power and dignity you hope to reach the sky yet when rank and power have fallen to the worst of men did ever an Edna belching forth flame and fiery deluge work such mischief verily as I think that does to remember how that ancestors sought to abolish the consular power which had been the foundation of their liberties on account of the overwinning pride of the consuls and how for that self-same pride they had already abolished the kingly title and if, as happens but rarely these prerogatives are conferred on virtuous men to exercise them the pleases so it appears that honor cometh not to virtue from rank but to rank from virtue look too at the nature of that power which you find so attractive and glorious do you never consider your creatures of earth what ye are and over whom ye exercise your fancy lordship suppose now that in the mouse tribe one claiming rights and powers for himself above the rest would ye not laugh consumedly yet if thou lookest to his body alone what creature canst thou find more feeble than man who often times is killed by the bite of a fly or by some insect creeping into the inner passage of his system yet what rights can one exercise over another say one is regard to the body and that which is lower than the body I mean fortune what will thou bind with thy mandates the free spirit canst thou force from its due tranquility the mind that is firmly composed by reason a tyrant thought to drive a man of free birth to reveal his accomplices in their conspiracy that the prisoner bit off his tongue and threw it in the furious tyrant's face thus the torches which the tyrant thought the instrument of his cruelty the sage made an opportunity for heroism moreover what is there that one man can do to another which he himself may not have to undergo in his turn we are told that the Cyrus who used to kill his guests was himself slain by his guest Hercules Regulus had thrown into bonds many of the Carthaginians whom he had taken in war soon after he himself submitted his hands to the chains of the vanquished then think is thou that man hath any power who cannot prevent another's being able to do to him what he himself can do to others besides if there were any element of natural and proper good in rank and power they would never come to the utterly bad since opposites are not meant to be associated nature brooks not the union of contraries so seeing there is no doubt that wicked wretches are often times set in higher places it is also clear that things which suffer association with the worst of men cannot be good in their own nature indeed this judgement may with some reason be passed concerning all the gifts of fortune which fall so plentifully to all the most wicked this ought also to be considered here I think no one doubts a man to be brave in whom he has observed a brave spirit residing it is plain that one who is endowed with speed is swift-footed so also music makes men musical the healing art physicians rhetoric public speakers for each of these has naturally its own proper working there is no confusion with the effects of contrary things nay, even of itself it rejects what is incompatible and yet wealth cannot extinguish insatiable greed nor his power ever made master of himself whom vicious lusts kept bound in indissoluble fetters dignity conferred on the wicked not only fails to make them worthy but contrarially reveals and displays their unworthiness why does it so happen? because you take pleasure in calling by false names things whose nature is quite incongruous there too by names which are easily proved false by the very effects of the things themselves even so it is these riches, that power this dignity are none of them rightly called finally we may draw the same conclusion concerning the whole sphere of fortune within which there is plainly nothing to be truly desired nothing of intrinsic excellence for she neither always joins herself to the good nor does she make good men of those to whom she is united we know what mischief dire he wrought Rome fired the father's sleigh whose hand with brother slaughter wet her mother's blood did stay no pitting tear his cheek bedued as on the course he gazed that mother's beauty once so fair a critic's voice appraised yet far and wide from east to west his sway the nation's own and scorching south and icy north obey his will alone did then high power occur then posed on Nero's frenzied will ah woe when to the evil heart is joined the sword to kill end of section 6 and song 6 the consolation of philosophy by Inesius Manlius Severanus Boethius translated by H.R. James book 2 The Vanity of Fortune section 7 and song 7 glory may not last then said I thou knowest thyself that ambition for worldly success hath but little swayed me yet I have desired opportunity for action lest virtue in default of exercise should languish away then she this is that last infirmity which is able to allure minds which though of noble quality have not yet been molded to any exquisite refinement by the perfecting of the virtues I mean the love of glory and fame for high services rendered to the common well and yet consider with me how poor and insubstantial a thing this glory is the whole of the earth's globe as thou hast learned from the demonstration of astronomy compared to the expanse of heaven is found no bigger than a point that is to say if measured by the vastness of heaven's sphere it is held to occupy absolutely no space at all now of this so insignificant portion of the universe it is about a fourth part as Ptolemy's proofs have taught us which is inhabited by living creatures known to us if from this fourth part you take away and thought all that is usurped by seas and marshes or lies a vast waterless desert barely is an exceeding narrow area left for human habitation you then who are shut in and prisoned in this nearest fraction of a point's space do you take thought for the blazing of your fame for the spreading abroad of your renown why what amplitude or magnificence has glory when confined to such narrow and petty limits besides the straightened bounds of this scant dwelling place are inhabited by the many nations differing widely in speech in usages in mode of life to many of these from the difficulty of travel from diversities of speech from want of commercial intercourse the fame not only of individual men but even of cities is unable to reach why in Cicero's day as he himself somewhere points out the fame of the Roman Republic had not yet crossed the Caucasus and yet by that time her name had grown formidable to the Parthians and other nations of those parts without then how narrow how confined is the glory you take pains to spread abroad and extend can the fame of a single Roman penetrate where the glory of the Roman name fails to pass moreover the customs and institutions of different races agree not together so that what is deemed praiseworthy in one country is thought punishable in another wherefore if anyone loved the applause of fame it shall not profit him to publish his name among many peoples then each must be content to have the fame of his glory limited to his own people the splendid immortality of fame must be confined within the bounds of a single race once more how many of high renown in their own times have been lost in oblivion for want of a record indeed of what avail are written records even which with their authors are over taken by the dimness of age after a somewhat longer time but ye when ye think on future fame fancy it an immortality that you are begetting for yourselves why thou scannest the infinite spaces of eternity what room hast thou left for rejoicing in the durability of thy name verily if a single moment's space be compared with ten thousand years it has a certain relative duration however little since each period is definite but this same number of years I and a number many times as great cannot even be compared with endless duration for indeed finite periods may in a sort be compared one with another a finite and an infinite never so it comes to pass that fame though it extend to ever so wide a space of years if it be compared to never lessening eternity seems not short lived merely but altogether nothing but as for you you know not how to act to write unless it be to court the popular breeze and win the empty applause of the multitude nay you abandon the superlative worth of conscience and virtue and ask a recompense from the poor words of others let me tell thee how wittily one did mock the shallowness of this sort of arrogance a certain man assailed one who had put on the name of philosopher as a cloak to pride and vain glory not for the practice of real virtue and added now shall I know if thou art a philosopher if thou barest reproaches calmly and patiently the other for a while affected to be patient and having endured to be abused cried out derisively now do you see that I am a philosopher the other with biting sarcasm retorted I should have hats thou held by peace moreover what concern have choice spirits for it is of such men we speak men who seek glory by virtue what concern I say have these with fame after the dissolution of the body in death's last hour for if men die wholly which our reasonings forbid us to believe there is no such thing as glory at all since he to whom the glory is sent to belong is altogether nonexistent but if the mind conscious of its own rectitude is released from its earthly prison and seeks heaven in free flight doth it not despise all earthly things what it rejoices in its deliverance from earthly bonds and enters upon the joys of heaven song 7 glory may not last O let him who pants for glory's girden deeming glory all in all and see how wide the heaven expanded earths and closing bounds how small shame it is if your proud swelling glory may not fill this narrow room why then strive so vainly O you proud ones to escape your mortal doom though your name to distant regions brooted over the earth be widely spread though full of many lofty sounding title on your house its luster shed death at all this pomp and glory spurneth when his hour draweth nigh shrouds alike the exalted and the humble levels lowest and most high where now are the bones of stanch for breaches, brutus, kato, where are they? lingering fame with a few graven letters doth their empty name display but to know the great dead is not given from a gilded name alone nay, be almost lie forgotten, it is not you that fame makes known fondly do you deem life's little hour lengthened by fame's mortal breath there waits but you when this too is taken at the last a second death end of book 2 the vanity of fortune section 7 and song 7 glory may not last this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org recorded by Kirsten Ferreri Los Angeles, California August 2006 the consolation of philosophy by Aeneasius Manlius Severanus Boephius translated by H.R. James book 2 the vanity of fortune section 8 and song 8 love is lord of all but that thou mayest not think that I wage implacable warfare against fortune I own there is a time when the deceitful goddess serves men well I mean when she reveals herself uncovers her face and confesses her true character perhaps that does not yet grasp my meaning strange is the thing I am trying to express and for this cause I scarce can find words to make clear my thought for truly I believe that ill fortune is of more use to men than good fortune for good fortune when she wears the guise of happiness and most seems to caress is always lying ill fortune is always truthful since in changing she shows her inconstancy the one deceives the other teaches the one in chains the minds of those who enjoy her favor by the semblance of delusive good the other delivers them by the knowledge of the frail nature of happiness accordingly thou mayest see the one fickle shifting as the breeze and ever self deceived the other sober minded alert and wary by reason of the very plen of adversity finally good fortune by her allurements draws men far from the true good ill fortune often times draws men back to true good with grappling irons again should it be esteemed a trifling boon thinkest thou that this cruel this odious fortune hath discovered to thee the hearts of thy faithful friends that other hid from thee alike the faces of the true friends and of the false but in departing she hath taken away her friends and left thee thine what price wouldst thou not have given for this service in the fullness of thy prosperity when thou seamest to thyself fortunate cease then to seek the wealth thou has lost since in true friends thou hast found the most precious of all riches song eight love is lord of all why are natures changes bound to a fixed and ordered round what toleaged peace hath bent every warring element wherefore doth the rosy mourn Phoebus Carr upborn why should Phoebe rule the night led by Hesper's guiding light what the power that doth restrain in his place the restless main that within fixed bounds he keeps nor over earth in deluge sweeps love it is that holds the chains love or sea and earth that reigns love whom else but sovereign love love high lord in heaven above yet should he his care remit all that now so close is knit in sweet love and holy peace would no more from conflict cease but with strife's rude shock and jar all the world's fair fabric mar tribes and nations love unites by just treaties sacred rites wedlock's bonds he sanctifies by affections softest ties love appointed as his due faithful laws to comrades true love all sovereign love oh then ye are blessed ye sons of men if the love that rules the sky in your hearts is thrown down high end of book two the vanity of fortune section eight and song eight love is lord of all this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the consolation of philosophy by Boethys translated by H.R. James book three true happiness and false section one and song one the thorns of error she ceased but I stood fixed by the sweetness of her song in wonderment and eager expectation my ears still strain to listen and then after a little I said thou sovereign solace of the stricken soul what refreshment hast thou brought me no less by the sweetness of thy singing than by the weightiness of thy discourse fairly I think not that I shall hear after be unequal to the blows of fortune wherefore I no longer dread the remedies which thou saidest were something too severe for my strength nay, rather I am eager to hear of them and call for them with all vehemence then said she I marked thee fastening upon my words silently and intently and I expected or to speak more truly I myself brought about in thee this state of mind what now remains is of such a sort that to the taste indeed it is biting but when received within it turns to sweetness but whereas thou dost professed thyself desirous of hearing with what ardour wouldst thou not burn didst thou but perceive whether it is my task to lead thee whether said I to true felicity said she which even now thy spirit sees and dreams but cannot behold in very truth while thy eyes are engrossed with semblances then said I I bespeech thee do thou show to me her true shape without a moment's loss gladly will I for thy sake said she but first I will try to sketch in words and describe a cause which is more familiar to thee that when thou hast viewed this carefully thou mayest turn thine eyes the other way and recognize the beauty of true happiness who feign would sow the fallow field and see the growing corn first remove the useless weeds the bramble and the thorn after ill savor honey's taste is to the mouth more sweet after the storm the twinkling stars the eyes more cheerly greet when night hath passed the bright dawn comes in car of rosy hue so drive the false bliss from thy mind and thou shall see the true end of book three true happiness and false section one and song one the words are there this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Gesina the consolation of philosophy by Anisius Manlius Severinus Bacius translated by H.R. James book three true happiness and false section two and song two the bent of nature section two for a little space she remained in a fixed gaze withdrawn as it were into the august chamber of her mind then she thus began all mortal creatures in those anxious aims would find employment in so varied pursuits so they take many paths yet strive to reach one goal the goal of happiness now the good is that which when a man has got he can lack nothing further this is which is the supreme good of all containing within itself all particular good so that if anything is still wanting there too this cannot be the supreme good since something would be left aside which might be desired it is clear then that happiness is a state perfected by the assembling together of all good things to this state as we have said all men try to attain but by different paths for the desire of the true good is naturally implanted in the minds of men only error leads them aside out of the way in pursuit of the false some deeming at the highest good to want for nothing spare no pains to attain affluence others judging the good to be that to which respect is most worthily paid strive to win the reverence of their fellow citizens by the attainment of official dignity some there are who fix the chief good in supreme power these either wish themselves sovereignty or try to attach themselves to those who have it those again who think renowned to be something of supreme excellence are in haste to spread abroad the glory of their name either for the arts of war or of peace a great many measure the attainment of good by joy and gladness of heart these think at the height of happiness to give themselves over to pleasure others there are again who interchange the ends and means one with the other in their aims for instance some want riches for the sake of pleasure and power some covered power either for the sake of money or in order to bring renown to their name so it is on these ends then that the aim of human acts and wishes is centered and on others like disease for instance noble birth and popularity seem to compass a certain renown wife and children which are sought for the sweetness of their possession while as for friendship the most sacred kind indeed is counted in the category of virtue not of fortune but other kinds are entered upon for the sake of power or of enjoyment and as for bodily excellences it is obvious that they are to be ranged with the above for strength and stature surely manifest power beauty and fleetness of foot bring celebrity health brings pleasure it is plain then that the only object sought for in all these ways is happiness for that which each seeks in preference to all else that is in his judgment the supreme good and we have to find the supreme good to be happiness therefore that state which each wishes in preference to all others is in his judgment happy thou hast then set before thine eyes something like a scheme of human happiness wealth, rank, power glory, pleasure now a pickerous from a soul regard to these considerations with some consistency concluded the highest good pleasure because all the other objects seem to bring some delight to the soul but to return to human pursuits and aims man's mind seeks to recover its proper good in spite of the mistiness of its recollection but like a drunken man knows not by what path to return home think you they are wrong who strive to escape want nay truly there is nothing which can so well complete happiness as a state abounding in all good things needing nothing from outside but wholly self-sufficing do they fall into error who deem that which is best to be also best deserving to receive the homage of reverence not at all that cannot possibly be vile and contemptible to attain which the endeavours of nearly all mankind are directed then is power not to be reckoned in the category of good why can that which is plainly more efficacious than anything else be esteemed a thing feeble and void of strength or is renown to be sort of no account nay it cannot be ignored that the highest renown is constantly associated with the highest excellence and what need is there to say that happiness is not haunted by care and gloom nor exposed to trouble and vexation since that is a condition we ask of the very least of things from the possession and enjoyment of which we expect delight so then these are the blessings which men wish to win they want riches rank, sovereignty, glory pleasure because