"While I was pondering thus in silence, and using my
pen to set down so tearful a complaint, there appeared standing over
my head a woman's
form, whose countenance
was full of majesty, whose eyes shone as with fire and in power of
insight surpassed the eyes of men, whose colour was full of life,
whose strength was yet intact though she was so full of years that
none would ever think that she was subject to such age as ours.
One could but doubt her varying
stature, for at one moment she repressed it to the common measure of
a man, at another she seemed to touch with her crown the very
heavens: and when she had raised higher her head, it pierced even the
sky and baffled the sight of those who would look upon it.
Her clothing was wrought of the
finest thread by subtle workmanship brought to an indivisible piece.
This had she woven with her own hands, as I afterwards did learn by
her own shewing. Their beauty was somewhat dimmed by the dulness of
long
neglect, as is seen in
the smoke-grimed masks of our ancestors. On the border below was
inwoven the symbol II, on [3]that above was to be read a {image not
available}1 And between the two letters there could
be marked degrees, by which, as by the rungs of a ladder, ascent
might be made from the lower principle to the higher.
Yet the hands of rough men had
torn this garment and snatched such morsels as they could therefrom.
In her right hand she carried books,
in her left was a sceptre
brandished.
When she saw
that the Muses of
poetry were present by
my couch giving words to my lamenting, she was stirred a while; her eyes flashed fiercely,
and said she,
"Who has suffered
these seducing
mummers to approach
this sick man? Never
do they support those in sorrow by any healing
remedies, but rather do ever foster the sorrow by poisonous sweets.
These are they who stifle the
fruit-bearing harvest of reason
with the barren briars of the passions: they free not the minds of men from disease, but accustom them thereto.
I would think it
less grievous if your allurements drew away
from me some uninitiated man, as happens in the vulgar herd. In such an one my labours would be naught harmed,
but this man has
been nourished in the lore of Eleatics and Academics; and to him have
ye reached? Away with you, Sirens,
seductive unto destruction! leave him to my
Muses to be cared for and to be healed.'
Their band thus rated cast a
saddened glance
And when Jesus came into the
rulers house, and saw the minstrels (flute player) and the people making a
noise, Matthew 9:23
He sai unto them,
Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they
laughed him to
scorn. Matthew 9:24
But when the people
were put (ejected, expelled more or less violently) forth, he went in, and took
her by the hand, and the maid
arose. Matthew 9:25
3:1 -- {no image} and {no
image} are the first letters of the Greek words denoting
Practical and Theoretical, the two divisions of philosophy.[4] upon the
ground,
confessing their
shame in
blushes, and passed
forth dismally over the threshold. For my part, my eyes were dimmed with tears, and I
could not discern who was this woman
of such commanding power.
I was amazed, and turning my
eyes to the ground I began in silence to await what she should do.
Then she approached nearer and sat down upon the end of my couch: she looked into my face heavy with
grief and cast down by sorrow to the ground, and then she raised her
complaint over the trouble of my mind in these words.
'Ah me! how
blunted grows the
mind when sunk below
the o'erwhelming flood! Its own true light no longer burns within,
and it would break forth to outer darknesses. How often care, when
fanned by earthly winds, grows to a larger and unmeasured bane.
This man has been free to the open heaven: his habit has it been to wander
into the paths of the sky: his to watch the light of the bright sun,
his to inquire
into the brightness of the chilly moon; he, like a conqueror, held
fast bound in its order every star that makes its wandering circle,
turning its peculiar course. Nay, more, deeply has he searched into
the springs
of nature, whence came the roaring blasts that ruffle the ocean's
bosom calm: what is the spirit
that makes the firmament revolve; wherefore does the evening star
sink into the western wave but to rise from the radiant East; what is
the[5] cause which so tempers the season of Spring that it decks the
earth with rose-blossoms; whence comes it to pass that Autumn is
prolific in the years of plenty and overflows with teeming vines:
deeply to search these causes was his wont, and to bring forth
secrets deep in Nature hid.
