289 BOETHI1 ueluti conuenientia contemperataque rectori sponte conuertant? " " Ita," inquam, "necesse est; nee beatum regimen esse uideretur, si quidem detrec- 55 tantium iugum foret, non obtemperantium salus." " Nihil est igitur quod naturam seruans deo contraire conetur." "Nihil," inquam. "Quod si conetur," ait, "num tandem proficiet quidquam aduersus eum quern iure beatitudinis potentissimum esse con- 60 cessimus? " " Prorsus," inquam, "nihil ualeret." " Non est igitur aliquid quod summo huic bono uel uelit uel possit obsistere." "Non," inquam, "ar- bitror." "Est igitur summum," inquit, " boiium quod regit cuncta fortiter suauiterque disponit."
65 Turn ego: " Quam," inquam, " me non modo ea quae conclusa est summa rationum, uerum multo magis haec ipsa quibus uteris uerba delectant, ut tandem aliquando stultitiam magna lacerantem sui pudeat."
" Accepisti," inquit, " in fabulis lacessentes caelum 70 Gigantas; sed illos quoque, uti coridignum fuit, benigna fortitude disposuit. Sed uisne rationes ipsas inuicem collidamus? Forsitan ox huiusmodi conflictatione pulchra quaedam ueritatis scintilla dissiliat." "Tuo," inquam, "arbitratu." " Deum," 75 inquit, "esse omnium potentem nemo dubitauerit." "Qui quidem," inquam, "mente consistat, nullus prorsus ambigat." " Qui uero est," inquit, " omnium potens, nihil est quod ille non possit." "Nihil," inquam. " Num igitur deus facere malum potest? " 80 " Minim e," inquam. "Malum igitur," inquit, "nihil est, cum id facere ille non possit, qui nihil non potest." " Ludisne," inquam, "me inextricabilem labyrinthum rationibus texens, quae nunc quidem qua egrediaris introeas, nunc uero quo introieris 290 CONSOLAT. PHILOSOPH. III.
disposer's beck, as agreeable and conformable to their ruler?" "It must needs be so," quoth I, "neither would it seem an happy government, if it were an imposed yoke, not a desired health." " There is nothing then which, following nature, endeavoureth to resist God." " Nothing," quoth I. " What if anything doth endeavour," quoth she, "can anything prevail against Him, whom we have granted to be most powerful by reason of His blessedness? " " No doubt," quoth I, "nothing could prevail." "Where fore there is nothing which either will or can resist this sovereign goodness." "I think not," quoth I. " It is then the sovereign goodness which governeth all things strongly, and disposeth them sweetly." " How much," quoth I, " doth not only the reason which thou allegest, but much more the very words which thou usest, delight me, that folly which so much vexed me may at length be ashamed of herself."
"Thou hast heard in the poets' fables," quoth she, " how the giants provoked heaven, but this benign fortitude put them also down, as they de served. But wilt thou have our arguments contend together? Perhaps by this clash there will fly out some beautiful spark of truth." "As it pleaseth thee," quoth I. "No man can doubt," quoth she, " but that God is almighty." " No man," quoth I, " that is well in his wits." " But," quoth she, " there is nothing that He who is almighty cannot do." "Nothing," quoth I. "Can God do evil? " "No," quoth I. "Wherefore," quoth she, "evil is nothing, since He cannot do it who can do anything." " Dost thou mock me," quoth I, " making with thy reasons an inextricable labyrinth, because thou dost now go in where thou meanest to go out again, and after 291 BOETHII 85 egrediare, an mirabilem quendam diuinae simplici- tatis orbem complicas? Etenim paulo ante beati- tudine incipiens earn summum bonum esse dicebas quam in summo deo sitam loquebare. Ipsum quoque deum summum esse bonum plenamque beatitudinem 90 disserebas; ex quo neminem beatum fore nisi qui pariter deus esset quasi munusculum dabas. Rursus ipsam boni formam dei ac beatitudinis loquebaris esse substantiam ipsumque unum id ipsum esse bonum docebas quod ab omni rerum natura peteretur.
95 Deum quoque bonitatis gubernaculis uniuersitatem regere disputabas uolentiaque cuncta parere nee ullam mali esse naturam. Atque haec null is extrin- secus sumptis sed ex altero altero fidem trahente insitis domesticisque probationibus explicabas."