they believe that by these means they will secure independence reverence, power, renown and joy of heart therefore it is the good which men seek by such diverse courses and herein is easily shown the might of nature's power since other opinions are so various and discordant yet they agree in cherishing good as the end song 2 the bent of nature how the might of nature sways all the world in ordered ways how resistless laws control each less portion of the whole fain would I in sounding verse on my blind strings rehearse lo the lion captive tae in meekly wears his gilded chain yet though he by hand be fed though a masters whip he dread if but once the taste of gore wet his cruel lips once more straight his slumbering fierceness wakes with one roar he bounds he breaks and first reeks his vengeful force on his trainers mangled course and the woodland songster pent in forlorn imprisonment though a mistress lavish care straw of honeyed sweets prepare yet if in his narrow cage as he hops from bar to bar he should spy the woods afar cool with sheltering foliage all these dainties he will spurn to the woods his heart will turn only for the woods he longs pipes the woods in all his songs to rude force the sapling bends while the hand its pressure lends if the hand its pressure slack straight the supple wood springs back Phoebus in the western main sinks but swift his car again by a secret path is born to the wanted gates of mourn thus all are things seen to yarn in due time for due return and no order fixed may stay save which in the appointed way joins the end to the beginning in a steady cycle spinning end of book 3, section 2 and song 2 recorded by Gazina in March 2007 and so the aim of nature leads you thither to that true good while error in many forms leads you stray therefrom for reflect whether men are able to win happiness by those means through which they think to reach the proposed end truly if either wealth, rank or any of the rest bring with them anything of such sort as seems to have nothing with them in the end of the journey of such sort as seems to have nothing wanting to it that is good we too acknowledge that some are made happy by the acquisition of these things but if they are not able to fulfill their promises and moreover lack many good things is not the happiness men seeking them clearly discovered to be a false show therefore do I first ask thee thyself who but lately were living in affluence with all that abundance of wealth was thy mind never troubled in consequence of some wrong done to thee nay said I I cannot ever remember a time when my mind was not so completely at peace as not to feel the pang of some uneasiness was it not because either something was absent which thou wouldst not have absent or present which thou wouldst have away yes said I then thou didst want the presence of one the presence of the other admitted but a man lacks that of which he is in want he does and he who lacks something is not in all points self sufficient no certainly not said I so were thou then in the plenitude of thy wealth supporting this insufficiency I must have been wealth then and thus are independent and free from all want yet this was what it seemed to promise moreover I think this also well deserves to be considered that there is nothing in the special nature of money to hinder its being taken away from those who possess it against their will I admitted why of course when every day the stronger rests it from the weaker without his consent else once come lawsuits except in seeking to recover monies which have been taken away against their owner's will by force or fraud true said I then everyone will need some extraneous means of protection to keep his money safe who can venture to deny it yet he would not unless he possessed the money which it is possible to lose no he certainly would not then we have worked round to that conclusion the wealth which was thought to make man independent rather puts him in need of further protection how in the world then can want be driven away by riches cannot the rich feel hunger cannot they thirst are not the limbs of the wealthy sensitive to the winter's cold but that would say the rich have the wherewithal to sate their hunger the means to get rid of thirst and cold true enough want can must be soothed by riches wholly removed it cannot be for if this ever gaping ever craving want is gutted by wealth it needs must be that the want itself which can be so gutted still remains I do not speak of how very little suffices for nature and how for avarice nothing is enough wherefore if wealth cannot get rid of want and makes new wants of its own how can he believe that it bestows independence though the covetous grow wealthy see his piles of gold rise high though he gathers store of treasure that can never satisfy though with pearls his gorgon blazes rares that the ocean yields though a hundred head of oxen travail in his ample fields never shall carkin care forsake him while he draws his vital breath and his riches go not with him when his eyes are closed in death. book 3 true happiness and false section 4 and song 4 disgrace of honors conferred by a tyrant well what official dignity close him to whom it comes with honor and reverence have then offices of state such power as to plant virtue in the minds of their possessors and drive out vice nay they are rather want to signalize iniquity than to chase it away and hence arises our indignation that honors so often fall to the most iniquitous of men accordingly catalyst calls nonius an ulcer spot though sitting in the curial chair thus not see what infamy high position brings upon the bad surely their unworthiness will be less conspicuous if their rank does not draw upon them the public notice in thine own case wouldst thou ever have been induced by all these perils to think of sharing office with decoritus since thou hast discerned in him the spirit of a rascally parasite and informer no we cannot deem man worthy of reverence on account of their office when we deem unworthy of the office itself but didst thou see a man endued with wisdom couldst thou suppose him not worthy of reverence nor of that wisdom with which he was endued no certainly not there is in virtue a dignity of her own which she forthwith passes over to those to whom she is united and since public honors cannot do this it is clear that they do not possess the true beauty of dignity and here this well deserves to be noticed that if a man is the more scorned in proportion as he is despised by the greater number high position not only fails to win reverence for the wicked but even loads them the more with contempt by drawing more attention to them but none without retribution for the wicked payback a return in kind to the dignities they put on by the pollution of their touch perhaps too another consideration may teach thee to confess that true reverence cannot come through these counterfeit dignities it is this if one who has been many times consul chances to visit barbaric lands would this office win him the reverence of the barbarians and yet if reverence were the natural effect of dignities they would not forgo their proper function in any part of the world even as fire never anywhere fails to give forth heat but since this effect is not due to their own efficacy but is attached to them by the mistaken opinion of mankind they disappear straight away when they are set before those who do not esteem them dignities thus the case stands with foreign peoples but does their repute last forever even in the land of their origin why the prefect chair which was once a great power is now an empty name a burden merely on the senator's fortune the commissioner of the public corn supply was once a personage now what is more contemptible than this office for as we said just now that which hath no true comeliness of its own now receives, now loses luster at the caprice of those who have to do with it so then if dignities cannot win man reverence if they are actually sellied by the contamination of the wicked if they lose their splendor through times changes if they come to contempt merely for lack of public estimation what precious beauty have they in themselves much less to give to others the royal purple soothes his pride and snowy pearls his neck adorn Nero in all his riot lives the mark of universal scorn yet he on reverent heads confers the inglorious honors of the state shall we then deem them truly best such preferment hath made great end of book 3 true happiness and false section 4 and song 4 the disgrace of honors conferred by a tyrant this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the consolation of philosophy by Boethius translated by HR James book 3 true happiness and false section 5 and song 5 self mastery well then does sovereignty and the intimacy of kings prove able to confer power why surely does not the happiness of kings endure forever and yet antiquity is full of examples and these days also of kings whose happiness has turned into calamity how glorious a power which is not even found effectual for its own preservation but if happiness has its source in sovereign power is not happiness diminished and misery inflicted in its stead insofar as that power falls short of completeness yet however widely human sovereignty be extended there must still be more peoples left over whom each several king holds no sway now at whatever point the power on which happiness depends ceases here powerlessness steals in and makes wretchedness so by this way of reckoning there must need to be a balance of wretchedness in the lot of the king the tyrant who had made trial of the perils of his condition figured the fears that haunt the throne under the image of a sword hanging over a man's head what sort of power then is this which cannot drive away the gnawings of anxiety or shun the stings of terror feign would they themselves have lived secure but they cannot then they boast about their power does thou count him to possess power whom now seeest to wish what he cannot bring to pass does thou count him to possess power whom encompasses himself with a bodyguard who fears those he terrifies more than they fear him who to keep up the semblance of power is himself at the mercy of his slaves need I say anything of the friends of kings when I show royal dominion itself utterly miserable and weak why off times the royal power in its plentitude brings them low off times involves them in its fall Nero drove his friend and preceptor Seneca to the choice of the manner of his death Antoninus exposed Papinianus who was long powerful at court to the swords of the soldiery yet each of these was willing to renounce his power Seneca tried to surrender his wealth also to Nero and go into retirement but neither achieved his purpose when they tottered their very greatness dragged them down what manner of a thing then is this power which keeps men fear while they possess it which when thou art feigned to keep it thou art not safe and when thou desirous to lay it aside thou canst not rid thyself of are friends any protection who have been attached by fortune not by virtue nay him who good fortune has made a friend ill fortune will make an enemy and what plague is more effectual to do hurt than a foe of one's own household who on power sets his aim first must his own spirit tame he must shun his neck to thrust neath the unholy yoke of lust for though India's far off land bow before his wide command at most thule homage pay if he cannot drive away the haunting care and black distress in his power he's powerless end of book three true happiness and false section five and song five self mastery this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the consolation of philosophy by Boethius translated by H.R.Janes book three true happiness and false section six and song six true nobility again how misleading how base a thing off time's glory is well does the tragic poet claim of fond repute how many a time and off test them raised high the base born for many have won a great name through the mistaken belief of the multitude and what can be imagined more shameful than that nay they who are praised falsely must needs themselves blush at their own praises and even when praises won by merit still how does it add to the good conscience of the wise man who measures his good not by popular repute but by the truth of inner conviction and if at all it does seem a fair thing to get this same renown spread it follows that any failure so to spread it is held foul but if as I set forth but now there must needs be many tribes and people whom the fame of any single man cannot reach it follows that he whom thou esteemest glorious seems all in glorious in a neighboring quarter of the globe as to popular favor I do not think it worthy of mentioning this place since it never come with the judgment and never last it steadily then again who does not see how empty how foolish is the fame of noble birth why if the nobility is based on renown the renown is in others for truly nobility seems to be a sort of reputation coming from the merits of ancestors but if it is the praise which brings renown of necessity it is they who are praised that are famous wherefore the fame of another closes a knot with splendor if thou has none of thine own so if there is any excellence in nobility of birth me thinks it is this alone that it would seem to impose upon the nobly born the obligation not to degenerate from the virtue of their ancestors all men are of kindred stock though scattered far and wide for one is father of us all one doth for all provide he gave the son his golden beams the moon her silver horn he set mankind upon the earth as stars the heavens adorn he shed a soul a heavenly born soul within the body's frame the noble origins he gave each mortal weight may claim why boast ye then so loud of race and high ancestral line if ye behold your being's source and God's supreme design none is to degenerate, none base and last by taint of sin and cherished vice he fowly stains his heavenly origin end of book 3 true happiness and false song 6 true nobility this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the consolation of philosophy by Aeneceus Manlius Severinus Boteus translated by HR James book 3 true happiness and false song 7 pleasure's sting and section 7 7 then what shall I say of the pleasures of the body the lust thereof is full of uneasiness the sading of repentance what sickness what intolerable pains are they want to bring on the bodies of those who enjoy them the fruits of iniquity as it were now what sweetness the stimulus of pleasure may have I do not know but that the issues of pleasure are painful everyone may understand who chooses to recall the memory of his own fleshly lusts nay, if these can make happiness there is no reason why the beasts also should not be happy since all their efforts are eagerly set upon satisfying the bodily wants I know indeed that the sweetness of wife children should be right comely yet only too true to nature is what was said of one that he found in his sons his tormentors and how galling such a contingency would be I must need put thee in mind since thou hast never in any wise suffered such experiences nor art there now under any uneasiness in such a case I agree with my servant Euripides who said that a man without children was fortunate in his misfortune song seven pleasure sting this is the way of pleasure she stings them that to spoil her and like the winged toiler who's lost her honey treasure she flies but leaves her smart deep wrinkling in the heart end of book three true happiness and false seven pleasure sting and section seven this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the consolation of philosophy by Aeneceus Manlius Severinus Boteus translated by HR James book three true happiness and false song eight human folly and section eight eight it is beyond doubt then that these paths do not lead to happiness they cannot guide anyone to the promised goal now I will very briefly show what serious evils are involved in following them just consider why thou must rest it from its present possessor art thou minded to put on the splendor of official dignity thou must beg from those who have the giving of it thou who covetous to out by others in honor must lower thyself to the humble posture of petition thus thou long for power thou must base perils for thou wilt be at the mercy of thy subjects plots is glory thy aim thou art lord on through all matter of hardships and there is an end to thy peace of mind art feigned to lead a life of pleasure yet who does not scorn and condemn one who is the slave of the weakest and vilest of things the body again on how slight and perishable a possession do they rely who set before themselves bodily excellences can ye ever surpass the elephant in bolt or the bull in strength can ye excel the tiger in swiftness look upon the infinitude the solidity the swift motion of the heavens and for once cease to admire things mean and worthless and yet the heavens are not so much to be admired on this account as for the reason which guides them how transient is the luster of beauty how soon gone more fleeting than the fading bloom of spring flowers and yet if as Aristotle says men should see with the eyes of Lincius so that their sight might pierce their obstructions would not that body of alcibiades so gloriously fair and outward seeming appear altogether loathsome when all its inward parts lay open to the view therefore it is not thy own nature which makes thee seem beautiful but the weakness of the eyes that see thee yet prize as unduly as ye will that body's excellences so long as ye know that this that ye admire whatever it's worth can be dissolved away by the feeble flame of a three days fever from all which considerations we may conclude as a whole that these things which cannot make good the advantages they promise which are never made perfect by the assemblage of all good things these neither lead as byways to happiness nor themselves make men completely happy song 8 human folly alas how wide a stray doth ignorance these wretched mortals lead from truth's own way for not on leafy stems do ye within the green wood look for gold nor strip the vine for gems your nets you do not spread upon the hilltops that the groaning board with fish be furnished if ye are feigned to chase the bounding goat ye sweep not in vain search the oceans ruffled face the seas far depths they know each hidden nook wherein the waves or wash the pearl as white as snow where lurks the Tyrian shell where fish and prickly urchins do abound all this they know full well but not to know or care where hidden lies the good all hearts desire this blindness they can bear with gaze on earth low bent they seek for that which reacheth far beyond the starry firmament what curse shall I call down on heart so dull may the race still run for wealth and high renown and when with much ado the false good they have grasped ah then too late may they discern the true end of book 3 true happiness and false song 8 human folly in section 8 this is the livery fox recording all livery fox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liveryfox.org recording by Cyril Law Jr the consolation of philosophy by Anichius Marnius Severinus Boetius translated by H.R. James book 3 true happiness and false section 9 and song 9 invocation this much may well suffice to set forth the form of false happiness if this is now clear to thine eyes the next step is to show what true happiness is indeed said I I see clearly enough that neither is independence to be found in wealth nor power in sovereignty nor reference in dignities nor fame in glory nor true joy in pleasures has thou discerned and also the courses why this is so I seem to have some inkling but I should like to learn more at large from thee why truly the reason is hard at hand that which is simple and indivisible by nature human error separates and transforms from the true and perfect to the false and imperfect thus thou imagine that which lacketh nothing can want power certainly not right for if there is any feebleness of strength in anything in this there must necessarily be need of external protection that is so accordingly the nature of independence and power is one and the same it seems so but does it think that anything of such a nature as this can be looked upon with contempt or is it rather of all things most worthy of veneration may there can be no doubt