Boethius: Consolatio Philosophiae
A Commentary. James O'Donnell.
Book One
Metrum 1: Boethius (hereinafter: B.), imprisoned and alone, bewails his condition.
Meter: Elegiac couplets. The first line is dactylic hexameter, the second (called the pentameter) contains two hemiepes. In the hexameter caesura is regular after the first syllable of the third foot. No substitutions are allowed in the second hemiepes of the pentameter.
n1.1.1m: qui: "(I) who . . ." studio florente: ablative absolute; studium here, "eagerness, enthusiasm." peregi: < perago , "accomplish, complete."
n1.1.3m : lacerae: "tattered, bedraggled." scribenda: < scribo ; neuter plural accusative, gerundive of necessity: "things that must be written." Camenae: the native Latin name for the Muses.
n1.1.4m : elegi: "elegiac verses." ora: < os , oris : "mouth, face." Plural for singular is common in poetry.
n1.1.5m : Has: sc. Camenas . pervincere: "prevail upon," treated as a verb of hindering governing ne -clause in line 6 ( AG 558b).
n1.1.6m : comites: predicative, "as companions."
n1.1.7m : Gloria: in apposition with the subject of solantur (i.e., Camenae ).
felicis: The final syllable is closed, and thus long, before the caesura.
n1.1.8m : maesti: modifies senis (genitive < senex ).
n1.1.9m : inopina: "unexpectedly"; adjectives in agreement with the subject often have adverbial force.
n1.1.10m : iussit: governs accusative/infinitive.
suam: the reflexive takes its antecedent from the subject of the sentence, hence dolor .
n1.1.11m : intempestivi: "out of season," because B. is too young for cani (sc. capilli ), "grey hair."
n1.1.14m : maestis: sc. annis (line 13).
n1.1.15m : quam: exclamatory, to be taken closely with surda . . . aure .
avertitur: here used in an active sense (comparable to the Greek middle voice: other Hellenisms will occur in B.): "[death] turns away [the wretches]."
n1.1.16m : saeva: with adverbial force: "cruelly."
n1.1.17m : Dum: In late Latin, dum with subjunctive is interchangeable with circumstantial cum .
levibus . . . bonis: ablative, "with good things [that are] insubstantial."
male: "scarcely, not at all," a common way of negating an adjective (here: fida ) in poetry.
n1.1.18m : merserat: pluperfect indicative (< mergo ) instead of perfect, for an unreal statement ( paene has the force of a negative); translate as simple past tense. Cf. LHS 328, Zusätze b, on the rhetorical pluperfect.
n1.1.19m : nubila: "cloudy, gloomy," modifies fortuna understood as the subject.
n1.1.21m : me felicem: sc. esse ; accusative/infinitive with iactastis (= iactavistis ).
amici: vocative.
n1.1.22m : stabili . . . gradu: ablative of description. Stabilis appears often in the Consolatio, in emphatic positions, to hint at the alternative to the mutability of fortune's world (cf. e.g., 1M4.16, 2M8.1, 3M9.3).
Prosa 1: A mysterious figure, female but more than human, appears at B.'s side and puts to flight the poetic muses.
n1.1.1p : stili officio: "with the help of a pen."
astitisse: perfect infinitive (< a(d)sto ): the woman was already there when B. noticed her.
verticem: < vertex , "topmost point," thus: "head."
reverendi vultus: genitive of description.
oculis ardentibus et . . . perspicacibus: ablative of description.
communem: take with hominum, "common to men."
quamvis: "although," with subjunctive.
foret = esset
ut . . . crederetur: subjunctive of result.
statura discretionis ambiguae: "with stature of uncertain measure."
n1.1.2p : quidem . . . vero: "on the one hand . . . but on the other," a common usage in B.
summi verticis cacumine: "with the very top of her head."
quae: connecting relative, i.e., relative pronoun in place of demonstrative + et : "and she."
extulisset: subjunctive of repeated action, with cum ("whenever").
intuitum: "gaze, view."
n1.1.3p : filis: ablative plural, "threads."
uti = ut ("as").
post: adverb.
eadem prodente: ablative absolute ( eadem = B.'s visitor).
fumosas imagines: The reference seems to be to the wax masks of deceased ancestors which hung in the atrium of a Roman house and gathered soot from the hearth fire between funeral processions, when they were worn by mourners in a masquerade of reincarnation.
solet: sc. obducere .
n1.1.4p :
Graecum: modifies
supremo: sc. margine .
vero: always used post-positively in its clause; best translated "but."
elementum: here, "letter [of the alphabet]."
esset: subjunctive in relative clause of purpose.
n1.1.5p : manus: nominative plural.
n1.1.8p : scenicas: "of the stage," used pejoratively, as usual.
foverent . . . alerent: subjunctive in relative clause of characteristic.
foverent: "take care of."
verum: the conjunction, "but."
n1.1.9p : infructuosis affectuum spinis: "with the sterile thorns of [that come from] the emotions."
fructibus: ablative with uberem: "rich in fruit."
assuefaciunt: "accustom" (transitive).
n1.1.10p : si quem: "if anyone"; the indefinite pronoun quis is commonly used after si , nisi , ne , or num .
vulgo: adverb.
solitum: sc. est .
vobis: i.e., Camenis .
ferendum: "to be borne, tolerated"; sc. esse mihi .
nihil: adverbial accusative, "not at all."
quippe: explanatory particle, "for, since."
eo: antecedent is quem profanum .
hunc vero . . . innutritum: ellipsis of main verb effectively expresses indignation.