LOO Turn ilia: " Minime/' inquit, " ludimus remque omnium maximam dei munere quern dudum depre- cabamur exegimus. Ea est enim diuinae forma sub- stantiae ut neque in externa dilabatur nee in se externum aliquid ipsa suscipiat, sed, sicut de ea 105 Parmenides ait: rerum orbem mobilem rotat, dum se immobilem ipsa conseruat. Quod si rationes quoque non extra petitas sed intra rei quam tractabamus ambitum 110 collocatas agitauimus, nihil est quod admirere, cum Platone sanciente didiceris cognatos de quibus loquuntur rebus oportere esse sermones.
CONSOLAT. PHILOSOPH. III.
go out, where thou earnest in, or dost thou frame a wonderful circle of the simplicity of God? For a little before taking thy beginning from blessedness, thou affirmedst that to be the chiefest good which thou saidst was placed in God, and likewise thou provedst, that God Himself is the chiefest good and full happiness, out of which thou madest me a present of that inference, that no man shall be happy unless he be also a God. Again thou toldest me that the form of goodness is the substance of God and of blessedness, and that unity is the same with goodness, because it is desired by the nature of all things; thou didst also dispute that God governeth the whole world with the helm of good ness and that all things obey willingly, and that there is no nature of evil, and thou didst explicate all these things with no foreign or far-fetched proofs, but with those which were proper and drawn from inward principles, the one confirming the other."
"We neither play nor mock," quoth she, "and we have finished the greatest matter that can be by the assistance of God, whose aid we implored in the beginning. For such is the form of the Divine substance that it is neither divided into outward things, nor receiveth any such into itself, but as Parmenides saith of it: In body like a sphere well-rounded on all sides," it doth roll about the moving orb of things, while it keepeth itself immovable. And if w*e have used no far-fetched reasons, but such as were placed within the compass of the matter we handled, thou hast no cause to marvel, since thou hast learned in Plato's school that our speeches must be like and as it were akin to the things we speak of.
293 BOETHII XII.
Felix qui potuit boni Fontem uisere lucidum, Felix qui potuit grauis Terrae soluere uincula. 6 Quondam funera coniugis Vates Threicius gemens Postquam flebilibus modis Siluas currere mobiles, Amnes stare coegerat, 10 lunxitque intrepidum latus Saeuis cerua leonibus, Nee uisum timuit lepus lam cantu placidum canem, Cum flagrantior intima 15 Feruor pectoris ureret, Nee qui cuncta subegerant Mulcerent dominum modi, Inmites superos querens Infernas adiit domos.
20 Illic blanda sonantibus Chordis carmina temperans Quidquid praecipuis deae Matris fontibus hauserat, Quod luctus dabat impotens, 25 Quod luctum geminans amor, Deflet Taenara commouens Et dulci ueniam preee Vmbrarum dominos rogat. Stupet tergeminus nouo 30 Captus carmine iaiiitor, Quae sontes agitant metu 294 CONSOLAT. PHILOSOPH. III.
XII.
Happy is he that can behold The well-spring whence all good doth rise, Happy is he that can unfold The bands with which the earth him ties. The Thracian poet whose sweet song Performed his wife's sad obsequies, And forced the woods to run along When he his mournful tunes did play, Whose powerful music was so strong That it could make the rivers stay; The fearful hinds not daunted were, But with the lions took their way, Nor did the hare behold with fear The dog whom these sweet notes appease. When force of grief drew yet more near, And on his heart did burning seize, Nor tunes which all in quiet bound Could any jot their master ease, The gods above too hard he found, And Pluto's palace visiting. He mixed sweet verses with the sound Of his loud harp's delightful string, All that he drank with thirsty draught From his high mother's chiefest spring, All that his restless grief him taught, And love which gives grief double aid, With this even hell itself was caught, Whither he went, and pardon prayed For his dear spouse (unheard request). The three-head porter was dismayed, Ravished with his unwonted guest, The Furies, which in tortures keep 295 BOETHII 295 BOETHII Vltrices scelerum deae lam maestae lacrimis madent.
Non Ixionium caput 35 Velox praecipitat rota Et longa site perditus Spernit flumina Tantalus. Vultur dum satur est modis, Non traxit Tityi iecur.