best to that let us then add reference to independence and power and conclude these three to be one we must if we will acknowledge the truth think is thou then this combination of qualities to be obscure and without distinction or rather famous in all renown just consider can that want renown which has been agreed to be lacking in nothing to be supreme in power and right worthy of honour for the reason that it cannot bestow this upon itself and so comes to appear somewhat poor in esteem I cannot but acknowledge that being what it is this union of qualities is also right famous it follows then that we must admit that renown is not different from the other three it does said I that then which needs nothing outside itself which can accomplish all things in its own strength which enjoys fame and compels reference must not this evidently be also fully crowned with joy in sooth I cannot conceive said I how any sadness can find entrance in such a state wherefore I must need acknowledge it full of joy at least if our former conclusions are to hold then for the same reasons this also is necessary that independence power renown reference and sweetness of delight are different only in name but in substance different wise one from the other it is said I this then which is one and simple by nature human perversity separates and in trying to win a part of that which has no parts fails to attain not only that portions since there are no portions but also the whole to which it does not dream of aspiring how so said I he who to escape one seeks reaches gives himself no concern about power he prefers a mean and low estate and also denies himself many pleasures dear to nature to avoid losing the money which he has gained but at this rate he does not even attain to independence a weakling void of strength facts by distresses mean and despise and buried in obscurity he again who thirsts alone for power squanders his wealth despises pleasures and thinks fame and rank alike worthless without power but thou seest in how many ways his state also is defective sometimes it happens that he lacks necessaries that he is ignored by anxieties and since he cannot rid himself of these inconveniences even ceases to have that power which was his whole end and aim in like manner may we cast up the reckoning in case of rank of glory or of pleasure for since each one of these severally is identical with the rest who so ever seeks any one of them without the others does not even lay hold of that one which he makes his aim well said I what then suppose anyone desire to obtain them together he does indeed wish for happiness as a whole but will he find it in these things which as we have proved are unable to bestow what they promise may by no means that I then happiness must certainly not be sought in these things which severally are believed to afford some one of the blessings most to be desired they must not admit no conclusion could be more true so then the form and the courses of happiness are set before thine eyes now turn thy gaze to the other side there thou will straightway see the true happiness I promised yes indeed this plain to the blind said I thou thus pointed it out even now in seeking to unfold the courses of the force for unless I am mistaken that is true and perfect happiness which crowns one with union of independence power, reference, renown and joy and to prove to thee with how deep an insight I have listened since all of these are the same that which can truly bestow one of them I know to be without doubt full and complete happiness happy thou my scholar in this thy conviction only one thing should thou add what is that said I is there ought thinkers thou amid these mortal and perishable things which can produce a state such as this they surely not and this thou has so amply demonstrated that no word more is needed well then these things seem to give to mortals shadows of the true good or some kind of imperfect good but the true and perfect good they cannot bestow even so said I since then thou has learned what that true happiness is and what man falsely call happiness it now remains that thou should just learn from what source to seek this yes to this I have long been eagerly looking for well since as Plato maintains in the Timaeus we ought even in the most trivial matters to implore the divine protection what's thinkers now should we now do in order to deserve to find a seat of that highest good we must invoke to father of all things said I for without this no enterprise sets out from a right beginning thou say as well sheds said she and forthwith lifted up her voice and sang song nine invocation maker of earth and sky from age to age her rule is the world by reason at whose world time issues from eternities abyss to order moves the source of movement fix thyself and move less thee no course impelled extrinsic this proportioned frame to shape from shapeless matter but deep sat within thy inmost being the form of perfect good from envy free and thou this mould the hoe to that supernal pattern butchers the world in thee thus imaged being thyself most beautiful so thou the work this fashion that fair likeness bidding it put on perfection through the exquisite perfectness of every parts contrivance thou disbind the elements in balanced harmony so that the hot and cold the moist and dry can't tend not nor the pure fire leaping up escape or weight of waters well the earth thou joinest and diffuses so linking accordingly its several parts a so of refold nature moving all this cleft in twain and in two circles gathered speeds in a path that on itself returns and compassing minds limits and conforms the heavens to her true semblance lesser soes and lesser lives by a like ordinance thou sendest forth each to its starry car affixing and the strew them far and wide over earth and heaven these by a law benign thou bidest turn again and render back to thee their fires O grant, almighty Father grant us on reasons wing to soar aloft to heavens exalted height grant us to see the fount of good found to fix our steadfast eyes in vision clear on thee disperse the heavy mists of earth and shine in thine own splendour for thou art the true serenity and perfect rest of every pious soul to see thy face the end and the beginning one the guide, the traveller the pathway and the goal end of section nine all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Cyril Lord Jr the consolation of philosophy by Anicius Manlius Severinus Poetius translated by H.R. James book three section ten and song ten the true light since now thou hast seen what is the form of the imperfect good and what the form of the perfect also me things I should next show in what manner this perfection of felicity is built up and here I can see if it proper to inquire first whether any excellence such as thou hast lately defined exists in the nature of things lest we be deceived by an empty fiction of thought to which no true reality answers but it cannot be denied that such does exist and is as it were the source of all things good for everything which is called imperfect is spoken of as imperfect by reason of the privation of some perfection so it comes to pass that whenever imperfection is found in any particular there must necessarily be a perfection in respect of that particular also for where there no such perfection it is utterly inconceivable how that so called imperfection should come into existence nature does not make a beginning with things mutilated and imperfect she starts with what is whole and perfect and falls away later through these feeble and inferior productions so if there is as we showed before a happiness of a frail and imperfect kind it cannot be doubted that there is also a happiness substantial and perfect most true is thy conclusion and most sure said I next to consider that the dwelling place of this happiness may be the common belief of all mankind agrees that God the supreme of all things is good for since nothing can be imagined better than God how can we doubt him to be good than home there is nothing better now reason shows God to be good in such wise as to prove that in him is perfect good and not so he would not be supreme of all things for there would be something else more excellent possessed of perfect good which would seem to have the advantage in priority and dignity since it has clearly appeared that all perfect things are prior to those last complete where for last we fall into an infinite regression we must acknowledge the supreme God to be full of supreme but we have determined that true happiness is the perfect good therefore true happiness must dwell in the supreme deity I accept thy reasonings said I they cannot in any wise be disputed but come see her strictly and incontrovertibly thou mayest prove this our assertion that the supreme God hath fullest possession of the highest good in what way pray said I do not rashly suppose that he who is the father of all things hath received that highest good of which he is said to be possessed either from some external source or hath it as a natural endowment in such sort that thou mightest consider the essence of the happiness possessed and of the God possesses it distinct and different for if thou dimest it from without thou mayest esteem that which gives more excellent than that which has received but him we most worthily acknowledge to be the most supremely excellent of all things if however it is in him by nature yet is logically distinct the thought is inconceivable since we are speaking of God who is supreme of all things who was there to join the divine essences finally when one thing is different from another the things so conceived as distinct cannot be identical therefore that which of his own nature is distinct from the highest good is not itself the highest good an impious thought of him than whom this plane nothing can be more excellent for universally nothing can be better in nature than the source from which it has come therefore on most true grounds of reason what I conclude that which is the source of all things to be in its own essence the highest good and most justly said I but the highest good has been admitted to be happiness yes then said she it is necessary to acknowledge that God is very happiness yes said I I cannot gain save my former admissions and I see clearly that this is a necessary inference there from reflect also said she whether the same conclusion is not further confirmed by considering that there cannot be two supreme goods distinct one from the other for the goods which are different clearly cannot be several each what the other is where for neither of the two can be perfect since to either the other is wanting but since it is not perfect it cannot manifestly be the supreme good by no means then can goods which are supreme be different one from the other but we have concluded that both happiness and God are the supreme good where for that which is highest divinity was also itself certainly be supreme happiness no conclusion said I could be true to fact nor more soundly reasoned out nor more worthy of God then further said she just as geometricians I want to draw inferences from the demonstrations to which they give the name deductions so will I add here a sort of corollary for since man become happy by the acquisition of happiness while happiness is a very God ship it is manifest that they become happy by the acquisition of God ship but as by the acquisition of justice man become just and wise by the acquisition of wisdom so by parity of reasoning by acquiring God ship they must of necessity become God's so every man who is happy is a God and though in nature God is one only yet there is nothing to hinder that very many should be gods by participation in that nature a fair conclusion and a precious said I deduction or corollary by which ever name their will to call it and yet said she not one wilt fairer than this which reason persuades us to add why what said I why seeing happiness has many particulars included under it should all these be regarded as forming one body of happiness as it were made up of various parts or is there some one of them which forms the full essence of happiness while all the rest are relative to this I would that would as unfold the whole we judge happiness to be good do we not yeah the supreme good and this the palliative applies to all for this same happiness is adjudged to be the completist independence the highest power reference renown and pleasure what then are all these goods independence power and the rest to be deemed members of happiness as it were or are they all relative to good as to their summit and crown I understand the problem but I decide to hear how thou would solve it well then listen to the determination of the matter where all these members composing happiness they would differ severally one from the other for this is the nature of parts that by their difference they compose one body all these however have been proved to be the same therefore they cannot possibly be members otherwise happiness will seem to be built up out of one member which cannot be there can be no doubt as the dead said I but I am impatient to hear what remains why it is manifest that all the others are relative to the good for the very reason why independence is sought is that it is judged good and so power also because it is believed to be good the same too may be supposed of reference of renown and of pleasant delight good then is the sum and source of all desirable things that which is not in itself any good either in reality or in semblance can in no wise be decided contrary wise even things which by nature not good are decided as if they were truly good if they seem to be so whereby it comes to pass that goodness is rightly believed to be the sum and hinge and course of all things desirable now that for the sake of which anything is decided itself seems to be most wished for for instance if anyone wishes to write for the sake of health he does not so much wish for the exercise of writing as the benefit of his health since then all things are sought for the sake of the good it is not these so much as good itself that is sought by all but that on account of which all are the things are wished for was we agreed happiness wherefore thus also it appears that it is happiness alone which is sought from all which it is transparently clear that the essence of absolute good and of happiness is one and the same I cannot see how anyone can descent from these conclusions but we have all proved that God and true happiness are one and the same yes said I then we can safely conclude also that God's essence is seated in absolute good and nowhere else song 10 the true light hither come all ye whose minds lust with rosy fatter spines lust to bondage hot compelling the earthly souls that are his dwelling here shall be your labours close here your haven of repose come to your one refuge press wide it stands to all distress not the glint of yellow goat down bright Hermos as current road not the tagus precious stands nor in far off scorching lands or the radiant gems that hide under indices storied tide amour road green and glistering white can illume our feeble sight but they rather leave the mine in its native darkness blind for the ferris beams they shed in earth's lowest deaths were fed but a splendid supply strength and vigour to skies and the universe controls shunneth dark and ruined souls he who once hath seen this light will not call the sun beam bright end of book 3 section 10 and song 10 the true light is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the consolation of philosophy by Inicius Manlius Pothius translated by H.R. James book 3 Reminescence song 11 section 27 I quite agree said I truly all thy reasonings hold admirably together then said she what value wouldst thou put upon the boon shouldst thou come to the knowledge of the absolute good oh an infinite said I if only I were so blessed as to learn to know God also who is the good yet this will I make clear to thee on truest grounds of reason if only our recent conclusions stand fast will have we not shown that those things which most men desire are not true and perfect good precisely for this cause that they differ severally one from another and seeing that one is wanting to another they cannot bestow full and absolute good but that they become the true good when they are gathered as it were into one form and agency so that that which is independence is likewise power reverence renown and pleasant delight and unless they are all one and the same they have no claim to be counted among the things desirable yes this was clearly proved and cannot in any wise be doubted now when things are far from being good while they are different but become good as soon as they are one is it not true that these become good by acquiring unity it seems so said I but does not thou allow that all which is good is good by participation and goodness it is then thou must on similar grounds admit that unity and goodness are the same for when the effects of things in their natural workings differ not their essence is one and the same there is no denying it now does thou know said she that all which is abides and subsists so long as it continues one but so soon as it ceases to be one it perishes and falls to pieces in what way why take animals for example when body and soul come together and continue in one this is we say a living creature but when this unity is broken by the separation of these two the creature dies and is clearly no longer living the body also while it remains in one form by joining together of its members presents a human appearance but if the separation and dispersal of the parts break up the body's unity it ceases to be what it was and if we extend our survey to all other things without doubt it will manifestly appear that each several things subsists while it is one but when it ceases to be one perishes yes when I consider further I see that it is to be even as thou sayest well is there ought said she which and so far as it acts conformably to nature abandons the wish for life and desires to come to death and corruption look to living creatures which have some faults of choice I find none that without external compulsion for go the will to live and have their own accord hastened to destruction for every creature diligently pursues the end of self-preservation and shuns death and destruction as to herbs and trees and inanimate things generally I'm all together in doubt what to think and yet there is no possibility of question about this either since thou seeest how herbs and trees grow in places suitable for them where as far as their nature admits they cannot quickly wither and die some spring up in the plains some grow in marshes others cling to rocks and others again find a fertile soil in the barren sands and if you try to transplant these elsewhere they wither away nature gives to each the soil that suits it and uses her diligence to prevent any of them dying so long as it is possible for them to continue alive why do they all draw their nourishment from roots as from a mouth dipped into the earth and distribute the strong bark over the pith why are all the softer parts like the pith deeply encased with them while the external parts have this strong texture of wood and outside of all is the bark to resist the weathers and clemency like a champion stout in endurance again how great is nature's diligence to secure universal propagation by multiplying seed who does not know all these to be contrivances not only for the present maintenance of a species before its lasting continuance generation after generation forever and do not also the things believed inanimate on like grounds of reason seek each what is proper to itself why do the flames shoot lightly upward while the earth presses downward with its weight if it is not that these motions and situations are suitable to their respective natures moreover each several thing is preserved by that which is agreeable to its nature even as it is destroyed by things inimical things solid like stones resist disintegration by the close adhesion of their parts things fluid like air and water yield easily to what divides them they will swiftly flow back and mingle with those parts from which they have been severed while fire again refuses to be cut at all and we are not now treating of the voluntary motions of an intelligent soul but of the drift of nature even so it is that we