The Consolation of Philosophy

ment are the steps, which lift the spirit to knowledge; her tears Referring to the tattered state of Lady Philosophy's robes in the original text, symbolizing how different philosophical schools have torn away pieces of her truth for themselves show that all the Sects strive to pull her to their side. By the blackness that coats her clothes, Boethius rebukes the ignorance of his age and the artifice of the first Philosophers. And to tell the truth, he has reason to suspect them of envy, or at least to reproach them for a lack of charity, since Plato disguises the sciences under Riddles, Empedocles renders them slaves in his verses, and Aristotle seems to speak of them to us only to be unintelligible.

The second [book] comprises an Apology for Fortune, which shows Boethius that he has as little reason to complain of his misfortunes as he has to hope for all her favors. The entire following part is nothing but an excellent weave of powerful considerations, which raise the spirit to this sublime truth: that neither Riches nor Dignities could original: "ſçauroyent"; text partially obscured by ink blot make a man content, and that we are never poor if we always belong to ourselves. The last Prose concludes this strange paradox: that bad fortune benefits man more than good fortune.

In the third book, Philosophy shows through a rare discourse that the rich of the? original: "riches du"; text partially obscured by ink blot world are its poor? original: "pauures"; text partially obscured by ink blot, since they have