Vmbrarum miserans ait, ' Donamus comitem uiro Emptam carmine coniugem. Sed lex dona coerceat, 45 Ne, dum Tartara liquerit, Fas sit lumina flectere.' Quis legem det amantibus? Maior lex amor est sibi. Heu, noctis prope tenninos 60 Orpheus Eurydicen suam Vidit, perdidit, occidit. Vos haec fabula respicit Quicumque in superum diem Mentem ducere quaeritis. Nam qui Tartareum in specus Victus lumina flexerit, Quidquid praecipuum trahit Perdit, dum uidet inferos."
296 CONSOLAT. PHILOSOPH. III.
The guilty souls with pains opprest, Moved with his song began to weep.
Ixioii's wheel now standing still Turns not his head with motions steep.
Though Tantalus might drink at will, To quench his thirst he would forbear.
The vulture full with music shrill Doth not poor Tityus' liver tear.
' We by his verses conquered are/ Saith the great King whom spirits fear.
1 Let us not then from him debar His wife whom he with songs doth gain.
Yet lest our gift should stretch too far, We will it with this law restrain, That when from hell he takes his flight, He shall from looking back refrain.'
Who can for lovers laws indite?
Love hath no law but her own will.
Orpheus, seeing on the verge of night Eurydice, doth lose and kill Her and himself with foolish love.
But you this feigned tale fulfil, Who think unto the day above To bring with speed your darksome mind.
For if, your eye conquered, you move Backward to Pluto left behind, All the rich prey which thence you took, You lose while back to hell you look."
297 ANICII MANLII SEVERINI BOETHII V.C. ET INL. EXCONS. ORD. PATRICII PHILOSOPHIAE CON- SOLATIONIS LIBER TERTIVS EXPLICIT INCIPIT LIBER IV I.
HAEC cum Philosophia dignitate uultus et oris grauitate seruata leniter suauiterque cecinisset, turn ego nondum penitus insiti inaeroris oblitus inten- tionem dicere adhuc aliquid parantis abrupi. Et: 6 " O," inquam, " ueri praeuia luminis quae usque adhuc tua fudit oratio, cum sui speculatione diuina turn tuis rationibus inuicta patuerunt, eaqtie mihi etsi ob iniuriae dolorem nuper oblita non tamen antehac prorsus ignorata dixisti. Sed ea ipsa est uel maxima 10 nostri causa maeroris, quod, cum rerum bonus rector exsistat, uel esse omnino mala possint uel impunita praetereant; quod solum quanta dignum sit ad- miratione profecto consideras. At huic aliud maius 298 THE FOURTH BOOK OF BOETHIUS I.
WHEN Philosophy had sung these verses with a soft and sweet voice, observing due dignity and gravity in her countenance and gesture, I, not having altogether forgotten my inward grief, interrupted her speech which she was about to continue, and said: " O thou who bringest us to see true light, those things which hitherto thou hast treated of have manifestly appeared both to be divine when contemplated apart, and invincible when supported by thy reasons, and what thou hast uttered, though the force of grief had made me forget it of late, yet heretofore I was not altogether ignorant of it. But this is the chiefest cause of my sorrow, that since the governor of all things is so good, there can either be any evil at all, or that it pass unpunished. Which alone I beseech thee consider, how much admiration it deserveth. J?ut there is another greater than 299 BOETHII adiungitur. Nam imperante florenteque nequitia 15 uirtus non solum praemiis caret, uerum etiam sceleratorum pedibus subiecta calcatur et in locum facinorum supplicia luit. Quae fieri in regno scientis omnia, potentis omnia sed bona tantummodo uolentis dei nemo satis potest nee admirari nee conqueri."
20 Turn ilia: " Et esset," inquit, " infiniti stuporis onmibusque horribilius monstris, si, uti tu aestimas, in tanti uelut patrisfamilias dispositissima domo uilia uasa colerentur, pretiosa sordescerent. Sed non ita est. Nam si ea quae paulo ante conclusa sunt incon- 25 uulsa seruantur, ipso de cuius nunc regno loquimur auctore cognosces semper quidem potentes esse bonos, malos uero abiectos semper atque inbecillos nee sine poena umquam esse uitia nee sine praemio uirtutes, bonis felicia, malis semper infortunata con- 30 tingere multaque id genus quae sopitis querelis firma te soliditate corroborent. Et quoniam uerae formam beatitudinis me dudum monstrante uidisti, quo etiam sita sit agnouisti, decursis omnibus quae praemittere necessarium puto, uiam tibi quae te domum reuehat 35 ostendam. Pennas etiam tuae menti quibus se in altum tollere possit adfigam, ut perturbatione depulsa sospes in patriam meo ductu, mea semita, meis etiam uehiculis reuertaris.