digest our food without thinking about it and draw our breath unconsciously and sleep, nay even in living creatures but of the principles of nature for often times in the stress of circumstances will chooses the death which nature shrinks from and contrarially in spite of natural appetite will restrains that work of reproduction by which alone the persistence of perishable creatures is maintained so entirely does this love of self come from drift of nature not from animal impulse Providence has furnished things with this most cogent reason for continuance they must desire life so long as it is naturally possible for them to continue living wherefore in no way may a thou doubt but that things naturally aim at continuance of existence and shun destruction I confess, said I that what I lately thought uncertain I now perceive to be undoubtedly clear and that which seeks to subsist and continue desires to be one for if its oneness be gone its very existence cannot continue true, said I all things then desire to be one I agree but we have proved that one is the very same thing as good we have all things then seek the good indeed you may express the fact that everything good is that which all desire nothing could be more truly thought out either there is no single end to which all things are relative or else the end to which all things universally hastened must be the highest good of all then she exceedingly do I rejoice dear pupil thine eye is now fixed on the very central mark of truth moreover, herein is revealed that of which thou didst profess thy self-ignorant what is that, said I the end and the aim of the whole universe surely it is that which is desired of all and since we have concluded the good to be such we ought to acknowledge the end and aim of the whole universe to be the good song 11 Reminiscence who truth pursues who from false ways his heedful steps would keep by inward light must search within in meditation deep all outward bent he must repress his soul's true treasure to possess then all that errors misobscured shall shine more clear than light this fleshly frame's oblivious weight hath quench not reason quite the germs of truth still lie within once we by learning all may win else how could ye the answer do untaught to questions give were it not that deep within the soul to secret sparks do live if Plato's teaching eras not we learn but that we have forgot and book 3 Reminiscence song 11 section 27 all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Consolation of Philosophy by Ana Cius Manlius Severinus Boethius translated by H.R. James book 3 True Happiness and False section 12 and song 12 Orpheus and Eurydice then said I with all my heart I agree with Plato indeed this is now the second time that these things have been brought back to my mind first I lost them through the clogging contact of the body then after through the stress of heavy grief then she continued if thou wilt reflect upon thy former admissions it will not be long before thou dost also recollect that of which first while thou didst confess thyself ignorant what is that? said I the principles of the world's government said she yes I remember my confession and although I now anticipate what thou intendest I have a desire to hear the argument plainly set forth a while ago thou deemst it beyond all doubt that God doth govern the world I do not think it doubtful now nor shall I ever and by what reasons I am brought to this assurance I will briefly set forth this world could never have taken shape as a single system out of parts so diverse and opposite were it not that there is one who joins together these so diverse things and when it had once come together the very diversity of natures would have severed it and torn it asunder in universal discord were there not one who keeps together what he has joined nor would the order of nature proceed so regularly nor could its course exhibit motions so fixed in respective position time range efficacy and character unless there were one who himself abiding disposed these various facistitudes of exchange this power whatsoever it be whereby they remain as they were created and are kept in motion I called by the name which all recognize God then said she seeing that such as thy belief it will cost me little trouble I think to enable thee to win happiness and return in safety to thy own country but let us give our attention to the task that we have set for ourselves have we not counted independence in the category of happiness and agreed that God is absolute happiness truly we have then he will need no external assistance for the ruling of the world otherwise if he stands in need of ought he will not possess complete independence that is necessarily so said I then by his own power alone all things it cannot be denied now God was proved to be absolute good yes I remember then he disposes all things by the agency of good if it be true that he rules all things by his own power whom we have agreed to be good and he is as it were the rudder and helm by which the world's mechanism is kept steady in an order heartily do I agree and indeed I anticipated what thou wouldst say though it may be in feeble surmise only I well believe it said she for as I think thou now bring us to the search I is quicker in discerning truth but what I shall say next is no less plain and easy to see what is it said I why said she since God is rightly believed to govern all things with the rudder of goodness and since all things do likewise as I have taught haste towards good by the very aim of nature can it be doubted that his governance is willingly accepted and that all submit themselves to the sway of the disposer as conformed and a tempered to his rule necessarily so said I no rule would seem happy if it were a yoke opposed on reluctant wills and not the safekeeping of obedient subjects there is nothing then which while it follows nature endeavors to resist good no nothing but if anything should will it have the least success against him whom we rightly agreed to be the supreme lord of happiness it would be utterly impotent there is nothing then which has either the will or the power to oppose this supreme good no I think not so then said she it is the supreme good which rules in strength and graciously disposes all things then said I how delighted am I at thy reasonings and the conclusion to which thou brought them but most of all at these very words which thou usest I am now at last ashamed of the folly that so sorely vexed me thou hast heard the story of the giants assailing heaven but a beneficent strength disposed of them also as they deserved but shall we submit our arguments to the shock of mutual collision it may be from the impact some bearer spark of truth may be struck out if it be thy good pleasure said I no one can doubt that God is all-powerful no one at all can question it who thinks consistently now there is nothing which one who is all-powerful cannot do nothing but can God do evil then nay then evil is nothing said she since he to whom nothing is impossible is unable to do evil art thou mocking me said I weaving a labyrinth of tangled arguments now seeming to begin where thou didst end and now to end where thou didst begin or dost thou build up some wondrous circle of divine simplicity for truly a little before thou didst begin with happiness and say it was the supreme good and didst declare it to be seated in the supreme Godhead God himself too thou didst affirm to be supreme good and all-complete happiness and from this thou didst go on to add as by the way the proof that no one would be happy unless he were likewise God again thou didst say that the very form of good was both of God and of happiness and didst teach that the absolute one was the absolute good which was sought by universal nature that dis-maintain also that God rules the universe by the governance of goodness that all things obey him willingly and that evil has no existence in nature and all this thou didst unfold without the help of assumptions from without but by inherent and proper proofs drawing credence one from the other then answered she far is it from me to mock thee nay, by the blessing of God whom we lately addressed in prayer we have achieved the most important of all objects for such is the form of the divine essence that neither can it pass into things external nor take up anything external into itself but as Parmenides says of it in body like to a sphere on all sides perfectly rounded it rolls the restless orb of the universe keeping itself motionless the while and if I have also employed reasonings not drawn from without but lying within the compass of our subject there is no cause for thee to marvel since thou hast learned on Plato's authority that words ought to be akin to the matter of which they treat long twelve Orpheus and Eurydice blessed he whose feet have stood beside the fountain good blessed he whose will could break earth's chains for wisdom's sake the thration bar to set mourned his dear consort dead to hear the plaintive strain the woods moved in his train and the stream ceased to flow held by so soft a woe the deer without dismay beside the lion lay the hound by songs of dude no more the hare pursued but the pang unassuaged in his own bosom raged the music that could calm all else brought him no balm chiding the powers immortal he came unto hell's portal there breathed all tender things upon his sounding strings each rhapsody high wrought his goddess mother taught all he from grief could borrow and love redoubling sorrow till as the echoes waken all tainerous is shaken whilst he to Ruth persuades the monarch of the shades with dulcet prayer spellbound the triple headed hound at sound so strangely sweet falls crouching at his feet the dread avengers too that guilty minds pursue with ever-hunting fears are all dissolved in tears ixian on his wheel a respite brief doth feel for lo the wheel stand still and while those sad notes trill thirst maddened tantalus listens oblivious of the stream's mockery and his long agony the vulture too doth spare some little while to tear at titius's rent sigh sated and pacified at length the shadowy king his sorrows pitying he hath prevalent cried we give him back his bride to him she shall belong as garden of his song one soul condition yet upon the boon is set let him not turn his eyes to view his hard one prize till they securely pass the gates of hell alas what law can lovers move a higher law is love for orpheus woe is me on his euridice day's threshold all but one looked lost and was undone ye who the light pursue the story is for you who seek to find a way unto the clearer day if on the darkness passed one backward look ye cast your weak and wandering eyes have lost the matchless prize end book three true happiness false section twelve and song twelve orpheus and euridice this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information auto volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Corrie Samuel the consolation of philosophy by Ancius Manlius Severinas Boethius translated by H.R. James book four good and ill fortune section one and song one the soul's flight softly and sweetly philosophy sang these verses to the end without losing ought of the dignity of her expression or the seriousness of her tones then for as much as I was yet unable to forget my deeply seated sorrow just as she was about to say something further I broke in and cried O thou guide into the way of true light all that thy voice hath uttered from the beginning even unto now has manifestly seemed to me at once divine contemplated in itself and by the force of thy arguments placed beyond the possibility of overthrow moreover these truths have not been altogether unfamiliar to me here too for though because of indignation at my wrongs they have for a time been forgotten but lo herein is the very chiefest cause of my grief that while there exists a good ruler of the universe it is possible that evil should be at all still more that it should go unpunished surely thou must see how deservedly this of itself provokes astonishment but a yet greater marvel follows while wickedness reigns and flourishes virtue not only lacks its reward but is even thrust down and trampled under the feet of the wicked and suffers punishment in the place of crime that this should happen under the rule of a god who knows all things and can do all things but wills only the good cannot be sufficiently wonder that sufficiently lamented then said she it would indeed be infinitely astounding and of all monstrous things most horrible if as thou esteemest in the well-ordered home of so greater householder the base vessels should be held in honour the precious left to neglect but it is not so for if we hold unshaken those conclusions which we lately reached thou shall learn that by the will of him of whose realm we are speaking the good are always strong the bad always weak and impotent that vices never go unpunished nor virtues unrewarded that good fortune ever befalls the good and ill fortune the bad and much more of the sort which shall hush thy murmurings and establish thee in the strong assurance of conviction and since by my late instructions thou hast seen the form of happiness hast learnt too the seat where it is to be found all due preliminaries being discharged I will now show thee the road which will lead thee home wings also will I fasten to thy mind wherewith thou mayest saw a loft that so all disturbing doubts removed and safe to thy country under my guidance in the path I will show thee and by the means which I furnish song one the soul's flight wings are mine above the pole far aloft I saw clothed with these my nimble soul scorns earth's hated shore cleaves the skies upon the wind sees the clouds left far behind soon the glowing point she nears where the heavens rotate follows through the starry spheres febuses course or straight takes for comrade mid the stars satin cold or glittering Mars thus each circling orb explores through night's stole that peers then when all are numbered soars far beyond the spheres mounting heavens supremist height to the very fount of light there the sovereign of the world his calm sway maintains as the globe is onward world guides the chariot reigns and in splendour glittering reigns the universal king hither if thy wondering feet find at last away here thy long-lost home thou'lt greet dear lost land thou'lt say though from thee I've wandered wide hence I came here will abide yet if ever thou art feigned visitant to be of earth's gloomy night again surely thou wilt see tyrants whom the nations fear dwell in hapless exile here end of book four good and ill fortune section one and song one the soul's flight this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the consolation of philosophy by Boethdeus by H.R. James book four good and ill fortune section two and song two the bondage of passion then said I fairly wonderous great are thy promises yet I do not doubt but thou canst make them good only keep me not in suspense after raising such hopes learn then first said she how that power ever waits upon the good while the bad are left holy destitute of strength the one proves the other for since good and evil are concharies if it is made plain that good is power the feebleness of evil is clearly seen and conversely if the frail nature of evil is made manifest the strength of good is thereby known however to win ample credence for my conclusion I will pursue both paths and draw confirmation for my statements first in one way and then in the other the carrying out of any human action depends upon two things to it will and power if either be wanting nothing can be accomplished for if the will be lacking no attempt is made to do what is not willed whereas if there be no power the will is all in vain and so if thusiest any man wishing to attain some end yet utterly failing to attain it thou canst not doubt that he lacked the power of getting what he wished for why certainly not there is no denying it canst thou then doubt that he whom thou seest to have accomplished what he willed had also the power of accomplishing it of course not then in respect of what he can accomplish a man is to be reckoned strong in respect of what he cannot accomplish weak granted said I then does thou remember that by our former reasonings it was concluded that the whole aim of man's will though the means of pursuit vary is set intently upon happiness I do remember that this too was proved does thou also call to mind how happiness is absolutely good and therefore that when happiness is sought it is good which is in all cases the object of desire nay I do not so much call to mind what is fixed in my memory then all men good and bad alike with one indistinguishable purpose strive to reach good yes that follows but it is certain that by the attainment of good men become good it is then do the good attain their object it seems so but if the bad were to attain the good which is their object they could not be bad no then both seek good but while the one sort attains it the other attain it not is there any doubt that the good are indeed with power while they who are bad are weak if any doubt it he is incapable of reflecting on the nature of things or the consequences involved in reasoning again supposing that there are two things in which the same function is prescribed in the course of nature and one of these successfully accomplishes the function by natural action the other is altogether incapable of that natural action instead of which in a way other than is agreeable to its nature it I will not say fulfills its function but feigns to fulfill it which of these two would in my view be the stronger I guess thy meaning but I pray thee let me hear it more at large walking is man's natural emotion is it not certainly thou dost not doubt I suppose that it is natural for the feet to discharge this function no surely I do not now if one man who is able to use his feet walks and another to whom the natural use of his feet is wanting tries to walk on his hands which of the two would still rightly esteem the stronger go on said I no one can question but that he who has the natural capacity has more strength than he who has it not now the supreme good is set up as the end alike for the bad and for the good but the good seek it through the natural action of the virtues whereas the bad try to attain the same good through all manner of concupiscence which is not the natural way of attaining good or does thou think otherwise nay rather one further consequence is clear to me for from my admission it must needs followed that the good have power and the bad are impotent thou anticipatist rightly and that as physicians reckon is a sign that nature is set working and thou thrust off the disease but since I see thee so ready at understanding I will heap proof on proof look how manifest is the extremity of vicious man's weakness they cannot even reach the goal to which the aim of nature leads and almost constrains them what if they were left without this mighty this well-nigh irresistible help of nature's guidance consider also how momentous is the powerlessness which incapacitates the wicked not light or trivial are the prizes which they contend for but which they cannot win or hold nay their failure concerns the very sum and crown of things poor wretches they fail to compass even that for which they toil day and night herein also the strength of the good conspicuously appears for just as thou wouldst judge him to be the strongest walker whose legs could carry him to a point beyond which no further advance was possible so must thou needs account him stronger in power who so attains the end of his desire that nothing further to be desired lies beyond once follows the obvious conclusion that they who are wicked are seen likewise to be holy destitute of strength for why do they forsake virtue and follow vice is it from ignorance of what is good well what is more weak and feeble than the blindness of ignorance do they know what they ought to follow but lust drives them aside out of the way if it be so they are still frail by reason of their incontinence for they cannot fight against vice or do they knowingly and willfully forsake the good and turn aside to vice why at this rate they not only cease to have power but cease to be at all for they who forsake the common end of all things that are they likewise cease to be at all now to some it may appear strange