The thing the temporal world considers good, says Philosophy, are only inferior decorations on the ultimate earthly good, the soul and the intellectual capacity of humanity.īoethius offers a partial proof for God, a negative one based on the inadequacy of earthly attainments (wealth, power, etc) to satisfy the desire for perfect happiness ("felicity" - sometimes translated as blessedness). They continue their dialogue and discuss the nature of earthly goods, and how they are not the path to true happiness. The "cure" continues as Boethius begins to see the logic of Philosophy's argument.
Therefore it is unwise to become attached to any temporal thing. Health, wealth, honor, and power are things that never truly belong to any human being, and are visited on them by the wheel of fortune and quickly snatched away. She explains that the gifts of Fortune were never his at all, but merely lent to him and taken away as easily as they were given. Even though he is imprisoned and due for execution, he has still the faculties of his mind and soul to comfort him. She begins by explaining that the vagaries of Fortune visit everyone, and he is by no means the worst of her victims. While Boethius protests that he is the victim of injustice, Lady Philosophy begins his "cure" by showing him the error of his ways. She explains that she has come to him in his hour of need, for he suffers from the sickness of being far too attached to material and earthly things. They are interrupted by the entrance of a strange and otherwordly-looking lady, Lady Philosophy. The work opens with a scene between Boethius and the (imaginary) Muses of Poetry, who are attending him in his sorrow while he writes poetry of his woe. The dialogue is between Ancius Boethius, a prominent and learned official of the Roman Empire, and the person of Philosophy. It contains five Books, which are written in a combination of prose and verse. a dialogue with a mythical, imaginary, or allegorical figure). The Consolation of Philosophy is a short work of literature, written in the form of a prosimetrical apocalyptic dialogue (i.e.
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