300 CONSOLAT. PHILOSOPH. IV.
this; for wickedness bearing rule and sway, virtue is not only without reward, but lieth also trodden under the wicked's feet, and is punished instead of vice. That which things should be done in the kingdom of God, who knoweth all things, can do all things, but will do only that which is good, no man can sufficiently admire nor complain."
To which she answered: "It were indeed infinitely strange, and surpassing all monsters, if, as thou con- ceivest, in the best-ordered house of so great an householder the vilest vessels were made account of and the precious neglected; but it is not so. For if those things which were a little before concluded be kept unviolated, thou shalt by His help, of whose kingdom we speak, know that the good are always powerful, and the evil always abject and weak_, and that vices are never without punishment, nor virtue without reward, and that the good are always prosperous, and the evil unfortunate, and many things of that sort, which will take away all cause of complaint, and give thee firm and solid strength. And since by my means thou hast already seen the form of true blessedness, and known where it is placed, running over all those things which I think necessary to rehearse, I will show thee the way which will carry thee home. And I will also fasten wings upon thy mind, with which she may rouse herself, that, all perturbation being driven away, thou mayest return safely into thy country by my direction, by my path, and with my wings.
301 BOETHII I.
Sunt etenim pennae uolucres mihi Quae celsa conscendant poli. Quas sibi cum uelox mens induit, Terras perosa despicit, 6 Aeris inmensi superat globum, Nubesque postergum uidet, Quique agili motu calet aetheris, Transcendit ignis uerticem, Donee in astriferas surgat domos 10 Phoeboque coniungat uias Aut comitetur iter gelidi senis Miles corusci sideris, Vel quocumque micans nox pingitur, Recurrat astri circulum 15 Atque ubi iam exhausti fuerit satis, Polum relinquat extimum Dorsaque uelocis premat aetheris Compos uerendi luminis. Hie regum sceptrum dominus tenet 20 Orbisque habenas temperat Et uolucrem currum stabilis regit Rerum coruscus arbiter. Hue te si reducem referat uia, Quam nunc requiris immemor: 25 * Haec,' dices, ' memini, patria est mihi, Hinc ortus, hie sistam gradum.' Quod si terrarum placeat tibi Noctem relictam uisere, Quos miseri toruos populi timent 30 Cernes tyrannos exules."
a Cf. " frigida Saturni sese quo stella receptet," Virg. Georg. i. 336. 302 CONSOLAT. PHILOSOPH. IV.
I.
For I have swift and nimble wings which will ascend the lofty skies, With which when thy quick mind is clad, it will the loathed earth despise, And go beyond the airy globe, and watery clouds behind thee leave, Passing the fire which scorching heat doth from the heavens' swift course receive, Until it reach the starry house, and get to tread bright Phoebus' ways, Following the chilly sire's path,a companion of his flashing rays, And trace the circle of the stars which in the night to us appear, And having stayed there long enough go on beyond the farthest sphere, Sitting upon the highest orb partaker of the glorious light, Where the great King his sceptre holds, and the world's reins doth guide aright, And, firm in his swift chariot, doth everything in order set. Unto this seat when thou ai*t brought, thy country, which thou didst forget, Thou then wilt challenge to thyself, saving: ' This is the glorious land Where I was born, and in this soil my feet for ever more shall stand. Whence if thou pleasest to behold the earthly night which thou hast left, Those tyrants which the people fear will seem of their true home bereft.' " 303 BOETHI1 II.
Turn ego: " Papae," inquam, " ut magna promittis! Nee dubito quin possis efficere; tu modo quern excita- ueris ne moreris." " Primum igitur/' inquit, "bonis semper adesse potentiam, malos cunctis uiribus esse 6 desertos agnoscas licebit, quorum quidem alterum demonstratur ex altero. Nam cum bonum malumque contraria sint, si bonum potens esse constiterit, liquet inbecillitas mail; at si fragilitas clarescat mail, boni firmitas nota est. Sed uti nostrae sententiae fides 10 abundantior sit, alterutro calle procedam nunc hinc nunc inde proposita confirmans.
