The Consolation of Philosophy

by Boethius

‘O Thou who dost by everlasting reason rule, Creator of the planets and the sky, who time From timelessness dost bring, unchanging Mover, No cause drove Thee to mould unstable matter, but (5) The form benign of highest good within Thee set. All things Thou bringest forth from Thy high archetype: Thou, height of beauty, in Thy mind the beauteous world Dost bear, and in that ideal likeness shaping it, Dost order perfect parts a perfect whole to frame. (10) The elements by harmony Thou dost constrain, That hot to cold and wet to dry are equal made, That fire grow not too light, or earth too fraught with weight. The bridge of threefold nature mad’st Thou soul, which spreads Through nature’s limbs harmonious and all things moves. (15) The soul once cut, in circles two its motion joins, Goes round and to itself returns encircling mind, And turns in pattern similar the firmament. From causes like Thou bringst forth souls and lesser lives,