that we should assert that the bad who form the greater part of mankind do not exist but the fact is so I do not indeed deny that they who are bad are bad but that they are in an unqualified and absolute sense I deny just as we can call a corpse a dead man but cannot call him simply a man so I would allow the vicious to be bad but that they are in an absolute sense I cannot allow that only is which maintains its place and keeps its nature for whatever falls away from this forsakes the existence which is essential to its nature but that will say the bad have an ability nor do I wish to deny it only this ability of theirs comes not from strength but from impotence this ability is to do evil which would have had no efficacy at all if they could have continued in the performance of good so this ability of theirs proves them still more plainly to have no power for if, as we concluded just now evil is nothing it is clear that the wicked can affect nothing since they are only able to do evil it is evident and that thou mayest understand what is the precise force of this power we determined, did we not a while back that nothing has more power than supreme good we did, said I but that same highest good cannot do evil certainly not is there anyone then who thinks that men are able to do all things none but a mad man yet they are able to do evil I would they could not since then he who can do only good is omnipotent while they who can do evil are not omnipotent it is manifest that they who can do evil have less power there is this also we have shown that all power is to be reckoned among things desirable and that all desirable things are referred to good as to a kind of consummation of their nature but the ability to commit crime cannot be referred to the good therefore it is not a thing to be desired and yet all power is desirable it is clear then that ability to do evil is not power from all which considerations appear with the power of the good and the indubitable weakness of the bad it is clear that Plato's judgment was true the wise alone are able to do what they would while the wicked follow their own hearts lust but cannot accomplish what they would for they go on in their willfulness fancying they will attain what they wish for and delight but they are very far from its attainment since shameful deeds lead not to happiness song 2 the bondage of passion when high enthroned the monarch sits resplendent in his pride of purple robes while flashing steel guards him on every side when baleful terrors on his brow with frowning menace lower and passion shakes his laboring breast how dreadful seems his power of his state from such a one thou tear thou will see the load of secret bonds this lord of earth doth wear lusts poison rankles over his mind rage sweeps and tempest rude sorrow his spirit vexes sore and empty hopes delude then thou wilt confess one hapless wretch who many lords oppress does never what he would but lives enthralled him's helplessness end of book 4 good fortune and ill section 2 and song 2 the bondage of passion this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Susie G the consolation of philosophy by Anikis Manila Severina Spelivius translated by H.R. James book 4 section 3 and song 3 Kirkys Cup thou seest then in what foulness unrighteous deeds are sunk with what splendor righteousness shines whereby it is manifest that goodness never lacks its reward nor crime its punishment for, verily in all manner of transactions that for the sake of which the particular action is done may justly be accounted the reward of that action even as the wreath for the sake of which the race is won is the reward offered for running now we have shown happiness to be that very good for the sake of which all things are done absolute good then is offered as the common prize as it were of all human actions but, truly this is a reward from which it is impossible to separate the good man for one who is without good cannot properly be called good at all wherefore righteous dealing never misses its target rage the wicked then never so violently the crown shall not fall from the head of the wise nor wither verily other men's unrighteousness cannot pluck from righteous souls their proper glory were the reward in which the soul of the righteous delighteth receive from without then might it be taken away by him who gave it or some other but since it is conferred by his own righteousness then only will he lose his prize when he is ceased to be righteous lastly since every prize is desired because it is believed to be good who can account him who possesses good to be without reward and what a prize the fairest and grandest of all for remember the corollary which I chiefly insisted on a little while back and reason thus since absolute good is happiness it is clear that all the good must be happy for the very reason that they are good but it was agreed those who are happy are gods so then the prize of the good is one which no time may impair no man's power lessen no man's unrighteousness tarnish his very godship and this being so the wise men cannot doubt that punishment is inseparable from the bad for since good and bad and likewise reward and punishment on the contrary it necessarily follows that corresponding to all that we see accrue as reward of the good there is some penalty attached as punishment of evil as then righteousness itself is the reward of the righteous so wickedness itself is the punishment of the unrighteous now no one who is visited with punishment doubts that he is visited with evil accordingly if they were but willing to weigh their own case could they think themselves free from punishment whom wickedness worst of all evils has not only touched but deeply tainted see also from the opposite standpoint the standpoint of the good what a penalty attends upon the wicked thou didst learn a little since that whatever is sin and that unity itself is good accordingly by this way of reckoning whatever falls away from goodness ceases to be once it comes to pass that the bad cease to be what they were while only the outward aspect is still left to show they have been men wherefore by their perversion to badness they have lost their true human nature further since righteousness alone can raise men above the level of humanity it must needs be that unrighteousness degrades below man's level those whom it has cast out of man's estate it results then that thou canst not consider him human whom thou see is transformed by vice the violent dispoiler of other men's goods inflamed with covetness a bold and restless spirit ever wrangling in law courts is like some yelping cur the secret schemer taking pleasure and fraud and stealth is own brother to the fox the passionate man frenzied with rage we might believe to be animated with the soul of a lion the coward and runaway afraid where no fear is taken to the timid deer he who is sunk in ignorance and stupidity lives like a dull ass he who is light and inconstant never holding long to one thing is for all the world like a bird he who wallows in foul and unclean lusts is sunk in the pleasures of a filthy hog so it comes to pass that he who by forsaking righteousness ceases to be a man cannot pass into a god-like condition but actually turns into a brute beast song three curkeys cup the Ithacan discreet and all his storm-tossed fleet far over the ocean wave the winds of heaven drave drave to the mystic isle where dwelleth in her guile that fair and faithless one the daughter of the son there for the stranger crew with cunning spells she knew to mix the enchanted cup for whoso drinks it up must suffer hideous change to monstrous shapes and strange one like a boar appears this his huge form uprears mighty in bulk and limb an afric lion grim with claw and fang confessed a wolf this he was more distressed when he would weep doth howl and strangely tame these prowl the indian tiger's mates and though in such source straits the pity of the god who bears the mystic wad had power the chieftain brave from her fell arts to save his comrades unrestrained the fatal goblet drained all now with low bent head like swine on acorn's bed man's speech and form were left no human feature left but steadfast still the mind unaltered unresigned the monstrous change bewailed how little then availed the potencies of ill these herbs this baneful skill may change each outward part but cannot touch the heart in its true home deep-set man's spirit liveth yet those poisons are more fell more potent to expel man from his highest state with subtlety penetrate and leave the body whole but deep infect the soul and of book four section three and song three kirky's cup this is a libra fox recording all libra fox recordings are in the public domain for more information auto-volunteer please visit librafox.org recording by kori samuel the consolation of philosophy by anesius manlius severinas bowethius translated by h. r. james book four good and ill fortune section four and song four the unreasonableness of hatred then said I this is very true I see that the vicious though they keep the outward form of man are rightly said to be changed into beasts in respect of their spiritual nature but inasmuch as their cruel and polluted minds vent their rage in the destruction of the good I would this license were not permitted to them nor is it said she I shall be shown in the fitting place yet if that license which they believe is to be permitted to them were taken away the punishment of the wicked would be in great part remitted for verily incredible as it may seem to some it needs must be that the bad are more unfortunate when they have accomplished their desires than if they are unable to get them fulfilled if it is wretched to will evil to have been able to accomplish evil is more wretched for without the power the wretched will would fail of effect accordingly those whom thou seest to will to be able to accomplish and to accomplish crime must needs be the victims of a threefold wretchedness since each one of these states has its own measure of wretchedness yes said I yet I earnestly wish they might speedily be quit as misfortune by losing the ability to accomplish crime they will lose it said she sooner than perchance they are wuscious or they themselves think likely since verily within the narrow bounds of our brief life there is nothing so late in coming that any one least of all an immortal spirit should deem it long to wait for their great expectations the lofty fabric of their crimes is often overthrown by a sudden and unlooked for ending and this but sets a limit to their misery for if wickedness makes men wretched he is necessarily more wretched who is wicked for a longer time and were it not that death at all events puts an end to the evil doings of the wicked I should account them wretched to the last degree indeed if we have formed true conclusions about the ill fortune of wickedness that wretchedness is plainly infinite which is doomed to be eternal then said I a wonderful inference and difficult to grant but I see that it agrees entirely with our previous conclusions thou art right said she but if anyone finds it hard to admit the conclusion he ought in fairness to prove some falsity in their premises or to show that the combination of propositions does not adequately enforce the necessity of the conclusion otherwise if the premises be granted nothing whatever can be said against the inference of the conclusion and here is another statement which seems not less wonderful but on the premises assumed is equally necessary what is that the wicked are happier in undergoing punishment than if no penalty of justice chasing them and I am not now meaning what might occur to anyone that bad character is amended by retribution and is brought into the right path by the terror of punishment or that it serves as an example to warn others to avoid transgression but I believe that in another way the wicked are more unfortunate and punished even though no account be taken of amendment and no regard be paid to example why what other way is there beside these said I then said she have we not agreed that the good are happy and the evil wretched yes said I now if to one in affliction there be given along with his misery the good thing is he not happier than one whose misery is misery pure and simple without her mixture of any good it would seem so but if to one thus wretched one destitute of all good some further evil be added besides those which make him wretched is he not to be judged far more unhappy than he whose ill fortune is alleviated by some share of good it could scarcely be otherwise surely then the wicked when they are punished have a good thing added to them to wit the punishment which by the law of justice is good and likewise when they escape punishment a new evil attaches to them in that very freedom from punishment which thou hast rightly acknowledged to be an evil in the case of the unrighteous they cannot deny it then the wicked are far more unhappy when indulged with an unjust freedom from punishment than when punished by a just retribution now it is manifest that it is just for the wicked to be punished and for them to escape unpunished is unjust why who would venture to deny it this too no one can possibly deny all which is just is good and conversely all which is unjust is bad then I answered these inferences do indeed follow from what we lately concluded but tell me said I thus thou take no account of the punishment of the soul after the death of the body nay truly said she greater these penalties some of them inflicted I imagine the purity of retribution others in the mercy of purification but it is not my present purpose to speak of these so far my aim has been to make thee recognize that the power of the bad which shocked thee so exceedingly is no power to make thee see that those of whose freedom from punishment thou didst complain and never without the proper penalties of their unrighteousness to teach thee that the license which thou praised might soon come to an end is not long enduring that it would be more unhappy if it lasted longer most unhappy of all if it lasted forever thereafter that the unrighteous are more wretched if unjustly let go without punishment than if punished by just retribution from which point of view it follows that the wicked are afflicted with more severe penalties just when they are supposed to escape punishment then said I while I follow thy reasonings I am deeply impressed with their truth but if I turn to the common convictions of men I find few who will even listen to such arguments let alone admit them to be credible true said she they cannot lift eyes accustomed to darkness to the light of clear truth and alike those birds whose vision night illumines and day blinds for while they regard not the order of the universe but their own dispositions of mind they think the license to commit crime and the escape from punishment to be fortunate but mark the ordinance of eternal law has thou fashioned thy soul to the likeness of the better thou hast no need of a judge to award the prize by their own act has thou raised thyself in a scale of excellence has thou perverted thy affections to baser things look not for punishment from one without thee thine own act hath degraded thee and thrust thee down even so if alternately thou turn thy gaze upon the vile earth and upon the heavens though all without thee stand still by the mere laws of sight thou seamest now sunk in the mire now soaring among the stars but the common herd regards not these things what then shall we go over to those whom we have shown to be like brute beasts why suppose now one who had quite lost his sight should likewise forget that he had ever possessed the faculty of vision and should imagine that nothing was wanting in him to human perfection should we deem those who saw as well as ever blind why there will not even a sense to this either that they who do wrong are more wretched than those who suffer wrong though the proof of this rests on grounds of reason no less strong let me hear these same reasons said I would thou deny that every wicked man deserves punishment I would not certainly and that those who are wicked are unhappy is clear in manifold ways yes I replied thou dost not doubt then that those who deserve punishment are wretched agreed said I so then if thou werest sitting in judgment on whom would thou decree the inflection of punishment on him who had done the wrong or on him who had suffered it without doubt I would compensate the sufferer at the cost of the doer of the wrong then the injurer would seem more wretched than the injured yes it follows and so for this and other reasons resting on the same ground in as much as baseness of its own nature makes men wretched it is plain that a wrong involves the misery of the doer not of the sufferer and yet so she the practice of the law courts is just the opposite advocates try to arouse the commiseration of the judges for those who have endured some grievous and cruel wrong whereas pity is rather due to the criminal who ought to be brought to the judgment seat by his accusers in a spirit not of anger but of compassion and kindness as a sick man to the physician to have the ulcer of his fault cut away by punishment whereby the business of the advocate would either wholly come to a standstill or did men prefer to make it serviceable to mankind would be restricted to the practice of accusation the wicked themselves also if through some chink or cranny they were permitted to behold the virtue they have forsaken and were to see that by the pains of punishment they would rid themselves of the uncleanness of their vices and win in exchange the recompense of righteousness they would no longer think these sufferings pains they would refuse the help of advocates and would commit themselves wholly into the hands of their accusers and judges whence it comes to pass that for the wise no place is left for hatred only the most foolish would hate the good and to hate the bad is unreasonable for if vicious propensity is, as it were a disease of the soul like bodily sickness even as we account the sick in body by no means deserving of hate but rather of pity so and much more should they be pitied whose minds are assailed by wickedness which is more frightful than any sickness song four the unreasonableness of hatred why all this furious strife? oh why, with rash and willful hand provoke death's destined day if death ye seek, lo death is nigh not of their masters will those courses swift delay the wild beasts vent on man their rage yet against their brother's lives men point the murderous steel unjust and cruel wars they wage and haste with flying darts the death to meet or deal no right, nor reason can they show it is but because their lands and laws are not the same wouldst thou give each his due then know the love the good must have the bad thy pity claim end of book four good and ill fortune section four and song four the unreasonableness of hatred this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the consolation of philosophy by Anisius Manlius Severinus Birtius translated by H.R. James book four good and ill fortune section five and song five wonder and ignorance section five on this I said I see how there is a happiness and misery founded on the actual desserts of the righteous and the wicked nevertheless I wonder in myself whether there is not some good and evil in fortune as the vulgar understand it certainly no sensible man would rather be exiled poor and disgraced than dwell prosperously in his own country powerful wealthy and high in honor indeed the work of wisdom is more clear and manifest in its operation when the happiness of rulers is somehow passed on to the people around them especially considering that the prison the law and the other pains of legal punishment are properly due only to mischievous citizens on whose accounts they were originally instituted accordingly I do exceedingly marvel why all this is completely reversed why the good are harassed with the penalties due to crime and the bad carry off the rewards of virtue and I long to hear from thee what reason may be found for so unjust a state of disorder for assuredly I should wonder less if I could believe that all things are the confused result of chance but now my belief in God's governance doth add amazement to amazement for seeing that he sometimes assigns fair fortune to the good and harsh fortune to the bad and