'Now he lies there;
extinct his reason's
light, his neck in
heavy chains
thrust down, his countenance with grievous weight downcast; ah! the
brute earth is all he can behold.
'But now,' said she,' is the
time for the physician's art, rather than for complaining.' Then
fixing her eyes wholly on me, she said, ' Are you the man who was
nourished upon the milk of
my learning,
brought up with
my food until you had won your way to the power
of a manly
soul?
Surely I had given you such
weapons as would keep you safe, and your
strength unconquered; if you had not thrown them away. Do you know
me? Why do you keep silence? Are you dumb from shame or from
dull amazement? I would it were from
shame, but I see that amazement has
overwhelmed you.'
When she saw that I was not
only silent, but utter]y tongue-tied and dumb, she put her hand
gently upon my breast, and said,
'There is no danger: he is
suffering from drowsiness, that disease which attacks so many minds which have
been deceived. He has forgotten himself for a moment and will
quickly remember, as [6] soon as he recognises me. That he may do so,
let me brush
away from his eyes the darkening cloud of thoughts of matters perishable.' So saying, she gathered her robe into
a fold and dried my swimming eyes.
Then was dark night dispelled,
the shadows fled away, and my eyes received returning power as
before. 'Twas just as when the heavenly bodies are enveloped by the
west wind's rush, and the sky stands thick with watery clouds; the
sun is hidden and the stars are not yet come into the sky, and night
descending from above o'erspreads the earth: but if the north wind
smites this scene, launched forth from the Thracian cave, it unlocks
the imprisoned daylight; the sun shines forth, and thus sparkling
Phoebus smites with his rays our wondering eyes.
In such a manner were the
clouds of grief scattered. Then I drew breath again and
engaged my
mind in taking
knowledge of my physician's countenance. So when I turned my
eyes towards her and fixed my gaze upon her, I recognised my nurse,
Philosophy, in whose chambers I had spent my life from earliest
manhood. And I asked her,
'Wherefore have you, mistress
of all virtues, come down from heaven above to visit my lonely place
of banishment? Is it that you, as well as I, may be harried, the
victim of false charges? '
'Should I,' said she,' desert you, my nursling? [7] Should I not share
and bear my part of the burden
which has been laid upon
you from spite against my name? Surely Philosophy never allowed herself to let the
innocent go upon their journey unbefriended. Think you I would fear
calumnies? that I would be terrified as though they were a new
misfortune?
Think you that this is the
first time that wisdom has been harassed by dangers among
men of shameless
ways? In ancient days
before the time of my child, Plato, have we not as well as nowadays
fought many a mighty battle against the recklessness of folly? And
though Plato did survive, did not his master, Socrates, win his victory of an unjust death, with me present
at his side? When after him the followers of Epicurus, and in turn the Stoics,
and then others did all try their utmost to seize his legacy, they
dragged me, for all my cries and struggles, as though to share me as
plunder;
they tore my robe
which I had woven with mine own hands, and snatched away the
fragments thereof: and when they thought I had altogether yielded
myself to them, they departed. And since among them were to be seen
certain signs of my outward bearing, others ill-advised did think
they wore my livery: thus were many of them undone by the errors of
the herd of
uninitiated. But if you
have not heard of the exile of Anaxagoras,1
7:1 --
Anaxagoras went into exile from Athens about 450 B.C. [8] nor
the poison drunk by Socrates,1 nor the torture of
Zeno,2 which all were of foreign lands, yet
you may know of Canius,3 Seneca,4 and Soranus,5 whose fame is neither small nor passing
old. Naught else brought them to ruin but that, being built up in my
ways, they appeared at variance with the desires of unscrupulous men.
So it is no matter for your
wonder if, in this sea of life, we are tossed about by storms from all
sides;
for to oppose evil men is the chief aim we set before
ourselves. Though the band of such men is great in numbers, yet is it
to be contemned: for it is guided by no leader, but is hurried along at random only by error
running riot everywhere.
