BOETHIUS


The Consolation of Philosophy

…..
Balance out the good things and the bad that have happened in your life and you will have to acknowledge that you are still way ahead. You are unhappy because you have lost those things in which you took pleasure? But you can also take comfort in the likelihood that what is now making you miserable will also pass away.
…..
Oh teach the mind t' ethereal heights to rise,

And view familiar, in its native skies,

Thy source of good; thy splendour to descry,

And on thy self, undazzled, fix her eye.

Oh quicken this dull mass of mortal clay;

Shine through the soul, and drive its clouds away!

For thou art Light. In thee the righteous find

Calm rest, and soft serenity of mind;

Thee they regard alone; to thee they tend;

At once our great original and end,

At once our means, our end, our guide, our way,

Our utmost bound, and our eternal stay!

…..
Fortune's Malice.

Mad Fortune sweeps along in wanton pride,

Uncertain as Euripus' surging tide;

Now tramples mighty kings beneath her feet;

Now sets the conquered in the victor's seat.

She heedeth not the wail of hapless woe,

But mocks the griefs that from her mischief flow.

Such is her sport; so proveth she her power;

And great the marvel, when in one brief hour

She shows her darling lifted high in bliss,

Then headlong plunged in misery's abyss.

Translation: Alexander POPE