The Consolation of Philosophy

by Boethius

These it is who kill the rich crop of reason with the barren thorns of passion, who accustom men's minds to disease, instead of setting them free.

maybe, the host of the wicked is many in number, yet is it contemptible, since it is under no leadership, but is hurried hither and thither at the blind driving of mad error.

we from our vantage 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.'

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!

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.

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.

Yet how far indeed from thy country hast thou, not been banished, but rather hast strayed; or, if thou wilt have it banishment, hast banished thyself! For no one else could ever lawfully have had this power over thee.

Then what bounds can e'er 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.

One law only standeth fast: Things created may not last.

in adverse fortune the worst sting of misery is to have been happy.'

So true is it that nothing is wretched, but thinking makes it so, and conversely every lot is happy if borne with equanimity.

'Why, then, ye children of mortality, seek ye from without that happiness whose seat is only within us?

Have ye no good of your own implanted within you, that ye seek your good in things external and separate?

it appears that honour cometh not to virtue from rank, but to rank from virtue.

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.

Are friends any protection who have been attached by fortune, not by virtue? Nay; him whom good fortune has made a friend, ill fortune will make an enemy.

One the guide, The traveller, the pathway, and the goal. FOOTNOTES:

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.

'the wise man ought 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.

"ex nihilo nihil"

Nothing comes from nothing - Parmenides