Eleaticis et Academicis studiis: the teachings of Parmenides of Elea (d. shortly after 450 B.C.), Plato (founder of the Academy at Athens; d. 347 B.C.) and their disciples.
n1.1.11p : Sirenes: in mythology, birds with the faces of beautiful girls singing sweetly to lure mariners to shore and death.
usque in exitium dulces: "pleasant to the point of destruction."
meisque . . . Musis: dative of agent with curandum and sanandum .
n1.1.12p : His . . . increpitus: "rebuked by these [words]."
humi: locative.
acies: "gaze, sight."
n1.1.13p : caligaret . . . possem: subjunctives in relative causal clauses (not quite parallel).
dinoscere = dignoscere , "recognize, distinguish."
esset: subjunctive in indirect question.
visuque . . . defixo: ablative absolute.
esset actura: imperfect subjunctive + future participle represents a future in an indirect question.
conquesta: < conqueror , "bewail, lament bitterly."
Metrum 2: The visitor compares B.'s present enervated state to his former energy and vision.
Meter: Hemiepes + adonic with diaeresis.
n1.2.1m : praecipiti: "steep, dangerous."
n1.2.2m : relicta: ablative.
n1.2.4m : flatibus: ablative of means < flatus , "wind."
aucta: < augeo ; modifies cura (line 5).
in immensum: "to immense (size)."
n1.2.6m : Hic: i.e., Boethius.
n1.2.7m : in aetherios ire meatus: "to follow the courses of heavenly bodies."
n1.2.10m : recursus: accusative plural, "returns, recurrent courses"; with vagos , which alludes to the Greek word for the planets, "wanderers."
n1.2.12m : comprensam = comprehensam , "grasped, understood"; sc. stellam . B. translated a Greek treatise by Ptolemy on astronomy and perhaps wrote one of his own in Latin, in which he would have explained how the movements of the planets could be reduced to mathematical calculations.
n1.2.13-14m : unde . . . sollicitent: indirect question introduced by causas (13); similarly, quis volvat (15), cur . . . surgat (16-17), quid . . . temperet (18), and quis dedit (20).
n1.2.15m : quis = qui .
n1.2.17m : casurum: < cado , "fall, set."
n1.2.20m : dedit: indicative in place of subjunctive, to fit the meter (cf. Gruber).
n1.2.20-21m : ut . . . uvis: substantive result clause, after dedit .
influat: "flow, abound with."
n1.2.22m : rimari solitus: sc. est ; governs indirect questions of lines 13-21.
latentis: genitive, modifies naturae .
n1.2.23m : reddere: here, "declare, report."
n1.2.25m : pressus catenis colla: "pressed around the neck with chains." colla is neuter plural accusative of respect with the participle pressus ; this is a Greek construction.
Prosa 2: The visitor briefly diagnoses B.'s ailment and makes a first curative gesture.
n1.2.1p : medicinae . . . querelae: datives of purpose with tempus est .
quam = magis quam .
n1.2.2p : totis . . . luminibus: i.e., with both eyes, undistractedly.
Tune = tu + enclitic -ne (introducing a question).
evaseras: < evado , here, "emerged, came to."
n1.2.3p : Atqui: "and yet."
abiecisses: < abicio , "throw away, cast aside."
n1.2.5p : Cumque: "and when."
prorsus: "absolutely."
Nihil . . . pericli (= periculi ) : "no danger"; pericli is partitive genitive.
lethargum: a disease of drowsiness and forgetfulness.
illusarum: < inludo , "sport with, deceive."
n1.2.6p : Sui: "of himself," objective genitive with oblitus (< obliviscor , "forget, be unmindful").
Sui paulisper oblitus est: an ill for which the proper cure is a form of Platonic recollection (anamnesis), in line with the precept, "Know thyself."
recordabitur: future indicative in apodosis of a future-less-vivid condition (the protasis has cognoverit , perfect subjunctive). This mixed condition is a very common construction in the Consolatio .
quod ut possit: quod is the connecting relative (= et id ); supply recordari , or perhaps facere , to complement possit : "and so in order that he might [remember/do] this."
tergamus: "let us cleanse," hortatory subjunctive.
n1.2.7p : undantes: "awash." contracta . . . veste: ablative of means.
Metrum 3: Vision returns to B.'s eyes.
Meter: Dactylic hexameter alternating with dactylic tetrameter. The last foot of the tetrameter is always a dactyl.
n1.3.1m : discussa . . . nocte: ablative absolute.
n1.3.3m : ut: "just as," introduces a simile that fills the rest of the metrum: "just as, when . . . (lines 3-6), if Boreas (lines 7-8). . . , [then] Phoebus flashes (lines 9-10)."
glomerantur sidera: obscure; sidera may mean "bad weather," but some emend to nubila .
Coro: < Corus , the north-west wind.
polus: "the arch of heaven."
n1.3.5m : caelo: dative of place to which (a poetic usage).
venientibus astris: ablative absolute.
n1.3.7m : hanc: sc. noctem .
Threicio: "Thracian."
Boreas: nominative, "the north wind."
n1.3.8m : reseret: < resero , "unbar, unlock."
n1.3.10m : ferit: < ferio , "strike, smite."
Prosa 3: B. recognizes Philosophia (hereinafter: P.); she explains why she has come.
n1.3.1p : haud aliter: "in no other way," i.e., "similarly"; suggests that the whole preceding metrum is a comparison to illustrate what now occurs.
ad cognoscendam . . . faciem: "to recognize the face"; gerundive of purpose.
n1.3.2p : respicio: historical present.
cuius: with laribus .
laribus: < lares , "household gods" (by metonymy, "home").
obversatus: < obversor , "move about [in the presence of]."
fueram: used with participle to create the pluperfect, as often in post-classical Latin.
n1.3.3p : supero cardine: "from the highest vault (of the sky)."
delapsa: often used of the descent of a heavenly figure.
an: sc. venisti ; introducing a further question.
ut: introduces purpose clause to suggest why she may have come to B.
rea: nominative; "(as) a defendant."
n1.3.4p : desererem . . . partirer: potential subjunctive, imperfect tense indicating past time.
sarcinam: accusative singular, "burden."
invidia: ablative of cause.
sustulisti: < suffero , "undergo, bear."
n1.3.5p : relinquere: governed by fas erat , a common construction in B.; for the idea, cf. 1M1.6.
scilicet: ironical: "so doubtless I should fear . . ." The idea is that P. is constantly a victim of such slanders.
n1.3.6p : primum: adverb, "for the first time."
lacessitam: < lacesso , "strike."