If this band when warring against us presses too strongly upon
us, our leader, Reason,
gathers her forces into her citadel, while the enemy are
busied in plundering
useless baggage. As they seize the most worthless things,
we laugh at them
from above, untroubled by the whole band of mad marauders, and we are defended by that rampart to which
riotous folly may not hope to attain.
8:1 --
Socrates was executed by the Athenian state, B.C. 399.
8:2 -- Zeno of Elea was tortured by
Nearchus, tyrant of Elea, about 440 B.C.
8:3 -- Canius was put to death by Caligula,
c. A.D. 40.
8:4 -- Seneca was driven to commit suicide
by Nero, A.D. 66.
8:5 -- Soranus was condemned to death by
Nero, A.D. 66. [9]
'He who has calmly reconciled
his life to fate, and set proud death beneath his feet, can look
fortune in the face, unbending both to good and bad: his countenance
unconquered he can shew. The rage
and threatenings of the sea will not move him though they stir from
its depths the upheaving swell: Vesuvius's furnaces may never so
often burst forth, and he may send rolling upwards smoke and fire;
the lightning, whose wont it is to smite down lofty towers, may flash upon its way, but such men shall they
never move.
Why then stand they wretched
and aghast when fierce
tyrants rage in impotence? Fear naught, and hope naught: thus shall you have a
weak man's rage disarmed. But whoso fears with trembling, or desires
aught from them, he stands not firmly rooted, but dependent: thus has he thrown away his shield; he can be
rooted up, and he links for himself the very chain whereby he may be
dragged.
'Are such your experiences, and
do they sink into your soul?' she asked.
'Do you listen only
as "the dull
ass to the
lyre"?
Why do you weep? Wherefore flow
your tears? " Speak, nor keep secret in thine heart." If you expect a
physician to help you, you must lay bare your wound.' Then did I
rally my spirit till it was strong again, and answered,
'Does the savage bitterness of
my fortune still need recounting? Does it not stand forth plainly
enough of itself? Does not the very aspect of this place strike you?
Is this the library which you had chosen [10] for yourself as your
sure resting-place in my house?
Is this the room in which you
would so often tarry with me expounding the philosophy of things
human and divine? Was my condition like this, or my countenance, when
I probed with your aid
the secrets of nature,
when you
marked out with a
wand the courses of the
stars, when you
shaped our habits and the rule
of all our life by the pattern of the universe?1
Are these the rewards we reap
by yielding ourselves to you? Nay, you yourself have established this
saying by the mouth of Plato, that commonwealths would be blessed if
they were guided by those who made wisdom their study, or if those who guided them would make wisdom their
study.2 By the mouth of that same great man did
you teach that this was the binding reason why a commonwealth should
be governed by philosophers, namely that the helm of government
should not be left to unscrupulous or criminal citizens lest they
should bring corruption and ruin
upon the good citizens. 3 Since, then, I had learned from you in
quiet and inaction of this view, I followed
it further, for I desired to practise it in public government. You
and God Himself, who has grafted you in the minds of philosophers,
are my witnesses that never have I applied myself to any office of
state except that I might work for the 10:1
-- Boethius means that his chief ' philosophical ' studies had been
physics, astronomy, and ethics.
10:2 -- Plato, Repub. v
473.
10:3 -- Plato, Repub. vi, 488, 489.
[11] common welfare of all good
men. Thence followed bitter quarrels with evil men which could not be
appeased, and, for the sake of preserving justice, contempt of the
enmity of those in
power, for this is the
result of a free and fearless conscience. How often have I withstood
Conigastus 1 to his face, whenever he has attacked a weak man's
fortune! How often have I turned by force Trigulla,1 the overseer of the Emperor's
household, from an unjust act that he had begun or even carried out!
How many times have I put my own authority in danger by protecting
those wretched people who were harried
with unending false charges by the greed
of barbarian Goths which ever went unpunished!