then again deals harshly with the good and grants to the bad their hearts desire how does this differ from chance unless some reason is discovered for it all nay it is not wonderful said she if all should be thought random and confused when the principle of order is not known and though thou knowest not the causes on which this great system depends yet for as much as a good ruler governs the world doubt not for thy part that all is rightly done song five wonder and ignorance who knoweth not how near the pole boots course doth go must marvel by what heavenly law he moves his way in so slow why lately plunges neath the main and swiftly lights his beams again when the full orbit moon grows pale in the mid course of night and suddenly the stars shine forth that languished in her light the astonished nations stand at gaze and beat the air in wild amaze none marvels why upon the shore the storm lashed breakers beat nor why the frostbound glaciers melt at summer's fervent heat for here the cause seems plain and clear only what's dark and hid we fear weak-minded folly magnifies all that is rare and strange and the dull herds are wellmed with awe at unexpected change but wonder leaves and lightened minds when ignorance no longer blinds End of section five This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Consolation of Philosophy by Anisius Manlius Severinus Bertius translated by H.R. James Book four Good and Ill Fortune Section six and Song six The Universal Aim Section six True, said I, but since it is thy office to unfold the hidden cause of things and explain principles veiled in darkness inform me, I pray thee, of thine own conclusions in this matter since the marvel of it is what more than ought else disturbs my mind A smile played one moment upon her lips as she replied, thou callest me to the greatest of all subjects of inquiry a task for which the most exhaustive treatment barely suffices such is its nature that as fast as one doubt is cut away innumerable others spring up like hydra's heads nor could we set any limit to their renewal and we not apply the mind's living fire to suppress them for there come within its scope the questions of the essential simplicity of providence of the order of fate of unforeseen chance of the divine knowledge and predestination and of the freedom of the will how heavy is the weight of all this thou canst judge for thyself but in as much as to know these things also is part of the treatment of thy malady we will try to give them some consideration despite the restrictions of the narrow limits of our time moreover thou must for a time dispense with the pleasures of music and song if so be that thou findest any delight therein whilst I weave together the connected train of reasons in proper order as thou wilt, said I then as if making a new beginning she thus discoursed the coming into being of all things the whole course of development in things that change every sort of thing that moves in any wise receives its due cause, order and form from the steadfastness of the divine mind this mind, calm in the citadel of its own essential simplicity has decreed that the method of its rule shall be manifold viewed in the very purity of the divine intelligence this method is called providence but viewed in regard to those things which it moves and disposes it is what the ancients called fate that these two are different will easily be clear to anyone who passes in review their respective efficacies providence is the divine reason itself seated in the supreme being which disposes all things fate is the disposition inherent in all things which move through which providence joins all things in their proper order providence embraces all things however different however infinite fate sets in motion separately individual things and assigns to them separately their position, form and time so the unfolding of this temporal order unified into the foreview of the divine mind is providence while the same unity broken up and unfolded in time is fate and although these are different yet is there a dependence between them for the order of destiny issues from the essential simplicity of providence for as the artificer forming in his mind beforehand the idea of the thing to be made carries out his design and develops from moment to moment what he had before seen in a single instant as a whole so God in his providence ordains all things as parts of a single unchanging whole but carries out these very ordinances by fate in a time of manifold unity so whether fate is accomplished by divine spirits as the ministers of providence or by a soul or by the service of all nature whether by the celestial motion of the stars by the efficacy of angels or by the many-sided cunning of demons whether by all or by some of these the destined series is woven this at least is manifest that providence is the fixed and simple form of destined events fate their shifting series in order of time as by the disposal of the divine simplicity they are to take place whereby it is that all things which are under fate are subjected also to providence on which fate itself is dependent whereas certain things which are set under providence are above the chain of fate vis those things which by their nearness to the primal divinity are steadfastly fixed and lie outside the order of fate's movements for as the innermost of several circles revolving around the same centre approaches the simplicity of the midmost point and is as it were a pivot around which the exterior circles turn while the outermost world in ample orbit takes in a wider and wider sweep of space in proportion to its departure from the indivisible unity of the centre while further whatever joins and allies itself to the centre is narrowed to a like simplicity and no longer expands vaguely into space even so whatsoever departs widely from primal mind is involved more deeply in the meshes of fate and things are free from fate in proportion as they seek to come nearer to that central pivot while if ought cleaves close to supreme mind in its absolute fixity this too, being free from movement rises above fate's necessity therefore, as is reasoning to pure intelligence as that which is generated to that which is time to eternity, a circle to its centre so is the shifting series of fate to the steadfastness and simplicity of providence it is this causal series which moves heaven and the stars atempers the elements to mutual accord and again in turn transforms them into new combinations this which renews the series of all things that are born and die through like successions of germ and birth it is its operation which binds the destinies of men by an indissoluble nexus of causality and since it issues in the beginning from unalterable providence these destinies also must of necessity be immutable accordingly the world is ruled for the best if this unity abiding in the divine mind puts forth an inflexible order of causes and this order by its intrinsic immutability restricts things mutable which otherwise would ebb and flow at random and so it happens that although to you who are not altogether capable of understanding this order all things seem confused and disordered nevertheless there is everywhere an appointed limit which guides all things to good verily nothing can be done for the sake of evil even by the wicked themselves for as we abundantly proved they seek good but are drawn out of the way by perverse error far less can this order which sets out from the supreme centre of good turn aside any wither from the way in which it began yet what confusion thou wilt say can be more unrighteous than that prosperity and adversity should indifferently befall the good what they like and what they loathe come alternately to the bad yes but have men in real life such soundness of mind that their judgements of righteousness and wickedness must necessarily correspond with facts why on this very point their verdicts conflict and those whom some deem worthy of reward others deem worthy of punishment yet granted there were one who could rightly distinguish the good and bad yet would he be able to look into the soul's inmost constitution as it were if we may borrow an expression used of the body the marvel here is not unlike that which astonishes one who does not know why in health sweet things suit some constitutions and bitter others or why some sick men are best alleviated by mild remedies others by severe but the physician who distinguishes the precise conditions and characteristics of health and sickness does not marvel now the health of the soul is nothing but righteousness and vice is its sickness God the guide and physician of the mind it is who preserves the good and banishes the bad and he looks forth from the lofty watchtower of his providence perceives what is suited to each and assigns what he knows to be suitable this then is what that extraordinary mystery of the order of destiny comes to that something is done by one who knows where at the ignorant are astonished but let us consider a few instances whereby appears what is the competency of human reason to fathom the divine unsearchableness here is one whom thou demist the perfection of justice and scrupulous integrity to all knowing providence it seems far otherwise we all know our Lucan's admission that it was the winning cause that found favor with the gods the beaten cause with Cato so shouldst thou see anything in this world happening differently from thy expectation doubt not but events are rightly ordered it is in thy judgment that there is perverse confusion Grant however there be somewhere found one of so happier character that God and man alike agree in their judgments about him yet is he somewhat infirm in strength of mind it may be if he fall into adversity he will cease to practice that innocence he which has failed to secure his fortune therefore God's wise dispensation spares him whom adversity might make worse will not let him suffer who is ill fitted for endurance another there is perfect in all virtue so holy and nigh to God that providence judges it unlawful that ought untoward should befall him nay, doth not even permit him to be afflicted with bodily disease as one more excellent than Iath said the very body of the holy saint is built of purest ether often it happens that the governance is given to the good that a restraint may be put upon superfluity of wickedness to others providence assigns some mixed lot suited to their spiritual nature some it will plague lest they grow rank through long prosperity others it will suffer to be vexed with sore afflictions to confirm their virtues by the exercise and practice of patience some fear over much what they have strength to bear others despise over much that to which their strength is unequal and these it brings to the test of their true self through misfortune some also have bought a name revered to future ages at the price of a glorious death some by invincible constancy under their sufferings have afforded an example to others that virtue cannot be overcome by calamity all which things without doubt come to pass rightly and in due order and to the benefit of those to whom they are seen to happen as to the other side of the marvel that the bad now meet with affliction now get their hearts desire this too springs from the same causes as to the afflictions of course no one marvels because all hold the wicked to be ill deserving the truth is their punishments both frighten others from crime and amend those on whom they are inflicted while their prosperity is a powerful sermon to the good what judgments they ought to pass on good fortune of this kind which often attends the wicked so assiduously there is another object which may I believe be attained in such cases there is one perhaps whose nature is so reckless and violent that poverty would drive him more desperately into crime his disorder providence relieves by allowing him to amass money such a one in the uneasiness of a conscience stained with guilt while he contrasts his character with his fortune the chance grows alarmed lest he should come to mourn the loss of that whose possession is so pleasant to him he will then reform his ways and through the fear of losing his fortune he forsakes his iniquity some through a prosperity unworthily born have been hurled headlong to ruin to some the power of the sword has been committed to the end that the good may be tried by discipline and the bad punished for while there can be no peace between the righteous and the wicked neither can the wicked agree among themselves how should they when each is at variance with himself because his vices rend his conscience and of times they do things which when they are done they judge ought not to have been done hence it is that this supreme providence brings to pass this notable marvel that the bad make the bad good for some when they see the injustice which they themselves suffer at the hands of evil doers are inflamed with detestation of the offenders and in the endeavour to be unlike those whom they hate return to the ways of virtue it is the divine power alone to which things evil are also good in that by putting them to suitable use it bringeth them in the end to some good issue for order in some way other embraces all things so that even that which has departed from the appointed laws of the order nevertheless falleth within an order though another order that nothing in the realm of providence may be left to haphazard but hard were the task as a god to recount all nothing omitting nor truly is it lawful for man to compass in thought all the mechanism of the divine work or set it forth in speech let us be content to have apprehended this only that God the creator of universal nature likewise disposeseth all things and guides them to good and while he studies to preserve in likeness to himself all that he has created he banishes all evil from the borders of his common wheel through the links of fatal necessity whereby it comes to pass that if thou look to disposing providence thou wilt nowhere find the evils which are believed so to abound on earth but I see thou hast long been burdened with the weight of the subject and fatigued with the prolixity of the argument and now luckest for some refreshment of sweet poesy listen then and may the draft so restore thee that thou wilt bend thy mind more resolutely to what remains song 6 the universal aim wouldst thou with unclouded mind view the laws by God designed lift thy steadfast gaze on high to the starry canopy see in rightful league of love all the constellations move fiery soul in full career near obstructs called Phoebe's sphere when the bear at heaven's height wheels his course as rapid flight though he sees the starry train sinking in the western main he repines not nor desires in the flood to quench his fires in true sequence as decreed daily mourn and eve succeed Vespa brings the shades of night Lucifer the morning light love in alternation due still the cycle doth renew and discordant strife is driven from the starry realm of heaven thus in wondrous amity warring elements agree hot and cold and moist and dry lay their ancient quarrel by high the flickering flame ascends downward earth forever tens so the year in spring's mild hours loads the air with scent of flowers summer paints the golden grain then when autumn comes again bright with fruit the orchards glow winter brings the rain and snow thus the season's fixed progression tempered in a due succession nourishes and brings to birth all that lives and breathes on earth then soon run life's little day all it brought it takes away but one sits and guides the reins he who made and all sustains king and lord and fountain head judge most holy law most dread now impells and now keeps back holds each waiverer in the track else where once the power withheld that the circling spheres compelled in their orbits to revolve this world's order must dissolve and the harmonious whole would all in one hideous ruin fall but through this connected frame runs one universal aim towards the good do all things tend many paths but one the end for naught lasts unless it turns backwards in its course and yearns to that source to flow again when sits being first was tamed End of Section 6 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org A Consolation of Philosophy, Binicius, Manlius, Severinus, Pothius Translated by H.R. James Book 4, Good Nail Fortune, Song 7, The Hero's Path, and Section 35, 7 Does Thou then see the consequence of all that we have said? Nay, what consequence? That absolutely every fortune is good fortune. And how can that be, said I? A ten said she, since every fortune welcome and unwelcome alike has for its object the reward or trial of the good and the punishing or mending of the bad. Every fortune must be good since it is either just or useful. The reasoning is exceeding true, said I, the conclusion so long as I reflect upon the providence and fate of which Thou hast taught me based on a strong foundation. Yet, with I leave, we will count it among those which just now Thou did set down as paradoxical. Why so, said she, because ordinary speech is apt to assert, and that frequently, the summons fortune is bad. Shall we then for a while approach more nearly to the language of the vulgar that we may not seem to have departed too far from the usages of men? At thy good pleasure, said I, that which advantageeth Thou callst good, does Thou not? Certainly, and that which either tries or amends advantageeth, granted. Is good then? Of course. Well, this is their case who have attained virtue and waged war with adversity, or turned from vice and lay hold on the path of virtue. I cannot deny it. What of the good fortune which is given as reward of the good, do the vulgar a judge at bad? Anything but that, they deem it to be the best, as indeed it is. What then of that which remains, which though it is harsh, puts the restraint of just punishment on the bad, does popular opinion deem it good? Nay, of all that can be imagined, it is counted the most miserable. Observe then, if, in following popular opinion, we have not ended in a conclusion quite paradoxical. How so, said I? While it results from our admissions that of all who have attained or advancing in, or are aiming at virtue, the fortune is in every case good, while for those who remain in their wickedness, fortune is always utterly bad. It is true, said I, yet no one dare acknowledge it. Wherefore, said she, the wise man not to take it ill, if ever he is involved in one of fortune's conflicts, any more than it becomes a brave soldier to be offended when at any time the trumpet sounds for battle. The time of trial is the express opportunity for the one to win glory for the other to perfect his wisdom. Hence indeed, virtue gets its name, because, relying on its own efficacy, it yieldeth not to adversity. And ye who have taken your stand on virtue's steep ascent, it is not for you to be dissolved in delights, or infebled by pleasure, be close in conflict. Yea, and conflict most sharp. With all fortune's vicissitudes, lest you suffer foul fortune to overwhelm, or fair fortune to corrupt you. Hold the mean with all your strength, whatever fall short of this, or goes beyond, is fraught with scorn of happiness, and misses the reward of toil. It rests with you to make your fortune what you will. Verily, every harsh seeming fortune unless it either disciplines or amends is punishment. Song 7, The Hero's Path. Ten years at tedious warfare raged, ere illium smoking ruins paid, for wedlock stained in faith betrayed, great atreides wrath assuaged. But when heaven's anger asked a life, and baffling winds his course was stood, the king put off his fatherhood, and slew his child with priestly knife. When by the cavern's glimmering light his comrades dear Odysseus saw, in the huge cyclops hideous maw, in gulf he wept the piteous sight, but blinded soon and wild with pain, and bitter tears and sore annoy. For that foul feast and holy joy, grim polyphemus paid again. His labors for Alsady's win, a name of glory far and wide, he tamed the centaur's haughty pride, and from the lion reft his skin. The foul birds with sure darts he slew, the golden fruit he stole in vain, the dragons watched with triple chain, from hell's depth's cerebus he drew. With their lord's own flesh, he fed, the wild steed's hydra overcame, with fire, neath his own waves and shame. Maimed a callus hit his head, each cacus for his crimes was