Nonne: introduces question expecting affirmative answer ( Nonne . . . certavimus : "didn't we struggle . . .?").
Platonis aetatem: Plato lived c. 429-347 B.C.
eodem superstite: ablative absolute, "[although] the same [Plato] survived."
Socrates: d. 399 B.C.
n1.3.7p : Epicureum . . . Stoicum: adjectives modifying vulgus ("rabble"). Stoicism and Epicureanism arose about a century after Socrates' lifetime.
raptum ire: supine of purpose, "to [make a movement to] snatch."
renitentem: "resisting, struggling."
velut in partem praedae: "as if to be part of their booty."
panniculis: "scraps of cloth."
totam me: literally, "all of me," hence with cessisse , "I had yielded totally."
abiere = abierunt , < abeo .
n1.3.8p : rata: < reor ("think"), modifies imprudentia (subject of pervertit ) and governs the indirect statement meos esse familiares .
pervertit: "ruined, destroyed."
n1.3.9p : Quodsi: "But if"; common in B.
Anaxagorae: genitive < Anaxagoras , an Ionian philosopher and friend of Pericles; he left Athens c. 432 B.C. (or c. 450?) after a charge of impiety was raised against him.
Zenonis tormenta: The steadfastness under torture of Zeno of Elea (born c. 490 B.C., disciple of Parmenides; cf. 1P1.10) was proverbial, but different versions of the story gave different names for the torturer.
novisti: < nosco , "learn." The perfect means "to know" (i.e., "to have learned").
at: "yet, on the other hand."
Canios: Canius was killed by the emperor Gaius (= Caligula, who reigned 37-41 A.D.); see 1.P4.27 for an anecdote on his fate. The plurals are used only to generalize the fate of philosophers.
Senecas: L. Annaeus Seneca ("the younger", d. 65 A.D.), once tutor to Nero, later driven to suicide by his pupil.
Soranos: Soranus, like Canius and Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher (it is only the Stoicum vulgus for which P. has just indicated a distaste); like Seneca, he was driven to suicide by Nero after false accusations.
n1.3.11p : ammirere = admireris (subjunctive in characterizing relative clause).
salo: < salum , "the high sea."
quibus: "(we) to whom."
pessimis displicere: in apposition with hoc .
n1.3.12p : spernendus: "to be despised."
lymphante: < lympho , "madden"; modifies errore .
n1.3.13p : Qui: sc. exercitus .
si quando: "if ever," followed by perfect subjunctive incubuerit (< incumbo , "throw oneself upon, oppress").
valentior: modifies the subject, with virtually adverbial force.
dux: here feminine (modified by nostra ); perhaps Philosophy herself is meant, perhaps Sapientia (with an echo of a similar scene in Prudentius's allegorical battle of virtues and vices, the Psychomachia [lines 875ff]). This army at least has a dux , while the other has none ( nullo duce regitur ).
illi: sc. pessimi .
diripiendas: gerundive for gerund, as usual; with sarcinulas (diminutive < sarcina , "pack").
occupantur: "are occupied, are busy."
n1.3.14p : vilissima rerum quaeque: "every thing of least value" (with comparative and superlative adjectives, quisque means "every"). The phrase is the object of rapientes ("[those] snatching"), a participle which is itself the object of irridemus .
securi: nominative, "free from care"; agrees with nos and governs the genitive phrase totius furiosi tumultus .
quo: "whither."
grassanti: < grassor , "prowl, attack."
sit: subjunctive, characteristic relative clause.
Metrum 4: B.'s goal is indicated by a portrait of the truly wise man, serenely above all the hopes and fears of worldly life.
Meter: Phalaecean hendecasyllable (which is composed of glyconic - - - u u - x - + bacchiac u - - ). Word end often occurs after the sixth syllable, but there are exceptions.
- - - u u - x - u - -
n1.4.1m : composito aevo: "of a settled age" (ablative of description).
serenus: cf. 3M9.26, where God is called serenity itself.
n1.4.2m : fatum sub pedibus egit: cf. 3M12.1-2; compare Vergil's famous lines:
felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas
atque metus omnis et inexorabile fatum
subiecit pedibus . . .
( Georgics 2.490-492)
["Happy the man who can understand the causes of things and trample under foot all his fears, and fate deaf to prayer as well."]
pedibus: final syllable closed (hence long) before word end.
n1.4.3m : fortunam . . . utramque: both good fortune and bad.
rectus: "upright, erect," unlike B., whose head is bowed to gaze upon the ground.
n1.4.6m : versum: "turned over" (< verto ), with the adverb funditus ("from the bottom, completely").
exagitantis: modifies ponti .
The line contains 12 syllables, with two short syllables in the seventh position.
n1.4.7m : caminis: "furnaces."
n1.4.8m : Vesaevus: i.e., Mt. Vesuvius.
n1.4.9m : soliti: modifies fulminis (line 10) and takes a complementary infinitive ( ferire ).
n1.4.10m : via: subject of movebit ; via fulminis , "path of the lightning," i.e., "lightning bolt."
n1.4.11m : tantum: adverbial, "so much."
n1.4.13m : Nec speres . . . nec extimescas: subjunctive of the negative command.
Stronger punctuation (a colon) would be possible at the end of this line.
n1.4.14m : exarmaveris: future perfect, "you will have disarmed."
impotentis: genitive, "not master of himself."
n1.4.16m : quod: "because."
sui . . . iuris: predicative genitive, "[subject to] his own law," i.e., "his own master."
valeat: valeo in late Latin is almost interchangeable in meaning and syntax with possum .