Never, I say, has any man
depraved me from justice to injustice. My heart has ached as bitterly
as those of the sufferers when I have seen the fortunes of our
subjects ruined both by the rapacity of persons and the taxes of the state. Again, in a time of
severe famine, a grievous, intolerable sale by compulsion was decreed
in Campania, and devastation threatened that province.
Then I undertook for the sake
of the common welfare a struggle against the commander of the
Imperial guard; though the king was aware of it, I fought against the
enforcement of the sale,
and fought successfully. Paulinus was a man who had been consul: the
jackals of the court had.
11:1
-- Conigastus and Trigulla were favourite officers of the Emperor,
Theodoric, the Goth: they used their influence with him for the
oppression of the weak. [12] in their own hopes and desires
already swallowed up his possessions, but I snatched him from their
very gaping jaws. I exposed myself to the hatred of the treacherous
informer Cyprian, that I might prevent Albinus, also a former consul,
being overwhelmed by the penalty of a trumped-up charge.
Think you that I have raised up
against myself bitter and great quarrels enough? But I ought to have
been safer among those whom I helped; for, from my love of justice, I
laid up for myself among the courtiers no resource to which I might turn for safety. Who,
further, were the informers upon whose evidence I was banished? One
was Basilius: he was formerly expelled from the royal service, and
was driven by debt to inform against me. Again, Opilio and Gaudentius
had been condemned to exile by the king for many unjust acts and
crimes: this decree they would not obey, and they sought sanctuary in
sacred buildings, but when the king was aware of it, he declared that
if they departed not from Ravenna before a certain day, they should
be driven forth branded upon their foreheads. What could be more
stringent than this? Yet upon that very day information against me
was laid by these same men and accepted. Why so? Did my character
deserve this treatment? Or did my prearranged condemnation give
credit and justification to my accusers? Did Fortune feel no shame
for this? If not for innocence calumniated, at any rate for the
baseness of the calumniators? [13]
'Would you learn the sum of the
charges against me? It was said that "I had desired the safety of the
Senate." You would learn in what way. I was charged with "having
hindered an informer from producing papers by which the Senate could
be accused of treason." What think you, my mistress? Shall I deny it
lest it shame you? Nay, I did desire the safety of the Senate, nor
shall ever cease to desire it. Shall I confess it? Then there would
have been no need to hinder an informer. Shall I call it a crime to
have wished for the safety of that order? By its own decrees
concerning myself it has established that this is a crime. Though
want of foresight often deceives itself, it cannot alter the merits
of facts, and, in obedience to the Senate's command, I cannot think
it right to hide the truth or to assent to falsehood.
'However, I leave it to your
judgment and that of philosophers to decide how the justice of this
may be; but I have committed to writing for history the true course
of events, that posterity may not be ignorant thereof. I think it
unnecessary to speak of the forged letters through which I am accused
of " hoping for the freedom of Rome." Their falsity would have been
apparent if I had been free to question the evidence of the informers
themselves, for their confessions have much force in all such
business.
'But what avails it? No liberty
is left to hope for. Would there were any! I would answer in the
words of Canius, who was accused [14] by Gaius
Cæsar,1 Germanicus's son, of being cognisant of
a plot against himself: " If I had known of it, you would not
have."
'And in this matter grief has
not so blunted my powers that I should complain of wicked men making
impious attacks upon virtue: but at this I do wonder, that they
should hope to succeed. Evil desires are, it may be, due to our
natural failings, but that the conceptions of any wicked mind should
prevail against innocence while God watches over us, seems to me
unnatural. Wherefore not without cause has one of your own followers
asked, " If God is, whence come evil things? If He is not, whence
come good? "
'Again, let impious men, who
thirst for the blood of the whole Senate and of all good citizens, be
allowed to wish for the ruin of us too whom they recognise as
champions of the Senate and all good citizens: but surely such as I
have not deserved the same hatred from the members of the Senate
too?
'Since you were always present
to guide me in my words and my deeds, I think you remember what
happened at Verona. When King Theodoric, desiring the common ruin of
the Senate, was for extending to the whole order the charge of
treason laid against Albinus, you remember how I laboured to defend
the innocence of the order without any care for my own danger? You
know that I declare this truthfully and with no boasting praise of
self.
