Builder of yon starry dome,Thou that whirlest, throned eternal, Heaven's swift globe, and, as they roam, Guid'st the stars by laws supernal : 28The Consolation of Philosophy. So in full-sphered splendour dight Cynthia dims the lamps of night, But unto the orb fraternal Closer drawn,* doth lose her light. ' Who at fall of eventide, Hesper, his cold radiance showeth, Lucifer his beams doth hide, Paling as the sun's light groweth, Brief, while winter's frost holds sway, By thy will the space of day ; Swift, when summer's fervour gloweth, Speed the hours of night away. ' Thou dost rule the changing year : When rude Boreas oppresses, Fall the leaves ; they reappear, Wooed by Zephyr's soft caresses. Fields that Sirius burns deepgrown By Arcturus' watch were sown : Each the reign of law confesses, Keeps the place that is his own. * The moon is regarded as farthest from the sun at the full, and, as she wanes, approaching gradually nearer.
Boethius'complaint (Songl.).-Ch. I. Philosophy appears to Boethius, drives away the Muses of Poetry, and herself laments (Song II.) the disordered condition of his mind.-Ch. II. Boethius is speechless with amazement. Philosophy wipes away the tears that have clouded his eyesight. -Ch. III. Boethius recognises his mistress Philosophy. To his wondering inquiries she explains her presence, and recalls to his mind the persecutions to which Philosophy has oftentimes from of old been subjected by an ignorant world.-Ch. IV. Philosophy bids Boethius declare his griefs. He relates the story of his unjust accusation and ruin. He concludes with a prayer (Song V.) that the moral disorder in human affairs maybe set right.-Ch. V. Phi-I
Ch. I. Boethius asks if there is really any such thing as chance. Philosophy answers, in conformity with Aristotle's definition (Phys., II. iv.), that chance is merely relative to human purpose, and that what seems fortuitous really depends on a more subtle form of causation.-Ch. II. Has man, then, any freedom, if the reign of law is thus absolute ? Freedom of choice, replies Philosophy, is a necessary attribute of reason. Man has a measure of freedom, though a less perfect freedom than divine natures.-Ch. III. But how can man's freedom be reconciled with God's absolute foreknowledge ? If God's foreknowledge be certain, it seems to exclude the possibility of man's free will. But * This is not, of course, literally true, though the Tigris and Euphrates rise in the same mountain district.
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