Prosa 4: B. gathers his strength for a long outburst against the injustice of his condition, recounting the principal events of his public career.
n1.4.1p : illabuntur: "make their way into," with dative.
manas: < mano , "flow, drip."
oportet . . . detegas: "it is necessary that you uncover."
n1.4.2p : collecto in vires animo: ablative absolute, "when I had gathered my mind for strength," i.e., "my mind's strength."
Anne: introducing question: "really?"
eget: "lack, need," governing the ablative ( ammonitione ).
n1.4.3p : Haecine = Haece + ne . Hice, haece, hoce is an emphatic form of hic, haec, hoc.
laribus: see on 1P3.2.
de humanarum . . . scientia: Cicero, De Officiis 2.5: "Sapientia . . . est, ut a veteribus philosophis definitum est, rerum divinarum et humanarum . . . scientia": "Wisdom, as it was defined by the ancient philosophers, is knowledge of the affairs of gods and men."
n1.4.4p : habitus: "manner of dress."
rimarer: cf. 1M2.22.
radio: < radius , a mathematician's instrument for measuring and drawing.
referimus: < refero , here, "bring back."
obsequentes: < obsequor , "comply with, yield to."
n1.4.5p : sententiam Platonis: Plato, Republic 5.473D, and elsewhere.
fore = futuras esse .
rectores: accusative subject of studere .
studere . . . contigisset: contingo ("come about") can take accusative/infinitive in late Latin.
n1.4.6p : capessendae rei publicae: "for entering upon public life."
ne . . . ferrent: purpose clause explaining causam in the preceding clause.
relicta: participle modifying the nominative gubernacula and governing preceding datives.
n1.4.7p : quod . . . didiceram (< disco, "learn"): object of transferre .
n1.4.8p : Tu . . . et deus conscii: sc. sunt .
nullum (sc. studium ) . . . detulisse: accusative/infinitive, governed by conscii [ sunt ] treated as a verb of knowing.
n1.4.9p : Inde: "from this," i.e., studium .
discordiae: sc. erant .
quod: in apposition with the phrase, "pro tuendo . . . offensio."
conscientiae: "conscience" (a new meaning in late Latin).
pro tuendo iure: "for guarding the law" ( tuendo is gerundive in place of gerund).
spreta: < sperno , "reject, scorn."
potentiorum: comparative < potens , "powerful [person]."
n1.4.10p : Conigastum: a Goth, holding a public office of the highest rank. Though Goths and Romans coexisted peaceably in the Ostrogothic kingdom, there was some friction. No Goths appear in a good light in the Consolatio , for B. had given up currying favor by this time.
imbecilli cuiusque: "of every weak [man]."
Trigguillam: a Goth, in charge of the royal household and thereby able to exercise influence over many spheres of activity.
regiae . . . domus: genitive with praepositum .
ab incepta . . . iniuria: i.e., ab incepta iniuria, ab iniuria iam prorsus perpetrata .
obiecta periculis auctoritate: ablative absolute, "by exposing my influence to danger."
n1.4.11p : fortunas . . . pessumdari: accusative/infinitive governed by indolui (< indolesco , "grieve").
n1.4.12p : indicta coemptio: coemptio was a compulsory sale of produce to the state (at a price below market rate), imposed ( indicta ) on a province in time of special need.
profligatura: "about to ruin."
inopia: ablative of means.
The date of this particular episode is not known; it is natural but not necessary to assume it happened while B. served as magister officiorum . Campania was the site of the country estates of many wealthy senators.
praefectum praetorii: originally colonel-in-chief of the praetorian guard, later something like prime minister; he handled all but strictly military affairs, especially matters of taxation and expenditure. He would have been a wealthy (native Roman) senator like Boethius.
rege cognoscente: ablative absolute, "when the king was hearing the case."
ne . . . exigeretur: result clause after evici ( ne often replaces ut non in later Latin).
n1.4.13p : Paulinum: consul in 498 (hence a consularis , "of consular rank"), who later opposed B.'s father-in-law in a lawsuit. The episode alluded to here is otherwise unknown.
Palatinae: "of the palace."
iam . . . devorassent: past potential subjunctive: "had all but devoured [but didn't]."
hiantium: < hio : "gape, yawn" (adjective used as a substantive).
n1.4.14p : Albinum: consul in 493, whose troubles with the regime were the beginning of B.'s downfall.
Cypriani: a Roman unusually close to the Gothic regime, one of few known to have served in a military capacity and to have had his sons learn Gothic.
delatoris: "informer, denouncer" (< defero , deferre \304\304 cf. deferentibus three lines below).
n1.4.15p : B. thinks his refusal to ingratiate himself with corrupt courtiers should have won him friends away from court, but his accusers were members of his own senatorial class.
qui: i.e., Boethius.
aulicos: "people of the aula," i.e., courtiers.
quo magis essem tutior: The antecedent of quo is nihil ; "nothing by which I might be safer" (note redundant double comparative).
deferentibus: See on delatoris (sec. 14).
perculsi: < percello , "overthrow, ruin."
n1.4.16p : Quorum: sc. delatorum .
Basilius: a senator, but not of the highest rank.
alieni aeris: literally, "another's money," hence in the Latin of all periods, "debt."
n1.4.17p : Opilionem atque Gaudentium . . . ire in exilium: accusative/infinitive, object of decrevisset . Opilio was brother of Cyprianus and son-in- law of Basilius. He and his brother remained fiercely loyal to whatever Gothic regime held power, and prospered after B.'s death. Gaudentius was another minor senatorial figure.
sacrarum . . . aedium: genitive with defensione ; the expression is classical, but clearly a Christian church is implied. The etiquette of late Latin style encouraged writers like B. to avoid neologisms like ecclesia .
compertumque . . . foret: "and when the king found out about it"; foret = esset .
uti . . . pellerentur: indirect command, and hence subjunctive, after edixit .
notas insigniti frontibus: "marked on their foreheads with brands" (an old Roman punishment).
n1.4.18p : astrui: passive infinitive < astruo , "build on, add" (< ad + struo ).