14:1
-- The Emperor Caligula. [15] For the secret value of a conscience,
that approves its own action, is lessened somewhat each time that it
receives the reward of fame by displaying its deeds. But you see what
end has fallen upon my innocency. In the place of the rewards of
honest virtue, I am suffering the punishments of an ill deed that was
not mine. And did ever any direct confession of a crime find its
judges so well agreed upon exercising harshness, that neither the
liability of the human heart to err, nor the changeableness of the
fortune of all mankind, could yield one dissentient voice? If it had
been said that I had wished to burn down temples, to murder with
sacrilegious sword their priests, that I had planned the massacre of
all good citizens, even so I should have been present to plead guilty
or to be convicted, before the sentence was executed. But here am I,
nearly five hundred-miles away, without the opportunity of defending
myself, condemned to death and the confiscation of my property
because of my tao great zeal for the Senate. Ah! well have they
deserved that none should ever be liable to be convicted on such a
charge! Even those who laid information have seen the honour of this
accusation, for, that they might blacken it with some criminal
ingredient, they had need to lie, saying that I had violated my
conscience by using unholy means to obtain offices corruptly. But
you, by being planted within me, dispelled from the chamber of my
soul all craving for that which perishes, and [16] where your eyes
were looking there could be no place for any such sacrilege. For you
instilled into my ears, and thus into my daily thoughts, that saying
of Pythagoras, " Follow after God." Nor was it seemly that I, whom
you had built up to such excellence that you made me as a god, should
seek the support of the basest wills of men. Yet, further, the
innocent life within my home, my gathering of most honourable
friends, my father-in-law Symmachus,l a man esteemed no less in his public life than for
his private conscientiousness, these all put far from me all
suspicion of this crime. But -- O the shame of it! -- it is from you
that they think they derive the warrant for such a charge, and we
seem to them to be allied to ill-doing from this very fact that we
are steeped in the principles of your teaching, and trained in your
manners of life. Thus it is not enough that my deep respect for you
has profited me nothing, but you yourself have received wanton
contumely from the hatred that had rather fallen on me. Yet besides
this, is another load added to my heap of woes: the judgment of the
world looks not to the deserts of the case, but to the evolution of
chance, and holds that only this has been intended which good fortune
may chance to foster: whence it comes that the good opinion of the
world is the first to desert the unfortunate. It is wearisome to
recall what were the tales by people told, or how little
16:1
-- Symmachus was executed by Theodoric at the same time as Boethius.
[17] their many various opinions agreed. This alone I would fain say:
it is the last burden laid upon us by unkind fortune, that when any
charge is invented to be fastened upon unhappy men, they are believed
to have deserved all they have to bear. For kindness I have received
persecutions; I have been driven from all my possessions, stripped of
my honours, and stained for ever in my reputation. I think I see the
intoxication of joy in the sin-steeped dens of criminals: I see the
most abandoned of men intent upon new and evil schemes of spying: I
see honest men lying crushed with the fear which smites them after
the result of my perilous case: wicked men one and all encouraged to
dare every crime without fear of punishment, nay, with hope of
rewards for the accomplishment thereof: the innocent I see robbed not
merely of their peace and safety, but even of all chance of defending
themselves. So then I may cry aloud: --
'Founder of the star-studded
universe, resting on Thine eternal throne whence Thou turnest the
swiftly rolling sky, and bindest the stars to keep Thy law; at Thy
word the moon now shines brightly with full face, ever turned to her
brother's light, and so she dims the lesser lights; or now she is
herself obscured, for nearer to the sun her beams shew her pale horns
alone. Cool rises the evening star at night's first drawing nigh: the
same is the morning star who casts off the harness that she bore [18]
before, and paling meets the rising sun. When winter's cold doth
strip the trees, Thou settest a shorter span to day. And Thou, when
summer comes to warm, dost change the short divisions of the night.