slain, on libya's sands, and taeus hurled, the shoulders that upheld the world. The great bors dribbled, spoon did stain, less toil of all his might sustained. The ball of heaven, nor did he bend. Beneath his toil, his labors end. The prize of heaven's high glory gained. Brave hearts press on, low heavenward lead. These bright examples, from the fight, turn out your backs in coward flight, or as conflict won, discharge your mead. End of song, The Hero's Path, in section 35 This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Andrew Miller Toronto, June 2006 The Consolation of Philosophy by Anisius Manlius Severinus Boethius translated by H.R. James She ceased, and was about to pass on in her discourse to the exposition of other matters, when I break in and say, Excellent is thine exhortation, and such as well beseemeth thy high authority. But I am even now experiencing one of the many difficulties which, as thou saidst, but now, besed the question of providence. I want to know whether thou demists that there is any such thing as chance at all, and, if so, what it is. Then she made answer, I am anxious to fulfil my promise completely, and open to thee a way of understanding, and to know what it is. I am anxious to fulfil my promise completely, and open to thee a way of return to thy native land. As for these matters, though very useful to know, they are yet a little removed from the path of our design, and I fear less digressions should fatigue thee, and thou shouldst find thyself unequal to completing the direct journey to our goal. Have no fear for that, said I. To learn, where learning brings delight so exquisite, especially when thy argument has been built up on all sides with undoubted conviction, and no places left for uncertainty in what follows. She made answer, I will accede to thy request. And forthwith she thus began, if chance be defined as a result produced by random movement, without any link of causal connection, I roundly affirm that there is no such thing as chance at all, and consider the word to be altogether without meaning except as a symbol of the thing designated. What place can be left for random action when God constraineth all things to order? For ex nihilo nihil is sound doctrine which none of the ancients gained said, although they used it of material substance, not of the efficient principle. This they laid down as a kind of basis for all their reasonings concerning nature. Now, if a thing arise without causes, it will appear to have arisen from nothing. But if this cannot be, neither is it possible for there to be chance in accordance with the definition just given. Well, said I, is there then nothing which can properly be called chance or accident? Or is there something to which these names are appropriate, though its nature is dark to the vulgar? Our good Aristotle, says she, has defined it concisely in his ethics and closely in accordance with the truth. How, pray, said I, thus says she. Whenever something is done for the sake of a particular end and for certain reasons some other result than that designed ensues, this is called chance. For instance, if a man is digging the earth for tillage and finds a mass of buried gold. Now, such a find is regarded as accidental. Yet it is not ex nihilo, for it has its proper causes, the unforeseen and unexpected concurrence of which has brought the chance about. For had not the cultivator been digging, had not the man who hid the money buried it in that precise spot, the gold would not have been found. These, then, are the reasons why the find is a chance one, in that it results from causes which met together and concurred, not from any intention on the part of the discoverer. Since neither he who buried the gold nor he who worked in the field intended that the money should be found, but, as I said, it happened by coincidence that one dug where the other buried the treasure. We may, then, define chance as being an unexpected result flowing from a concurrence of causes where the several factors had some definite end. But the meeting and concurrence of these causes arises from that inevitable chain of order which, flowing from the fountain-head of Providence, disposes all things in their due time and place. Song 1 Chance In the rugged Persian Highlands, where the masters of the bow skill to feign a flight and, fleeing, hurl their darts and pierce the foe, there the Tigris and Euphrates at one source their waters blend, soon to draw apart and plainward each way to wind. When once more their waters mingle in a channel, deep and wide, all the flotsam comes together that is born upon the tide. Ships and trunks of trees uprooted in the torrent's wild career meet as mid the swirling waters chance their random way may steer. Yet the shelving of the channel flowing waters force guides each movement and determines every floating fragment's course. Thus, where ere the drift of hazard seems most unrestrained to flow, chance herself is reigned and bitted and the curb of law doth know. End of Book 5 Free Will and Gods for Knowledge Section 1 and Song 1 Chance This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, translated by H. R. James. Book 5. Free Will and Gods for Knowledge. Section 2 and Song 2 The True Son I am following needfully, said I, and I agree that it is as thou sayest. But in this series of linked causes is there any freedom left to our will, or does the chain of fate bind also the very motions of our souls? There is freedom, said she, nor indeed can any creature be rational unless he be endowed with free will. For that which hath the natural use of reason has the faculty of discriminative judgment, and of itself distinguishes what is to be shunned or desired. Now, everyone seeks what he judges desirable, and avoid what he thinks should be shunned. Wherefore, beings endowed with reason possess also the faculty of free choice and refusal. But I suppose this faculty not equal like in all. The higher divine essences possess a clear-sided judgment and uncorrupt well, and an effective power of accomplishing their wishes. Humans souls must needs be comparatively free while they abide in contemplation of the divine mind, less free when they pass into bodily form, and still less, again, when they are unwrapped in earthly members. But when they give over to vices, and fall from possession of their proper reason, then indeed their condition is utter slavery. For when they let their gaze fall from the light of highest truth to the lower world where darkness reigns, soon ignorance blinds their vision. They are disturbed by baneful affections, by yielding and dissenting to which they help to promote the slavery in which they are involved, and are in a manner led captive by reason of their very liberty. Yet he who seeth all things from eternity beholdeth these things with the eyes of his providence, and assigneth to each what is predestined for it by its merits. All things surveyed, all things overheard. Homer with molyphus tongue, Phoebus' glories lay teth sung. Heming high his praise, yet his feeble rays, ocean's hollows may not brighten, nor the earth's central gloom enlighten. But the might of him who skilled this glorious universe to build, is not thus confined, not earth solid rind, nor night's blackest canopy baffle his all-seeing eye. All that is hath been shall be in one guidance's compass he, and save his no eyes all the world's survey know none. Him then truly name the Son. End of Book 5, Free Will and God's Four Knowledge Section 2 and Song 2, The True Son. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Stan Still, West Orange, New Jersey. The Consolation of Philosophy by Inesius Manlius Severinus Boethius, translation by H. R. James. Book 5, Free Will and God's Four Knowledge Section 3 and Song 3, Truth's Paradoxes. Then said I, But now I am once more perplexed by a problem yet more difficult. And what is that? said she. Yet in truth I can guess what it is that troubles you. It seems, said I, too much of a paradox and a contradiction that God should know all things, and yet there should be Free Will. For if God sees everything, and can in no wise be deceived, that which providence foresees to be about to happen, must necessarily come to pass. Therefore, if from eternity He foreknows not only what men will do, but also their designs and purposes, there can be no freedom of the will, seeing that nothing can be done, nor can any sort of purpose be entertained, save such as a divine providence incapable of being deceived has perceived beforehand. For if the issues can be turned aside to some other end than that foreseen by providence, there will not then be any sure for the future, but uncertain conjecture instead, and to think this of God I deem impiety. Moreover, I do not approve the reasoning by which some think to solve this puzzle. For they say that it is not because God has foreseen the coming of an event, that therefore it is sure to come to pass. But conversely, because something is about to come to pass, it cannot be hidden from divine providence, and accordingly the necessity passes to the opposite side, and it is not what is foreseen must necessarily come to pass, but what is about to come to pass must necessarily be foreseen. But this is just as if the matter in debate were, which is cause and which effect, whether foreknowledge of the future cause of the necessity, or the necessity of the future of the foreknowledge. But we need not be at hands at demonstrating that whatsoever be the order of the causal sequence. The occurrence of things foreseen is necessary, even though the foreknowledge of future events does not in itself impose upon them the necessity of their occurrence. For example, if a man be seated, the supposition of his being seated is necessarily true. And conversely, if the supposition of his being seated is true, because he really is seated, then he must necessarily be sitting. So in either case, there is some necessity involved. In this latter case, the necessity of the fact. In the former, the necessity of the truth of the statement. But in both cases, the sitter is not therefore seated because the opinion is true, but rather the opinion is true because antecedently he was sitting as a matter of fact. Thus, though the cause of the truth of the opinion comes from the other side, footnote, that is, the necessity of the truth of the statement from the fact, and footnote. Yet there is a necessity on both sides alike. We can obviously reason similarly in the case of providence and the future. Even if future events are foreseen because they are about to happen, and do not come to pass because they are foreseen, still all the same there is a necessity, both that they should be foreseen by God as about to come to pass, and that when they are foreseen they should happen, and this is sufficient for the destruction of free will. However, it is preposterous to speak of the occurrence of events in time as the cause of eternal foreknowledge. And yet if we believe that God foresees future events because they are about to come to pass, what is it but to think that the occurrence of events is the cause of His supreme providence? Further, just as when I know anything is, that thing necessarily is. So when I know that anything will be, it will necessarily be. It follows then that things foreknown come to pass inevitably. Lastly, to think of a thing as being in any way other than what it is, is not only not knowledge, but it is false opinion widely different from the truth of knowledge. Consequently, if anything is about to be, and yet its occurrence is not certain and necessary, how can anyone foreknow that it will occur? For just as knowledge itself is free from all admixture of falsity, so any conception drawn from knowledge cannot be other than as it is conceived. For this indeed is the cause why knowledge is free from all falsehood, because of necessity each thing must correspond exactly with the knowledge which grasps its nature. In what way then are we to suppose that God foreknows these uncertainties as about to come to pass? For if He thinks of events which possibly may not happen at all as inevitably destined to come to pass, He is deceived, and this is not only impious to believe, but even so much as to express in words. If on the other hand, He sees them in the future as they are in such a sense as to know that they may equally come to pass or not, what sort of foreknowledge is this which comprehends nothing certain or fixed? What better is this than the absurd vaticinations of Tiresias? What air I say shall either come to pass or not? In that case too, in what would divine providence surpass human opinion if it holds for uncertain things the occurrence of which is uncertain, even as men do? But if at that perfectly sure fountainhead of all things, no shadow of uncertainty can possibly be found, then the occurrence of those things which He has surely foreknown as coming is certain. Wherefore there can be no freedom in human actions and designs, but the divine mind which foresees all things without possibility of mistake, ties and binds them down to one only issue. But this admission, once made, what an upset of human affairs manifestly ensues. Vanely are rewards and punishments proposed for the good and bad, since no free voluntary motion of the will has deserved either one or the other. Nay, punishment of the wicked and reward of the righteous, which is now esteemed the perfection of justice, will seem the most flagrant injustice, since men are determined either way, not by their own proper volition, but by the necessity of what must surely be. And therefore neither virtue nor vice is anything, but rather good and ill desert are confound together without distinction. Moreover, seeing the whole course of events is deduced from providence, and nothing is left to free human design. It comes to pass that our vices are also referred to the author of all good, a thought then which none more abominable can possibly be conceived. Again, no ground is left for hope or prayer, since how can we hope for blessings, or pray for mercy, when every object of desire depends upon the links of an unalterable chain of causation? Gone then is the one means of intercourse between God and man, the communion of hope and prayer, if it be true that we ever earn the inestimable recompense of a divine favor at the price of a due humility. For this is the one way whereby men seem able to hold communion with God, and are joined to that unapproachable light by the very act of supplication, even before they obtain their petitions. Then, since these things can scarcely be believed to have any efficacy, if the necessity of future events be admitted, what means will there be whereby we may be brought near and cleave to him who is the supreme head of all? Wherefore it needs must be that the human race, even as thou didst erstwhile declare in song, hearted and deceivered from its source, should fall to ruin. Song 3 Truths Paradoxes Why does a strange discordance break the ordered scheme's fair harmony, hath God decreed, twix truth and truth, there may such lasting warfare be, that truths, each severally plain, we strive to reconcile in vain, or is discord not in truth, since truth is self-consistent ever. But close in fleshly wrappings held, the blindest man, mind of man can never discern so faint her taper shines, the subtle chain that all combines. Ah, then why burns man's restless mind, truths hidden portals to unclose? Knows he already what he seeks? Why toil to seek it, if he knows? Yet happily, if he knoweth not, why blindly seek he knows not what? Who for a good he knows not size, who can an unknown end pursue? How find, how even when happily found, hail that strange form he never knew? Or is that man's inmost soul once knew each part and knew the whole, now though by fleshly vapors dimmed, not all forgot her visions passed? For while several parts are lost, to the one hole she cleaveth fast. Whence he who yearns to truth to find, is neither sound of sight nor blind, for neither does he know in full, nor is he reft of knowledge quite. But holding still to what is left, he groups in the uncertain light, and by the part that still survives, to when back all he bravely strives. End Book 5. Free Will and Gods for Knowledge. Section 3 and Song 3. Truths, Paradoxes. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by M. L. Cohen, Cleveland, Ohio, March 2007. The Consolation of Philosophy. By Ancius Manlius Severanus Otheus. Translated by H. R. James. Book 5. Free Will and Gods for Knowledge. Section 4. A Psychological Fallacy. Then said she, this debate about Providence is an old one, and is vigorously discussed by Cicero in his divination. Thou also hast long and earnestly pondered the problem, yet no one has had diligence and perseverance enough to find a solution. And the reason of the obscurity is that the movement of human reasoning cannot cope with the simplicity of the divine foreknowledge. For if a conception of its nature could in any wise be framed, no shadow of uncertainty would remain. With a view of making this at last clear and plain, I will begin by considering the arguments by which thou art swayed. First, I inquire into the reasons why thou art dissatisfied with the solution proposed, which is to the effect that, seeing the fact of foreknowledge is not thought the cause of necessity of future events, foreknowledge is not to be deemed any hindrance to the freedom of the will. Now surely the sole ground on which thou argueest the necessity of the future is that things which are foreknown cannot fail to come to pass. But if, as thou weren't ready to acknowledge just now, the fact of foreknowledge imposes no necessity on things future, what reason is there for supposing the results of voluntary action constrained to a fixed issue? Suppose for the sake of argument and to see what follows, we assume that there is no foreknowledge. Are willed actions then tied down to any necessity in this case? Certainly not. Let us assume foreknowledge again, but without its involving any actual necessity. The freedom of the will, I imagine, will remain in complete integrity. But, thou wilt say that, even though all the foreknowledge is not the necessity of the future events occurrence. Yet, it is a sign that will necessarily happen. Granted, but in this case it is plain that, even if there had been no foreknowledge, the issues would have been inevitably certain. For a sign only indicates something which is, does not bring to pass that of which it is a sign. We require it to show beforehand that all things without exception happen of necessity in order that a preconception must be a sign of this necessity. Otherwise, if there is no such universal necessity, neither can any preconception be a sign of a necessity which exists not. Manifestly too, a proof exhibited on firm grounds of reason must be drawn not from signs and loose general arguments, but from suitable and necessary causes. But how can it be that things foreseen should ever fail to come to pass? Why, this is supposed us to believe that the events which providence foresees to be coming were not about to happen. Instead of our supposing that, although they should come to pass, yet there was no necessity involved in their own nature compelling their occurrence. Take an illustration that will help convey my meaning. There are many things which we see taking place before our eyes, the movements of charioteers for instance, and guiding and turning their cars and so on. Now is any one of these movements compelled by any necessity? No, certainly not. There would be no efficacy and skill if all motions took place per force. Then, things which in taking place are free from any necessity as to their being in the present must also, before they take place, be about to happen without necessity. Wherefore there are things which will come to pass, the occurrence of which is perfectly free from necessity. At all events I imagine that no one will deny that things now taking place were about to come to pass before actually happening. Such things, however much foreknown, are in their occurrence free. For even as knowledge of things present imports no necessity into things that are taking place, so foreknowledge of the future imports none into things that are about to come. But this, that will say, is the very point in dispute, whether any foreknowing is possible of things whose occurrence is not necessary. For here there seems to be a