Atquin = atqui .
deferentibus eisdem: ablative absolute.
n1.4.19p : praemissa damnatio: "prearranged condemnation"; the idea is that B. has been framed and the accusers play only a secondary role.
puduit: < the impersonal verb pudet , "put x [accusative of person] to shame for y [genitive of cause of shame]";
vilitas: it is better to read vilitatis (cf. Gruber ad loc.) as a genitive of the cause of shame with puduit , to parallel innocentiae .
n1.4.20p : Construe: At quaeres summam criminis cuius arguimur?
criminis: < crimen , means either "crime" (here) or "accusation" (sec. 22 infra).
n1.4.21p : ne . . . deferret: clause of hindering with impedisse .
quibus . . . faceret: relative clause of purpose.
maiestatis reum: "guilty of treason."
n1.4.22p : volui: sc. senatum salvum esse .
n1.4.23p : Sed . . . cessavit: "But the attempt to hinder the delator has ended [in failure]."
illius ordinis: i.e., of the Senate.
suis . . . decretis: otherwise unrecorded senate resolutions supporting the king against B.
uti . . . esset: clause of result after effecerat .
n1.4.24p : sibi semper mentiens: "always lying to itself"; ( mentiens < mentior , "lie").
rerum merita: "the merits of the case, the facts of the matter"; merita is accusative plural.
fas . . . mendacium: almost a translation of Socrates' words in Plato's Theaetetus 151D.
n1.4.25p : quoquo modo sit: indirect question after aestimandum ("to be evaluated").
tuo sapientiumque iudicio: "by your judgment and [that] of wise [people generally]."
latere: here takes direct object, posteros : "to escape the attention of posterity."
stilo . . . mandavi: could be taken to mean that B. had earlier written a fuller, more detailed statement in his own defense.
n1.4.26p : falso: "falsely."
libertatem . . . Romanam: an old label habitually and meaninglessly used by Roman senators to describe any regime or policy that seemed preferable to the status quo, to which they continued to give supine acquiescence.
quid attinet: "what does it accomplish?"
n1.4.27p : quod: antecedent is ipsorum confessione delatorum uti .
uti: infinitive < utor (+ ablative).
utinam posset: the imperfect subjunctive shows the wish is incapable of fulfilment.
Canii . . . Gaio Caesare: cf. 1P3.9. Germanicus was the father of Caligula.
se: antecedent is Gaio .
n1.4.28p : hebetavit: "dulled, blunted."
scelerata: "criminal deeds"; accusative.
molitos: sc. esse .
effecisse: the subject is impios , while the object is the relative clause quae speraverint (subjunctive in relative clause in indirect discourse).
n1.4.29p : deteriora velle: "to want [to do] worse things."
fuerit: hortatory subjunctive to express concession: "[Suppose/grant] it was."
nostri . . . defectus: "a mark of our [common human] weakness," genitive of characteristic.
posse: sc. deteriora ; "[but] to be able [to do worse things]"; the phrase is the subject of est .
inspectante deo: ablative absolute.
monstri: genitive with simile ; monstrum is literally a portentous event contrary to nature.
n1.4.30p : iniuria: ablative (with adverbial force, "unjustly").
quidam: The source of the quotation is doubtful, but may be a fifth century (A.D.) commentary by Proclus on the Parmenides of Plato.
n1.4.31p : fas fuerit: "[Granted] it was right"; governing accusative/infinitive; this sentence establishes a concession to which the following sentence ("Sed num . . . ?") responds.
perditum ire: "to aim at destroying," supine of purpose (cf. note on 1P3.7); with voluisse , the force is almost the same as perdere .
n1.4.32p : num: interrogative particle expecting a negative answer.
me dicturum quid facturumve: "me [when I was] about to say or do anything."
Veronae: locative; the Ostrogothic kings held court at several cities in northern Italy, principally Verona, Pavia, and Ravenna.
avidus: "greedy for" + genitive.
Albinum: see on 1P4.14.
delatae: transferred epithet, i.e., applies more precisely to crimen than to maiestatis .
quanta . . . defenderim: indirect question governed by meministi .
securitate: stronger than English 'security'; here, "heedlessness, confident disregard."
n1.4.33p : haec: the contents of this prosa.
et . . . et: "both . . . and," connecting proferre and iactasse .
mei: objective genitive with laude : "praise of myself."
minuit: intransitive, "grows smaller."
se: object of probantis .
secretum: "separateness, autonomy," with an overtone of integrity.
quis: indefinite, "someone, anyone."
factum: accusative object of ostentando .
n1.4.34p : subimus: < subeo , here "undergo."
n1.4.35p : Eccuius: < ecquis , "any," always interrogative.
summitteret: here, "placate, soften."
n1.4.36p : iugulare: literally, "to slit the throat."
bonis omnibus: dative of reference; here, as often, it can be translated almost like a genitive.
struxisse: < struo , "prepare, contrive."
praesentem: sc. me .
sententia: abstract subject of punisset .
quingentis . . . milibus: ablative, to express distance, with procul , adverb, "at a distance [of]."