Thy power doth order the seasons of the year, so that the western
breeze of spring brings back the leaves which winter's north wind
tore away; so that the dog-star's heat makes ripe the ears of corn
whose seed Arcturus watched. Naught breaks that ancient law: naught
leaves undone the work appointed to its place. Thus all things Thou
dost rule with limits fixed: the lives of men alone dost Thou scorn
to restrain, as a guardian, within bounds. F or why does Fortune with
her fickle hand deal out such changing lots? The hurtful penalty is
due to crime, but falls upon the sinless head: depraved men rest at
ease on thrones aloft, and by their unjust lot can spurn beneath
their hurtful heel the necks of virtuous men. Beneath obscuring
shadows lies bright virtue hid: the just man bears the unjust's
infamy. They suffer not for forsworn oaths, they suffer not for
crimes glozed over with their lies. But when their will is to put
forth their strength, with triumph they subdue the mightiest kings
whom peoples in their thousands fear. O Thou who dost weave the bonds
of Nature's self, look down upon this pitiable earth! Mankind is no
base part of this great work, and we are tossed on Fortune's wave.
Restrain, our Guardian, the engulfing surge, and as Thou dost the
unbounded [19] heaven rule, with a like bond make true and firm these
lands.'
For if you recall your true
native country, you know that it is not under the rule of the
many-headed people, as was Athens of old, but there is
one Lord, one King, who rejoices in the greater number of his subjects,
not in their banishment.
To be guided by his
reins, to bow to his justice, is the highest liberty. Know you not
that sacred and ancient law of your own state by which it is enacted
that no man, who would establish a dwelling-place for himself
therein, may lawfully be put forth?
For there is no fear that any
man should merit exile, if he be kept safe therein by its protecting walls.
But any man that may no longer
wish to dwell there,
does equally no
longer deserve to be there. Wherefore it is your looks rather than
the aspect of this place which disturb me.l It
19:1
-- Cp. Prose iv. of this book,p. 9. [20] is not the walls of your
library, decked with
ivory and glass, that I need,
but rather the resting-place in
your heart, wherein I have not stored books, but I have of old put
that which gives value to books, a store of thoughts from books of
mine.
As to your services to the
common weal, you have spoken truly, though but scantily, if you
consider your manifold exertions. Of all wherewith you have been
charged either truthfully or falsely, you have but recorded what is
well known. As for the crimes and wicked lies of the informers, you
have rightly thought fit to touch but shortly thereon, for they are
better and more fruitfully made common in the mouth of the crowd that
discusses all matters. You have loudly and strongly upbraided the
unjust ingratitude of the Senate: you have grieved over the charges
made against myself, and shed tears over the insult to my fair fame:
your last outburst of wrath was against Fortune, when you complained
that she paid no fair rewards according to deserts:
finally, you have prayed with
passionate Muse that the same peace and order, that are seen in the
heavens, might also rule the earth. But you are overwhelmed by this
variety of mutinous passions: grief, rage, and gloom tear your mind
asunder, and so in this present mood stronger measures cannot yet
come nigh to heal you. Let us therefore use gentler means, and since,
just as matter in the body hardens into a swelling, so have these
disquieting influences, let these means soften by kindly handling the
[21] unhealthy spot, until it will bear a sharper remedy.
'When the sign of the crab doth
scorch the field, fraught with the sun's most grievous rays, the
husbandman that has freely intrusted his seed to the fruitless
furrow, is cheated by the faithless harvest-goddess; and he must turn
him to the oak tree's fruit.
'When the field is scarred by
the bleak north
winds, wouldst thou
seek the wood's dark carpet to gather violets? If thou wilt enjoy the
grapes, wouldst thou seek with clutching hand to prune the vines in
spring? 'Tis in autumn Bacchus brings his gifts. Thus God marks out
the times and fits to them peculiar works: He has set out a course of
change, and lets no confusion come. If aught betake itself to
headlong ways, and leaves its sure design, ill will the outcome be
thereto.
