Fortune and happiness
Follow Philosophy’s argument in the Consolation, from the losses inflicted by Fortune to the search for the true good.
An original introduction. This guide accompanies the work; it is neither the complete text nor a translation.
Situating the text
Written in prison around 524 while Boethius awaited execution, the work draws on Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Neoplatonist authors but never cites Scripture or names Christ, a silence still debated. Its 39 poems in varied metres were widely imitated and translated into vernacular languages. In five books alternating prose and verse, an imprisoned narrator is visited by Lady Philosophy, who diagnoses his grief and leads him from complaints against Fortune to an inquiry into the true good, the problem of evil, providence and the compatibility of divine foreknowledge with human freedom.
Following the arguments
Fortune : Fortune’s gifts are unstable by nature, so losing them reveals what never truly belonged to the one who held them. Highest good : Wealth, office, power, fame and pleasure are partial goods; complete happiness lies in the good itself, which Philosophy identifies with God. Eternal present : God knows from an eternal present, so foreknowledge does not impose necessity on what human beings freely do.
Continuing the reading
Read Book I for the scene of diagnosis, then the prose sections 3 to 6 of Book V, where the argument on foreknowledge and eternity reaches its conclusion. Written in prison around 524 while Boethius awaited execution, the work draws on Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Neoplatonist authors but never cites Scripture or names Christ, a silence still debated. Its 39 poems in varied metres were widely imitated and translated into vernacular languages.
External goods can be lost at any moment; the Consolation asks which good remains when they are gone.
Your turn to think.
- Which of Fortune’s gifts does the prisoner miss most, and why does Philosophy call them borrowed?
- Why can no partial good, such as fame or power, give complete happiness?
Your selection and progress stay in this browser.