The location of B.'s imprisonment is not certain, but was probably in or near Ticinum (mod. Pavia), about 20 m. south of Milan. Distance must be calculated by tracing the standard Roman roads through the Apennines, not by air mileage or modern highways, and by using the Roman mile (approx. 95 yards shorter than the English).
propensius: comparative of < propensus , "well-disposed"; here, "too well-disposed"; modifies studium .
morti: this is the only explicit indication in the Consolatio that B. foresaw his own imminent death.
meritos: sc. senatores (accusative of exclamation). The senate no longer deserves another such protector.
neminem posse convinci: accusative/infinitive governed by meritos .
n1.4.37p : dignitatem reatus: a conscious oxymoron; reatus ("status as defendant in a criminal case") is genitive, modified by the connecting relative cuius.
quam: sc. dignitatem .
fuscarent: "blacken, stain."
ob ambitum dignitatis: "for the sake of achieving [by questionable means] public office."
sacrilegio: cf. 41 below. B.'s arcane scientific and philosophical studies may have been the pretext of a charge of black magic (two senators had been tried and executed on a similar charge in 510, while B. was serving as consul).
me conscientiam polluisse: accusative/infinitive after mentiti sunt .
n1.4.38p : insita: "innate" (< insero ), nominative singular feminine, agreeing with tu .
n1.4.39p : conveniebat: "was it appropriate" with accusative/infinitive.
vilissimorum . . . spirituum: i.e., demons, believed by Christian antiquity to be the agents of magic and witchcraft.
quem: antecedent is me.
ut . . . faceres: purpose clause.
n1.4.40p : penetral: "inner chamber, sanctuary"; nominative singular neuter.
socer: "father-in-law," i.e., Symmachus, consul in 485, a learned Roman grandee, not often in public office but influential nonetheless. (See Introduction .)
aeque ac tu ipsa reverendus: "just as worthy of deep respect as you yourself."
n1.4.41p : illi: B.'s accusers.
maleficio: literally "evil-doing," often used specifically of magic and witchcraft (cf. sacrilegio : sec. 37).
hoc ipso: correlative with quod, "for this reason . . . because."
nihil: adverbial, "not at all."
n1.4.42p : tuam . . . reverentiam: B.'s devotion to P.; tuam here = tui (objective genitive).
mea . . . offensione: mea here = mei (objective genitive); "by the injury directed against me."
lacereris: present subjunctive in mixed condition.
n1.4.43p : accedit: "is added to" with dative.
rerum merita: See on 1P4.24.
tantum: "only."
provisa: providence is prominent in Books 4-5; here it is first glimpsed in a mistaken notion held by the doubtful populace.
quo fit ut: "whereby it happens that" (common expression in B.).
prima: has adverbial force.
n1.4.44p : Qui . . . rumores, quam . . . sententiae: sc. fuerint ; indirect questions governed by reminisci .
hoc tantum dixerim: "I would say only this." hoc is in apposition with the indirect statement sarcinam esse .
n1.4.45p : exutus: "stripped" (< exuo ), with ablative
n1.4.46p : officinas: "workshops, factories," with a sneer.
B.'s vision includes: the guilty rejoicing, others threatening new accusations, the good laid low by fear, the criminal egged on to dare and to accomplish evil by the prospect of reward, the innocent bereft of confidence and protection.
novis fraudibus: instrumental ablative.
impunitate: "without [fear of] punishment."
Metrum 5: If the world at large is so harmoniously governed, B. complains (lines 1- 24), why are human affairs alone the toy and sport of arbitrary Fortune (lines 25-48)?
Meter: Anapestic dimeter, with diaeresis between the metra. Dactyls may replace anapests except that there are no dactyls in the last foot and dactyls and anapests may not appear in the same metron. A spondee may appear in any foot, but there may be no more than three spondees in a line.
n1.5.1m : conditor: in later Latin usually "creator."
n1.5.2m : perpetuo . . . solio: "an enduring throne."
nixus: < nitor , "rest upon."
n1.5.5m : ut: governs through line 12.
pleno . . . cornu: a way of saying that the moon is full.
lucida: modifies luna (line 7).
n1.5.6m : fratris: i.e., Phoebus (the sun); final syllable closed before diaeresis.
obvia: "opposite" (with dative), modifies luna (line 7).
n1.5.7m : condat: "dims."
n1.5.9m : Phoebo propior: "closer to Phoebus" i.e., as day nears.
n1.5.10-13m : Hesperos (evening star) and Lucifer (morning star) are the names given to whatever planet (usually Venus or Jupiter) shines brightest at dawn and at dusk. B.'s point in these lines is that the same planet can be evening star now, and morning star a few weeks from now.
n1.5.11m : algentes . . . ortus: "chilly risings."
Hesperos: Greek nominative form, "[as] the evening star."
Lucifer: "[as] the morning star."
n1.5.14-18m : Winter and summer.
n1.5.14m : frondifluae: "leaf-flowing"; a word not otherwise attested in surviving Latin authors, perhaps coined (on Greek models) by Boethius himself.
n1.5.17m : agiles: since in ancient time-reckoning there were twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness every day, in every season, then in summer the night hours would seem unusually swift.
nocti: dative of reference (with force of a genitive: see on 1P4.36).
n1.5.19-20m : Fall and spring.
n1.5.20m : Zephyrus: "the west wind."
n1.5.21m : Arcturus: "Bear-watcher" (hence the aptness of vidit ), prominent in the evening sky in early spring.
n1.5.22m : Sirius: the "dog-star"; it rises just before dawn in the hottest part of summer, whence we speak of the "dog days."
segetes: < seges , "cornfield."
n1.5.24m : stationis: "post," a military term.
n1.5.26m : respuis: "you refuse," takes complementary infinitive ( cohibere ).
n1.5.30m : debita: nominative singular, modifies poena and takes a dative.
n1.5.33m : nocentes: nominative.
n1.5.36m : crimen iniqui: a monometer (one metron).
n1.5.37m : ipsis: sc. nocentibus .
n1.5.41m : gaudet: The subject is effectively fortuna (29), but a better reading (cf. Gruber) is gaudent ; subject is then drawn from ipsis (37).
n1.5.45m : homines: in apposition with pars .
fortunae salo: this second metron consists of a spondee plus a cretic ( - - - u -).
n1.5.47m : quo: the antecedent is foedere (48).
n1.5.48m : firma: imperative < firmo .