contradiction, and if they are foreseen their necessity follows, where if there is no necessity they can by no means be foreknown. And thou thinkest that nothing can be grasped as known unless it is certain, but of things whose occurrence is uncertain or foreknown as certain this is the very mist of opinion, not the truth of knowledge. For to think of things otherwise than they are, thou believest to be incompatible with the soundness of knowledge. Now the cause of the mistake is this, that men think that all knowledge is cognized purely by the nature and efficacy of the thing known. Whereas the case is the very reverse, all that is known is grasped not conformably to its own efficacy, but rather conformably to the faculty of the knower. An example will make this clear. The roundness of a body is recognized in one way by sight, and another by touch. Sight looks upon it from a distance as a hole by a simultaneous reflection of rays. Touch grasps around this piecemeal by contact and attachment to the surface, and by actual movement around the periphery itself. Man himself likewise is viewed in one way by sense, in another by imagination, in another way again by thought, in another by pure intelligence. Sense judges figure clothe the material substance. Imagination, figure alone without matter. Thought transcends this again, and by its contemplation of universals considers the type itself which is contained in an individual. The eye of intelligence is yet more exalted. For over passing the sphere of the universal, it will behold absolute form itself by the pure force of the mind's vision. Wherein the main point to be considered is this, the higher faculty of comprehension embraces the lower while the lower cannot rise to the higher. For sense has no efficacy beyond matter, nor can imagination behold universal ideas, nor thought embrace pure form. But intelligence, looking down as it were from its higher standpoint and its intuition of form, discriminates also the several elements which underlie it. But it comprehends them in the same way as it comprehends that form itself, which could be cognized by no other than itself. For it cognizes the universal of thought, the figure of imagination and the matter of sense without employing thought, imagination, or sense, but surveying all things so to speak under the aspect of pure form by a single flash of intuition. Thought also, in considering the universal, embraces images and sense impressions without resorting to imagination or sense. For it is thought, which has thus defined the universal from its conceptual point of view. Man is a too-legged animal endowed with reason. This is indeed a universal notion, yet no one is ignorant that the thing is imaginable and presentable to sense because thought considers it not by imagination or sense, but by means of rational conception. Imagination, too, through its faculty of viewing and forming representations, is founded upon the senses, nevertheless surveys sense impressions without calling in sense, not in the way of sense perception, but of imagination. Seeest thou then how all things in cognizing use rather their own faculty than the faculty of the things which they cognize? Nor is this strange, for since every judgment is the act of the judge, it is necessary that each should accomplish its task by his own, not by another's power. Song 4 A psychological fallacy from the porch's murky depths comes a doctrine sage that doth lichen live in mind to a written page. Since all knowledge comes through sense, graven by experience, as say they, the pen it marks curiously doth trace on the smooth unsullied white of the paper's face, so do outer things impress images unconsciousness. But if verily the mind thus all passive lies, if no living power within its own force supplies, if it but reflect again like a glass things false and vain, whence thy wondrous faculty that perceives and knows that in one fair-ordered scheme doth the world dispose, grasp each hole that sense presents or break into elements. So divides and recombines and in changeful wise now to low descends and now to the height-stuth rise, last an inward swift review strictly sifts the false and true. Of these ample potencies fit or cause I wean where mind self then marks impressed by the outer scene, yet the body through the sense stirs the soul's intelligence. When light flashes on the eye or sound strikes the ear, mind aroused to do response makes the message clear, and the dumb external signs with the hidden foreign combines. End of Book 5, Free Will and Gods for Knowledge, Section 4, A Psychological Fallacy. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, translated by H. R. James. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org The Consolation of Philosophy Book 5 Section 5 and Song 5 The Upward Look Now, although in the case of bodies endowed with sentiency the qualities of external objects affect the sense organs and the activity of mind is preceded by a bodily affection which calls forth the mind's action upon itself and stimulates the forms till that moment lying inactive within yet, I say. If in these bodies endowed with sentiency the mind is not inscribed by mere passive affection but of its own efficacy discriminates the impressions furnished to the body. How much more do intelligences free from all bodily affections employ in their discrimination their own mental activities instead of conforming to external objects. So on these principles various modes of cognition belong to distinct and different substances. For to creatures void of motive power, shellfish and other such creatures which cling to rocks and grow there belongs to sense alone void of all other modes of gaining knowledge. To beasts endowed with movement in whom some capacity of seeking and shunning seems to have arisen imagination also. Thought pertains only to the human race as intelligence to divinity alone. Hence it follows that that form of knowledge exceeds the rest which of its own nature cognizes not only its proper object but the objects of the other forms of knowledge also but what if sense and imagination would again say thought and declare that universal which thought deems itself to behold to be nothing. For the object of sense and imagination cannot be universal so that either the judgment of reason is true and there is no sense object or since they know full well that many objects are presented to sense and imagination the conception of reason which looks on that which is perceived by sense in particular as if it were something universal is empty of content. Suppose further that reason maintains in reply that it does indeed contemplate the object of both sense and imagination under the form of universality while sense and imagination cannot aspire to the knowledge of the universal since their cognizance cannot go beyond bodily figures and that in the cognition of reality we ought rather to trust the stronger and more perfect faculty of judgment in a dispute of this sort should not we in whom is planted the faculty of reasoning as well as self-imagining and perceiving espouse the cause of reason in like manner is it that human reason thinks that divine intelligence cannot see the future except after the fashion in which its own knowledge is obtained for thy contention is if events do not appear to involve certain and necessary issues they cannot be foreseen as certainly about to come to pass there is then no foreknowledge of such events or if we can ever bring ourselves to believe that there is there can be nothing which does not happen of necessity if however we could have some part in the judgment of the divine mind even as we participate in reason we should think it perfectly just that human reason should submit itself to the divine mind no less than we judge that imagination and sense ought to yield to reason wherefore let us soar if we can to the heights of that supreme intelligence for there reason will see what in itself it cannot look upon and that is in what way things whose occurrence is not certain may yet be seen in a sure and definite foreknowledge and that this foreknowledge is not conjecture but rather knowledge in its supreme simplicity free of all limits and restrictions in what diverse shapes and fashions do the creatures great and small over wide earth's teeming surface skim or scud or walk or crawl some with elongated body sweep the ground and as they move trail perforce with writhing belly in the dust a sinuous groove some on light wing upward soaring swiftly to the winds divide and through heaven's ample spaces in free motion smoothly glide these earth's solid surface pressing with firm paces onward row ranging through the burdened meadows crouching in the woodland grove great and wondrous is their variance yet in all the head low bent dulls the soul and blunts the senses though forms be different man alone erect aspiring lifts his forehead to the skies and in upright posture steadfast seems earth's baseness to despise if with earth not all besotted to this parable give ear thou whose gaze is fixed on heaven who thy face on high dust rear lift thy soul to heaven would happily lest it stain heavenly worth and thine eyes alone look upward while thy mind cleaves to the earth end of section 5 and song 5 book 5 free will and gods for knowledge section 6 and epilogue since then as we lately proved everything that is known is cognized not in accordance with its own nature but in accordance with the nature of the faculty that comprehends it let us now contemplate as far as lawful the character of the divine essence that we may be able to understand also the nature of its knowledge God is eternal in this judgment all rational beings agree let us then consider what eternity is for this word carries with it a revelation alike of the divine nature and of the divine knowledge now eternity is the possession of endless life whole and perfect at a single moment what this is becomes more clear and manifest from a comparison with things temporal for whatever lives in time is a present proceeding from the past to the future and there is nothing said in time which can embrace the whole space of its life together tomorrow's state it grasps not yet while it has already lost yesterday's nay even in the life of today ye live no longer than one brief transitory moment whatever therefore is subject to the condition of time although as Aristotle deemed of the world it never have either beginning or end and its life be stretched to the whole extent of time's infinity it yet is not such as rightly to be thought eternal for it does not include and embrace the whole space of infinite life at once but has no present hold on things to come not yet accomplished accordingly that which includes and possesses the whole fullness of unending life at once from which nothing future is absent from which nothing past has escaped this is rightly called eternal this must of necessity be ever present to itself in full self-possession and hold the infinity of movable time in an abiding present wherefore they deem not rightly who imagine that on Plato's principles the created world is made co-eternal with the creator because they are told that he believed the world to have had no beginning in time and to be destined never to come to an end for it is one thing for existence to be endlessly prolonged which was what Plato ascribed to the world another for the whole of an endless life to be embraced in the present which is manifestly a property peculiar to the divine mind nor need God appear earlier in mere duration of time to created things but only prior in the unique simplicity of his nature for the infinite progression of things in time copies this immediate existence in the present of the changeless life and when it cannot succeed in equaling it declines from movelessness into motion and falls away from the simplicity of a perpetual present to the infinite duration of the future and the past and since it cannot possess the whole fullness of its life together for the very reason that in a manner it never ceases to be it seems up to a certain point to rival that which it cannot complete and express itself indifferently to any present moment of time however swift and brief and since this bears some resemblance to that ever-abiding present it bestows on everything to which it is assigned the semblance of existence but since it cannot abide it hurries along the infinite path of time and the result has been that it continues by ceaseless movement the life the completeness which it could not embrace while it stood still so if we are minded to give things their right names we shall follow Plato in saying that God indeed is eternal but the world everlasting since then every mode of judgment comprehends its objects conformably to its own nature and since God abides forever in an eternal present his knowledge also transcending all movement of time dwells in the simplicity of its own changeless present and embracing the whole infinite sweet of the past and of the future contemplates all that falls within its simple cognition as if it were now taking place and therefore if thou wilt carefully consider that immediate presentment whereby it discriminates all things thou wilt more rightly deem it not for knowledge or anything future but knowledge of a moment that never passes for this cause the name chosen to describe it is not provision but providence because since utterly removed in nature from things mean and trivial its outlook embraces all things as from some lofty height why then thus thou insist that divine eye are involved in necessity whereas clearly men impose no necessity on things which they see does the act of vision add any necessity to the things which thou seeest before thy eyes assuredly not and yet if we may without unfitness compare God's present and man's just as ye see certain things in this your temporary present so does he see all things in his eternal present wherefore this divine anticipation changes not the natures and properties of things and it beholds things present before it just as they will hereafter come to pass in time nor does it confound things in its judgment but in the one mental view distinguishes alike what will come necessarily and what without necessity for even as ye when at one and the same time ye see a man walking on the earth and a sun rising in the sky distinguished between the two though one glance embraces both and judge the form of voluntary the latter necessary action so also the divine vision in its universal range of view does in no wise confuse the characters of the things which are present to its regard though future in respect of time whence it follows that when it perceives that something will come into existence and yet is perfectly aware that this is unbound by any necessity its apprehension is not opinion but rather knowledge based on truth and if to this thou sayest that what God sees to be about to come to pass cannot fail to come to pass and that what cannot fail to come to pass happens of necessity and wilt tie me down to this word necessity I will acknowledge that thou affirmest a most solid truth but one which scarcely anyone can approach to who has not made the divine his special study for my answer would be that the same future event is necessary from the standpoint of divine knowledge but when considered in its own nature it seems absolutely free and unfettered so then there are two necessities one simple as that men are necessarily mortal the other conditioned as that if you know that someone is walking you must necessarily be walking for that which is known cannot indeed be otherwise than as it is known to be and yet this fact by no means carries with it that other simple necessity for the former necessity is not imposed by the things own proper nature but by the addition of a condition no necessity compels one who is voluntarily walking to go forward although it is necessary for him to go forward at the moment of walking in the same way then if providence sees anything as present that must necessarily be though it is bound by no necessity of nature now God views as present those coming events which happen of free will these accordingly from the standpoint of the divine vision are made necessary conditionally on divine cognizance viewed however in themselves they desist not from the absolute freedom naturally theirs accordingly without doubt all things will come to pass which God foreknows as about the happen but of these certain proceed of free will and though these happen yet by the fact of their existence they do not lose their proper nature in virtue of which before they happened it was really possible that they might not have come to pass what difference then does the denial of necessity make? since through their being conditioned by divine knowledge they come to pass as if they were in all respects under the compulsion of necessity this difference surely which we saw in the case of the instances I formally took the sun's rising and the man's walking which at the moment of their occurrence could not but be taking place and yet one of them was necessarily obliged to be while the other was not so at all so likewise the things which to God are present without doubt exist but some of them come from the necessity of things others from the power of the agent quite rightly then have we said that these things are necessary if viewed from the standpoint of the divine knowledge that if they are considered in themselves they are free from the bonds of necessity even as everything which is accessible to sense regarded from the standpoint of thought is universal but viewed in its own nature particular but thou wilt say if it is in my power to change my purpose I shall make void providence since I shall by chance change something which comes within its foreknowledge my answer is thou canst indeed turn aside thy purpose but since the truth of providence is ever at hand to see that thou canst and whether thou dost and whether thou turnest thyself thou canst not avoid the divine foreknowledge even as thou canst not escape the sight of a present spectator although of thy free will thou turn thyself to various actions wilt thou then say shall the divine knowledge be changed at my discretion so that when I will this or that providence changes its knowledge correspondingly surely not true for the divine vision anticipates all that is coming and transforms and reduces it to the form of its own present knowledge and varies not as thou demest in its foreknowledge alternating to this or that but in a single flash it forestalls and includes thy mutations without altering and this ever present comprehension and survey of all things God has received not from the issue of future events but from the simplicity of his own nature hereby also is resolved the objection which a little while ago gave the offence that our doings in the future were spoken of as if supplying the cause of God's knowledge for this faculty of knowledge embracing all things in its immediate cognizance has itself fixed the bounds of all things yet itself owes nothing to what comes after and all this being so the freedom of man's will is taken and laws are not unrighteous since their rewards and punishments are held forth to wills unbound by any necessity God who foreknoweth all things still looks down from above and the ever present eternity of his vision concurs with the future character of all our acts and dispenseth to the good rewards to the bad punishments hopes and prayers also are not fixed on God in vain and when they are rightly directed cannot fail of effect therefore withstand vice practice virtue lift up your souls to write hopes offer humble prayers to heaven great is the necessity of righteousness laid upon you if you will not hide it from yourselves seeing that all your actions are done before the eyes of a judge who seeth all things epilogue within a short time of writing the consolation of philosophy Boethius died by a cruel death as to the manner of his death there is some uncertainty according to one account he was cut down by the swords of the soldiers before the very judgment seat of theodoric according to another the sword was first fastened around his forehead and tightened till his eyes started he was then killed with a club end of book 5 free will and gods for knowledge section 6 and epilogue end of the consolation of philosophy by Ancius Manlius Severinas Boethius and translated by H.R. James