The Consolation of Philosophy

by Boethius

“But what should I say about the bodily pleasures? To desire them fills a man with anxiety, to satisfy them fills him with regret.

On this point I share the opinion of Euripides, who says that a man who has no children is happy in that misfortune.

“Each pleasure has this thing in common: it pricks and stings those who enjoy it, like swarming bees up in the air. Once it’s done giving out sweet honey, it flees, but leaves behind to linger a stabbing pain where it has struck the heart.

And so, what makes you beautiful is not your nature but a sickness in the eyes of the beholders. So overvalue bodily goods all you like, but remember that whatever you admire can be obliterated by a three-day fever.

If Plato’s Muse declares the truth, what each man learns is but a recollection of forgotten things.

“There is nothing then, if it preserves its nature, that can try to oppose God?

“It is therefore the highest good,” she said, “that governs all things mightily and orders all things sweetly.”[55]

“No one could ever have doubted that God has power over all.” “No one of sound mind doubts this.” “But if someone is all-powerful, there is nothing he cannot do.” “Nothing.” “Then can God do evil?” “Not at all.” “Therefore, evil is nothing, since he who can do anything cannot do evil.”

if a good ruler over all things does exist, how can evils exist at all, let alone escape unpunished? At the very least, I am sure you realize how fair it is to be amazed at this. But there is a greater problem on top of that; because while injustice dominates and flourishes, virtue not only goes unrewarded but is trodden underfoot by evildoers, and receives the punishments due to crimes. That these things can happen under the rule of God, who knows all, has power over all, but wills only good things—no one can wonder at it enough, or lament it.”

“So do all men then, good and bad alike, regardless of their distinct intentions, work to arrive at the good? “That follows.” “But it is certain that men become good by attaining the good?” “Certain.” “So then good men attain what they desire?” “So it seems.” “But if evil men attained what they desire, that is, the good, then they could not be evil?” “Right.” “Then if both seek the good, but only the first attains it, while the other does not, do you doubt that good men are actually powerful, while evil men are actually weak?” “Whoever doubts that,” I said, “pays no attention to either the nature of the world or the outcome of arguments.”

From this, the converse follows, that cursed men likewise seem to be deserted by all power. For why do they abandon virtue and go after vices? Isn’t it from ignorance of the good? But what is feebler than the blindness of ignorance? What if they do know what things they should pursue, but desire casts them down from the path? Then they are frail from their intemperance, since they cannot fight against vice. Do they knowingly and willingly abandon the good and turn to vices? But in that case, they not only cease to be powerful but cease to be altogether; for those who relinquish the common end of everything that exists cease thereby to be. “To some, it would seem amazing indeed that we would say evil men—a large share of humanity—do not exist, but that is just how things are. Now I do not deny that evil people are evil. What I deny is that they exist, in a pure and simple sense. I the same way that you would say a corpse is a ‘dead man,’ but could not simply call it a ‘man,’ I would grant that vicious men ‘are evil,’ but I cannot admit that they ‘are,’ absolutely.

Remember that corollary I put forward earlier and follow: since blessedness is the good itself, then all good men are, by virtue of their goodness, blessed. But it is fitting that those who are blessed are gods. It is therefore the prize of good men—one that no length of days can wither, no power lessen, no injustice blot out—that they become gods.

“There would then be no place left for hatred among the wise. After all, who but a fool would hate good men? But there is also no reason to hate evil men, because vice is like an illness of the body, a kind of disease of souls. If we must never hate people for being physically ill, then even more so, we should not be moved to revenge but to pity for those whose minds are oppressed by wickedness, more ravenous than any disease.”

“That every fortune whatsoever is good.”

“If someone defined chance as an outcome produced by accidental motion with no connection of causes, in no way do I grant that chance exists; I take it for a hollow word, not signifying any real subject. For with God holding all things in order, what place can be left for randomness?

But in this series of tightly linked causes, don’t we have any freedom to choose, or does the chain of fate constrain even the motions of human souls?” “There is freedom,” she said, “and there could be no rational nature without choice. For any being with the natural power of reason possesses judgment to discern every matter. It can determine by itself which things to avoid or choose. Whenever someone judges anything worthy of choice, he pursues it, while he flees from whatever he thinks he ought to flee. Therefore, if reason resides in anyone, so too does freedom to choose or refuse.

“There seems to be an overwhelming contradiction between God knowing everything and for any freedom of choice to exist.

“We proved earlier that everything that is known comes to be known not according to its own nature, but the nature of those who comprehend it.