Prosa 5: P. reacts to B.'s complaint calmly and indicates his illness is so serious that his cure will require two kinds of remedy.
n1.5.1p : delatravi: "barked."
nihil: adverbial.
ilico: "instantly."
n1.5.2p : Take id with exsilium ; longinquum is predicate nominative.
n1.5.3p : quam procul a patria: almost an exclamation.
aberrasti = aberravisti , "strayed."
id: antecedent vague; must be drawn from whole preceding clause.
n1.5.4p : oriundo: gerund < orior , "arise, originate"; here therefore, "by origin." Not to be confused with the classical adjective, oriundus .
cuius . . . patriae: predicate genitive in an indirect question.
reminiscare = reminiscaris .
uti Atheniensium quondam: sc. patria , subject of regitur .
laetetur: characteristic subjunctive.
iustitiae: dative after obtemperare .
n1.5.5p : sanctum est: < sancio , "ordain, decree."
ei . . . exsulare (< ex(s)ulo , "live as an exile") : "for him [ quisquis . . . maluerit ] to live as an exile."
qui = ei qui , where ei is dative with nullus metus est.
ne . . . mereatur: clause of fearing.
desierit: < desino , "cease."
n1.5.6p : loci huius: sc. facies .
N.B. tam . . . quam , then potius . . . quam in separate clauses.
id: followed by a relative clause ( quod . . . facit ) and a phrase in apposition ( librorum . . . sententias ).
n1.5.7p : obiectorum (< obicio ) tibi: "things that have been charged against you," i.e., "the charges you face."
n1.5.8p : nota: object of memorasti .
strictim: "superficially, cursorily"; adverb with gerundive attingendum [sc. esse ].
ea: i.e., scelera fraudesque .
recognoscentis . . . ore: "on the lips of the common people, who find out about everything."
n1.5.10p : conquestusque: the participle governs the accusative/infinitive non aequa praemia pensari .
in extremo Musae saevientis: "at the end of your raging Muse," i.e., in the last lines of 1M5.
uti . . . regeret: substantive purpose clause, defining his vota ; "that the peace which rules heaven may rule earth as well."
n1.5.11p : mentis: genitive of reference [LHS 74ff]; translate, "in your present state of mind."
Metrum 6: Success attends those who adapt their actions to the pattern of nature. (Thus, we deduce, it makes sense for P. to proceed cautiously with milder remedies at the outset.)
Meter: Glyconic.
- - - u u - u -
n1.6.2m : Cancri sidus: Cancer is burned by the sun's rays from 20 June to 20 July.
n1.6.3-4m : negantibus sulcis: i.e., at that season the furrows refuse to nurture seeds planted too late.
credidit: < credo , here "entrust."
n1.6.5m : Cereris: objective genitive, "the faith placed in Ceres"; Ceres was the goddess of harvest and grain.
n1.6.6m : quernas . . . arbores: "oak trees"; acorns were traditionally the food of prehistoric times, when agricultural arts were unknown; the phrase "nuts and berries" has the same force in English.
n1.6.8m : lecturus: < lego , "gather"; the future participle has some of the force of a purpose construction, here "to pick."
n1.6.9-10m : cum . . . inhorruit: indicative temporal clause; Aquilo (the north wind) blows in winter.
n1.6.11m : quaeras: subjunctive in a future-less-vivid condition (cf. libeat [13]), governing stringere ("prune, trim").
n1.6.12m : palmites: "vine-shoots."
n1.6.13m : frui: "to enjoy" with ablative.
n1.6.15m : Bacchus: god of wine, hence of the grape-harvest.
contulit: perfect tense < confero .
n1.6.17m : aptans: sc. tempora from line 16.
n1.6.19m : vices: "alternations"; here, "seasons."
n1.6.20m : quod = id quod .
Prosa 6: P. questions B. closely to determine the exact nature of his philosophic ailment and to plan the course of her own argument for the rest of the dialogue. Note the sequence of questions and answers:
1. Q. Is the world governed by chance or reason?
A. By the rational power of God (secs. 3-4).
[Boethius is correct, and this is maximum tuae
fomitem salutis (sec. 20).]
2. Q. By what instruments is the world governed?
A. B. barely understands the question, cannot answer (secs. 7-8).
3. Q. What is the goal or purpose of all things?
A. B. has heard the answer but forgotten it (sec. 10).
4. Q. What is a human being?
A. Rationale animal atque mortale (sec. 15).
[This is an answer, but an unsatisfactory one. B.
does not in fact know what he himself is.
Specifically, he has forgotten the immortality of
the soul.]
P. summarizes B.'s answers in secs. 18-19, then plots her cure in 20-21.
n1.6.1p : paterisne: future, "will you allow?"
pauculis: diminutives and superlatives are so common in later Latin that they lose much of their force.
attingere: "touch," a verb used elsewhere of a physician feeling for a pulse.
qui modus sit: indirect question.
n1.6.2p : ut responsurum: sc. me , "as one who will answer."
rogato: future imperative < rogo .
n1.6.3p : Huncine: see on 1P4.3.
ei: dative.
n1.6.4p : ut . . . moveantur: indirect statement; see 1P4.17.
certa: nominative plural neuter.
verum: "but."
operi suo: dative with the compound verb praesidere ("to preside over").
fuerit: future perfect, "nor will there ever have been a day."
depellat: subjunctive of characteristic.
n1.6.5p : paulo ante: "a little earlier [in this work]," cf. 1M5.25f; used often to refer to earlier parts of the dialogue.
cecinisti: < cano , "sing."
tantum: adverb, "only."
ceteris: sc. rebus , i.e., other than homines .