Duo sunt quibus omnis hum(anorum actuum constat effectus, uoluntas scilicet ac potestas, quorum si alter- utrum desit, nihil est quod explicari queat. Deficiente 16 etenim uoluntate ne aggreditur quidem quisque quod non uult; at si potestas absit, uoluntas frustra sit. Quo fit ut si quern uideas adipisci uelle quod minime adipiscatur, huic obtinendi quod uoluerit defuisse ualentiam dubitare non possis." " Perspicuum est," 20 inquam, "nee ullo modo negari potest." "Quern uero effecisse quod uoluerit uideas, num etiam potuisse dubitabis? " "Minime." "Quod uero quisque potest, in eo ualidus, quod uero non potest, in hoc imbecillis esse censendus est." " Fateor," inquam.
25 " Meministine igitur," inquit, " superioribus rationi- bus esse collectum intentionem ornnem uoluntatis humanae quae diuersis studiis agitur ad beatitudinem a The whole of this and of the following chapter is a paraphrase of Plato's Goryias.
304 CONSOLAT. PHILOSOPH. IV.
II."
" Oh! " quoth I. " How great thing's dost thou promise! And I doubt not but thou canst perform them, wherefore stay me not now that thou hast stirred up my desires." "First then," quotli she, "that good men are always powerful, and evil men of no strength, thou mayest easily know, the one is proved by the other. For sinee that good and evil are contraries, if it be convinced that goodness is potent, the weakness of evil will be also manifest; and contrariwise if we discern the frailty of evil, we must needs acknowledge the firmness of goodness. But that our opinions may be more certainly em braced, I will take both ways, confirming my pro positions, sometime from one part, sometime from another.
There be two things by which all human actions are effected, mlLand, power, of which if either be wanting, there can nothing be performed. For if there want will, no man taketli anything in hand against his will, and if there be not power, the will is in vain. So that, if thou seest any willing to obtain that which he doth not obtain, thou canst Hot doubt but that he wanted power to obtain what he would." " It is manifest," quoth I, "and can by no means be denied." "And wilt thou doubt that he could, whom thou seest bring to pass what he desired?" "No." "But every man is mighty in that which he can do, and weak in that which he cannot do." " I confess it," quoth I. " Dost thou remember then," quoth she, "that it was inferred by our former discourses that all the intentions of man's will doth hasten to happiness, though their L 305 BOETHII festinare? " " Memini," inquam, " illud quoque esse demonstratum." " Num recordaris beatitudinem 30 ipsum esse bonum eoque modo, cum beatitude petitur, ab omnibus desiderari bonum? " " Minime," inquam, "recorder, quoniam id memoriae fixum teneo." " Omnes igitur homines boni pariter ac mali in- discreta intentione ad bonum peruenire nituntur?"
35 " Ita," inquam, " consequens est." " Sed certum est adeptione boni bonos fieri." " Certum." "Adipi- scuntur igitur boni quod appetunt? " " Sic uidetur." <f Mali uero si adipiscerentur quod appetunt bonum, mali esse non possent." (< Ita est." " Cum igitur 40 utrique bonum petant, sed hi quidem adipiscantur, illi uero minime, num dubium est bonos quidem potentes esse, qui uero mali sunt imbecillos? " " Quisquis," inquam, "dubitat, nee rerum naturani nee consequentiam potest considerare rationum."
45 " Rursus," inquit, "si duo sint quibus idem secundum naturam propositum sit eorumque unus natural! officio id ipsum agat atque perficiat, alter uero naturale illud officium minime administrare queat, alio uero modo quam naturae conuenit non quidem impleat 50 propositum suum sed imitetur implentem, quenmam horum ualentiorem esse decerm's? " " Etsi coniecto," inquam, "quid uelis, planius tamen audire desidero." " Ambulandi," inquit, " motum secundum naturam esse hominibus num negabis? " " Minime," inquam.
