The Consolation of Philosophy

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Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy

PREFACE

PROEM

BOOK I. THE SORROWS OF BOETHIUS

BOOK I

SONG I. Boethius' Complaint

I

SONG II. His Despondency

II

SONG III. The Mists dispelled

III

SONG IV. Nothing can subdue Virtue

IV

SONG V. Boethius' Prayer

V

SONG VI. All Things have their Needful Order

VI

SONG VII. The Perturbations of Passion

BOOK II. THE VANITY OF FORTUNE'S GIFTS

BOOK II

I

SONG I. Fortune's Malice

II

SONG II. Man's Covetousness

III

SONG III. All passes

IV

SONG IV. The Golden Mean

V

SONG V. The Former Age

VI

SONG VI. Neros' Infamy

VII

SONG VII. Glory may not last

VIII

SONG VIII. Love is Lord of all

BOOK III. TRUE HAPPINESS AND FALSE

BOOK III

I

SONG I. The Thorns of Error

II

SONG II. The Bent of Nature

III

SONG III. The Insatiableness of Avarice

IV

SONG IV. Disgrace of Honours conferred by a Tyrant

V

SONG V. Self-mastery

VI

SONG VI. True Nobility

VII

SONG VII. Pleasure's Sting

VIII

SONG VIII. Human Folly

IX

SONG IX.9. Invocation

X

SONG X. The True Light

XI

SONG XI. Reminiscence.10

XII

SONG XII. Orpheus and Eurydice

BOOK IV. GOOD AND ILL FORTUNE

BOOK IV

I

SONG I. The Soul's Flight

II

SONG II. The Bondage of Passion

III

SONG III. Circe's Cup

IV

SONG IV. The Unreasonableness of Hatred

V

SONG V. Wonder and Ignorance

VI

SONG VI. The Universal Aim

VII

SONG VII. The Hero's Path

BOOK V. FREE WILL AND GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE

BOOK V

I

SONG I. Chance

II

SONG II. The True Sun

III

SONG III. Truth's Paradoxes

IV

SONG IV. A Psychological Fallacy.18

V

SONG V. The Upward Look

VI

EPILOGUE

REFERENCES TO QUOTATIONS IN THE TEXT

Отрывок из книги

The book called 'The Consolation of Philosophy' was throughout the Middle Ages, and down to the beginnings of the modern epoch in the sixteenth 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, Causton, Ridpath, and Duncan, in the eighteenth 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, skilfully 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 mappa circensis, 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.

.....

'First, then, wilt thou suffer me by a few questions to make some attempt to test the state of thy mind, that I may learn in what way to set about thy cure?'

'Ask what thou wilt,' said I, 'for I will answer whatever questions thou choosest to put.'

.....