The Consolation of Philosophy of Boethius

Translated into English Prose and Verse
by
H. R. James

Quantumlibet igitur sæviant mali, sapienti tamen corona non decidet, non arescet.

Melioribus animum conformaveris, nihil opus est judice præmium deferente, tu te ipse excellentioribus addidisti; studium ad pejora deflexeris, extra ne quæsieris ultorem, tu te ipse in deteriora trusisti.

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2007

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Table of Contents

Preface.

Proem.

Book I. The Sorrows of Boethius.

  1. Boethius’ Complaint.
  2. His Despondency.
  3. The Mists Dispelled.
  4. Nothing Can Subdue Virtue.
  5. Boethius’ Prayer.
  6. All Things have Their Needful Order
  7. The Perturbations of Passion.

Book II. The Vanity of Fortune’s Gifts

  1. Fortune’s Malice.
  2. Man’s Covetousness.
  3. All Passes.
  4. The Golden Mean.
  5. The Former Age.
  6. Nero’s Infamy.
  7. Glory May Not Last.
  8. Love is Lord of All.

Book III. True Happiness and False.

  1. The Thorns of Error.
  2. The Bent of Nature.
  3. The Insatiableness of Avarice.
  4. Disgrace of Honours Conferred by a Tyrant.
  5. Self-Mastery.
  6. True Nobility.
  7. Pleasure’s Sting.
  8. Human Folly.
  9. Invocation.
  10. The True Light.
  11. Reminiscence.
  12. Orpheus and Eurydice.

Book IV. Good and ILL Fortune.

  1. The Soul’s Flight.
  2. The Bondage of Passion.
  3. Circe’s Cup.
  4. The Unreasonableness of Hatred.
  5. Wonder and Ignorance.
  6. The Universal Aim.
  7. The Hero’s Path.

Book V. Free Will and God’s Foreknowledge.

  1. Chance.
  2. The True Sun.
  3. Truth’s Paradoxes.
  4. A Psychological Fallacy.
  5. The Upward Look.

Epilogue.

References to Quotations in the Text.

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