'First then,' she continued,'
will you let me find out and make trial of the state of your mind by
a few small questions, that so I may understand what should be the
method of your treatment? '
'Ask,' said
I,' what your judgment would have you ask, and I will answer
you.'
Then said she,' Think you that
this universe is guided only at random and by mere chance? or think
you there is any rule of reason constituted in it? '
'No, never would I think it
could be so, nor [22] believe that such sure motions could be made at
random or by chance. I know that God, the founder of the universe,
does overlook His work; nor ever may that day come which shall drive
me to abandon this belief as untrue.'
'So is it,' she said,' and even
so you cried just now, and only mourned that mankind alone has no
part in this divine guardianship: you were fixed in your belief that
all other things are ruled by reason. Yet, how strange! how much I
wonder how it is that you can be so sick though you are set in such a
health-giving state of mind!
But let us look deeper into it:
I cannot but think there is something lacking. Since you are not in
doubt that the universe is ruled by God, tell me by what method you
think that government is guided? '
'I scarcely know
the meaning of your question; much less can I answer it.'
'Was I wrong,' said she,' to
think that something was lacking, that there was some opening in your armour,
some way by which this distracting disease has crept into your soul?
But tell me, do you remember what is the aim and end of all things?
what the object to which all nature tends? '
'I have heard
indeed, but grief has blunted my memory.'
'But do you not somehow know whence all things have their source?
'
'Yes,' I said; ' that source is God.'
'Is it possible that you, who
know the beginning of all things, should not know their end? [23] But
such are the ways of these distractions, such is their power, that
though they can move a man's position, they cannot pluck him from
himself or wrench him from his roots. But this question would I have
you answer: do you remember that you are a man?
'How can I but
remember that? '
'Can you then say what is a
man? '
'Need you ask? I know that he
is an animal, reasoning and mortal; that I know, and that I confess
myself to be.'
'Know you naught else that you
are? ' asked Philosophy.
Naught,' said I.
'Now,' said she,' I know the
cause, or the chief cause, of your sickness. You have forgotten what you are. Now therefore I have found out to the
full the manner of your sickness, and how to attempt the restoring of
your health. You are overwhelmed by this forgetfulness of yourself:
hence you have been thus sorrowing that you are exiled and robbed of
all your possessions.
You do not know the
aim and end of all
things; hence you think
that if men are worthless and wicked, they are powerful and
fortunate. You have forgotten by what methods the universe is guided;
hence you think that the chances of good and bad fortune are tossed
about with no ruling hand. These things may lead not to disease only,
but even to death as well. But let us thank the Giver of all health,
that your nature has not altogether left you. We have yet the chief
[24] spark for your health's fire, for you have a true knowledge of the hand that guides the universe:
you do believe that its government is not subject to random chance,
but to divine reason. Therefore have no fear. From this tiny spark
the fire of life shall forthwith shine upon you. But it is not time
to use severer
remedies, and since
we know that it is the way of
all minds to clothe themselves ever in false opinions as they throw
off the true,
and these false ones breed a
dark
distraction which
confuses the true insight, therefore will I try to lessen this
darkness for a while with gentle applications of easy remedies, that
so the shadows of deceiving passions may be dissipated, and you may
have power to perceive the brightness of true light.'
'When the stars are hidden by
black clouds, no light can they afford. When the boisterous south wind
rolls along the sea and
stirs the surge, the water, but now as clear as glass, bright as the
fair sun's light, is dark, impenetrable to sight, with stirred and
scattered sand. The stream, that wanders down the mountain's side,
must often find a stumbling-block, a stone within its path torn from
the hill's own rock.
So too shalt thou: if thou
wouldst see the truth in undimmed light, choose the straight road,
the beaten path; away
with passing joys! away
with fear! put vain hopes to flight! and grant no place to grief!
Where these distractions reign, the mind is clouded o'er, the soul is
bound in chains.' [25]
Background
Commentary
Fathers Index
Home
Page
Counter added 10.06.06 9:50a