55 " Eiusque rei pedum officium esse naturale num dubitas? " " Ne hoc quidem," inquam. " Si quis igitur pedibus incedere ualens ambulet aliusque cui 306 CONSOLAT. PHILOSOPH. IV.
courses be divers? " " I remember," quoth I, " that that also was proved." "Dost thou also call to mind that blessedness is goodness itself, and con sequently when blessedness is sought after, goodness must of course be desired? " " I call it not 'to mind, for I have it already fixed in my memory." " Where fore all men both good and bad without difference of intentions endeavour to obtain goodness." " It followeth," quoth I. "But it is certain that men are made good by the obtaining of goodness." " It is so." "Wherefore good men obtain what they desire." "So it scemeth." "And if evil men did obtain the goodness they desire, they could not be evil." "It is true." "Wherefore since they both desire goodness, but the one obtaineth it and the other not, there is no doubt but that good men are powerful, and the evil weak." " Whosoever doubteth of this," quoth I, " he neither considereth the nature of things, nor the consequence of thy reasons." "Again," quoth she, "if there be two to whom the same thing is proposed according to nature, and the one of them bringeth it perfectly to pass with his natural function, but the other cannot exercise that natural function but after another manner than is agreeable to nature, and doth not perform that which he had proposed, but imitateth the other who per- formeth it: which of these two wilt thou judge to be more powerful?" "Though I conjecture," quoth I, " at thy meaning, yet I desire to hear it more plainly." "Wilt thou deny," quoth she, " that the motion of walking is agreeable to the nature of men? " " No," quoth I. " And makest thou any doubt that the function of it doth naturally belong to the feet? " "There is no doubt of this neither," quoth I. " Wherefore if one that can go upon his feet doth 307 BOETHII hoc naturale pedum desit officium, manibus nitena ambulare conetur, quis horum iure ualentior existimari 60 potest? " " Contexe/' inquarn, " cetera; nam quin naturalis officii potens eo qui idem nequeat ualentior sit, nullus ambigat." " Sed summum bonuin, quod aeque malis bonisque propositum, boni quidein naturali officio uirtutum petunt, mali uero uariam 65 per cupiditatem, quod adipiscendi boni naturale officium non est, idem ipsum conantur adipisci. An tu aliter existimas? " "Minima/' inquam, "nam etiam quod est consequens patet. Ex his enim quae concesserim, bonos quidem potentes, malos uero esse 70 necesse est imbecillos."
" Recte/' inquit, " praecurris idque, uti medici sperare solent, indicium est erectae iam resisten- tisque naturae. Sed quoniam te ad intellegendum promptissimum esse conspicio, crebras coaceruabo 75 rationes. Vide enim quanta uitiosorum hominum pateat infirmitas qui ne ad hoc quidem peruenire queunt ad quod eos naturalis ducit ac paene com- pellit intentio. Et quid si hoc tarn magno ac paene inuicto praeeuntis naturae desererentur auxilio? 80 Considera uero quanta sceleratos homines habeat impotentia. Neque enim leuia aut ludicra praemia petunt, quae consequi atque obtinere non possunt, sed circa ipsam rerum summam uerticemque deficiunt nee in eo miseris contingit effectus quod solum 85 dies noctesque moliuntur; in qua re bonorum uires eminent. Sicut enim eum qui pedibus incedens ad eum locum usque peruenire potuisset, quo nihil ulterius peruium iaceret incessui, ambulandi poten- « Cf. Virgil, Aen. xii. 764. 308 CONSOLAT. PHILOSOPH. IV.
walk, and another who hath not this natural function of his feet endeavoureth to walk by creeping upon his hands, which of these two is deservedly to be esteemed the stronger?" "Infer the rest/' quoth I, " for no man doubteth but that he which can use that natural function is stronger than he which cannot." "But/' quoth she, "the good seek to obtain the chiefest good, which is equally proposed to bad and good, by the natural function of virtues, but the evil endeavour to obtain the same by divers concupiscences, which are not the natural function of obtaining goodness. Thinkest thou otherwise? " ;"No," quoth I, "for it is manifest what followeth. , For by the force of that which I have already granted, it is necessary that good men are powerful and evil men weak."
"Thou runnest before rightly," quoth she, "and it is (as physicians are wont to hope) a token of an erected and resisting nature. Wherefore, since I see thee most apt and willing to comprehend, I will therefore heap up many reasons together. For consider the great weakness of vicious men, who cannot come so far as their natural intention leadeth and almost compelleth them. And what if they were destitute of this so great and almost invincible help of the direction of nature? Ponder likewise the immense impotency of wicked men. For they are no light or trifling rewards a which they desire, and cannot obtain: but they fail in the very sum and top of things: neither can the poor wretches compass that which they only labour for nights and days: in which thing the forces of the good eminently appear. For as thou wouldst judge him to be most able to walk who going on foot could come as far as there were any place to go in: so must thou of 309 BOETHII