The Consolation of Philosophy | Page 4

mind the persecutions to which Philosophy has oftentimes from of old been subjected by an ignorant world. CH. IV. Philosophy bids Boethius declare his griefs. He relates the story of his unjust accusation and ruin. He concludes with a prayer (Song V.) that the moral disorder in human affairs may be set right.--CH. V. Philosophy admits the justice of Boethius' self-vindication, but grieves rather for the unhappy change in his mind. She will first tranquillize his spirit by soothing remedies.--CH. VI. Philosophy tests Boethius' mental state by certain questions, and discovers three chief causes of his soul's sickness: (1) He has forgotten his own true nature; (2) he knows not the end towards which the whole universe tends; (3) he knows not the means by which the world is governed.
BOOK I.
SONG I.
BOETHIUS' COMPLAINT.
Who wrought my studious numbers?Smoothly once in happier days,?Now perforce in tears and sadness?Learn a mournful strain to raise.?Lo, the Muses, grief-dishevelled,?Guide my pen and voice my woe;?Down their cheeks unfeigned the tear drops?To my sad complainings flow!?These alone in danger's hour?Faithful found, have dared attend?On the footsteps of the exile?To his lonely journey's end.?These that were the pride and pleasure?Of my youth and high estate?Still remain the only solace?Of the old man's mournful fate.?Old? Ah yes; swift, ere I knew it,?By these sorrows on me pressed?Age hath come; lo, Grief hath bid me?Wear the garb that fits her best.?O'er my head untimely sprinkled?These white hairs my woes proclaim,?And the skin hangs loose and shrivelled?On this sorrow-shrunken frame.?Blest is death that intervenes not?In the sweet, sweet years of peace,?But unto the broken-hearted,?When they call him, brings release!?Yet Death passes by the wretched,?Shuts his ear and slumbers deep;?Will not heed the cry of anguish,?Will not close the eyes that weep.?For, while yet inconstant Fortune?Poured her gifts and all was bright,?Death's dark hour had all but whelmed me?In the gloom of endless night.?Now, because misfortune's shadow?Hath o'erclouded that false face,?Cruel Life still halts and lingers,?Though I loathe his weary race.?Friends, why did ye once so lightly?Vaunt me happy among men??Surely he who so hath fallen?Was not firmly founded then.
I.
While I was thus mutely pondering within myself, and recording my sorrowful complainings with my pen, it seemed to me that there appeared above my head a woman of a countenance exceeding venerable. Her eyes were bright as fire, and of a more than human keenness; her complexion was lively, her vigour showed no trace of enfeeblement; and yet her years were right full, and she plainly seemed not of our age and time. Her stature was difficult to judge. At one moment it exceeded not the common height, at another her forehead seemed to strike the sky; and whenever she raised her head higher, she began to pierce within the very heavens, and to baffle the eyes of them that looked upon her. Her garments were of an imperishable fabric, wrought with the finest threads and of the most delicate workmanship; and these, as her own lips afterwards assured me, she had herself woven with her own hands. The beauty of this vesture had been somewhat tarnished by age and neglect, and wore that dingy look which marble contracts from exposure. On the lower-most edge was inwoven the Greek letter [Greek: P], on the topmost the letter [Greek: Th],[A] and between the two were to be seen steps, like a staircase, from the lower to the upper letter. This robe, moreover, had been torn by the hands of violent persons, who had each snatched away what he could clutch.[B] Her right hand held a note-book; in her left she bore a staff. And when she saw the Muses of Poesie standing by my bedside, dictating the words of my lamentations, she was moved awhile to wrath, and her eyes flashed sternly. 'Who,' said she, 'has allowed yon play-acting wantons to approach this sick man--these who, so far from giving medicine to heal his malady, even feed it with sweet poison? 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. Now, were it some common man whom your allurements were seducing, as is usually your way, I should be less indignant. On such a one I should not have spent my pains for naught. But this is one nurtured in the Eleatic and Academic philosophies. Nay, get ye gone, ye sirens, whose sweetness lasteth not; leave him for my muses to tend and heal!' At these words of upbraiding, the whole band, in deepened sadness, with downcast eyes, and blushes that confessed their shame, dolefully left the chamber.
But I, because my sight was dimmed with much weeping, and I could not tell who was this woman of authority so commanding--I was dumfoundered, and, with