quin . . . regerentur: quin introduces the subjunctive after a negative with a verb of doubting, which is the force here of nihil movebare , but the subject of regerentur is supplied from ceteris . Translate, "You are not at all troubled about the others, but that they should be ruled by reason," i.e., you have no trouble believing that non-human affairs are ruled by reason.
movebare = movebaris .
n1.6.6p : Papae: exclamation of surprise or wonder.
aegrotes: "be ill."
nescio quid: "something"; literally, "I know not what."
coniecto: first person singular, "infer, guess."
n1.6.7p : deo: dative of reference (with a passive verb, indicating agent).
n1.6.8p : gubernaculis: "rudders," often metaphorical.
sententiam: here, "meaning."
nedum: "much less."
n1.6.9p : fefellit: < fallo , "deceive," but in the impersonal as here, "I am mistaken, I am deceived."
hianti (< hio , "gape, yawn") valli robore: ablative absolute; for the idea, cf. 1P3.13-14.
n1.6.10p : quove: "or whither?"
n1.6.11p : novi: "I know"; see on 1P3.9.
n1.6.12p : qui: adv., "how."
principio cognito: ablative absolute.
n1.6.13p : valentia: "strength."
quidem . . . autem: "on one hand . . . on the other."
sibique totum exstirpare: "to uproot [him] entirely from himself."
n1.6.15p : Quidni: "why not?"
Hocine: "Is it this?"
an . . . sciam: "whether I know"; indirect question.
rationale animal atque mortale: a commonplace philosophical definition in late antiquity; e.g., Epictetus, 2.9.2; Augustine, De Ordine 2.11.31, etc.
n1.6.17p : vel maximam: "the very greatest."
quid. . . nosse desisti: cf. 1P2.6, sui paulisper oblitus est ; oblivione tui (sec. 18 here).
nosse = novisse < nosco .
n1.6.18-19p : Note three quoniam sentences, each corresponding to one of the ill-answered questions above.
n1.6.19p : nequam: indeclinable adjective, "wicked."
potentes felicesque: predicative, sc. esse .
non . . . modo, verum . . . quoque: "not only, but also."
causae: sc. sunt .
grates: feminine plural nominative, "thanks," sc. sint , with dative, auctori .
n1.6.20p : fomitem: < fomes , literally, "tinder, kindling," in a world where fire meant light: enlightenment is P.'s gift.
veram . . . sententiam: i.e., sec. 4 above.
eam: antecedent is gubernationem .
iam: "soon."
illuxerit: < illucesco , "blaze."
n1.6.21p : veras: sc. opiniones .
ex quibus: i.e., opinionibus .
hanc: sc. caliginem .
fomentis: "poultices."
dimotis . . . tenebris: ablative absolute.
Metrum 7: P. recapitulates the first book's imagery (clouds fly away to restore the light) and doctrine (cf. 1M4.13ff: banish hope and fear).
Meter: Adonic with diaeresis after the dactyl in most lines.
- u u || - -
n1.7.6m : Auster: south wind.
n1.7.8m : dudum: "a short time before."
n1.7.9m : par: adjective, "like, similar to," with dative.
n1.7.11m : resoluto: "stirred-up."
n1.7.13m : visibus: "sight, vision," dative after obstat , "impedes."
n1.7.17m : resistit: "stops still."
n1.7.18-19m : "With the barrier ( obice ) of a rock ( saxi ) loosed ( soluti ) from a cliff ( rupe )."
n1.7.27m : fugato: future imperative < fugo, -are , "put to flight."
n1.7.30m : vincta: < vincio , "bind."
book 2
Book Two
Prosa 1: P. argues it is foolish to complain of adverse fortune, for B. should have known that fortune is always arbitrary and unjust.
n2.1.1p : obticuit: < obticesco , "be struck dumb."
exorsa: < exordior , "begin."
n2.1.2p : penitus: "deeply, thoroughly."
tantum animi tui: "so much of your soul" (but not all: cf. 1P6).
sicuti tu tibi fingis: to be taken closely with mutata ; cf. sec. 9 of this prosa.
n2.1.3p : illius prodigii: i.e., Fortuna.
fucos: literally, "dyes, rouges," here, "false appearances, deceptions."
eo usque: "up to this point" (a point specified by the dum [="until"] clause).
n2.1.4p : si . . . reminiscare . . . cognosces . . . laboraverim: mixed future condition with subjunctive in protasis, indicative (future, then future perfect) in apodosis; cf. on 1P2.6.
n2.1.5p : solebas . . . insectabare: the continuative force of the imperfect is strong in both verbs: "you used to . . . (regularly)."
praesentem . . . blandientemque: sc. fortunam .
prolatis . . . sententiis: ablative absolute, "rendering your judgment."
n2.1.6p : contingit: "happens, occurs."
descisceres: "digress, deviate"; subjunctive in result clause.
n2.1.7p : transmissum: "passed along"; modifies quod .
n2.1.8p : rhetoricae suadela dulcedinis: rhetoric is what is employed in the prosae, music (cf. hac musica laris nostri vernacula ) in the metra.
cumque hac: "and with this [i.e., rhetoric]"; the two main verbs of the sentence are the jussive subjunctives adsit and succinat . The construction would be clearer with a comma after deserit .
n2.1.10p : sui: i.e., "of fortune" \304\304 objective genitive, not possessive.
blandiebatur . . . alluderet: this vacillation of verb mood has no effect on meaning.
n2.1.11p : innotuit: < innotesco , "become known."
n2.1.12p : Si . . . queraris: "If you approve (of her), use (i.e., take advantage of) her ways of behaving, don't complain."
utere: imperative.
ne queraris: subjunctive with ne in a prohibition.
perniciosa ludentem: "[someone (i.e., Fortuna)] making a game of ruination."
esse: sc. causa .
debuisset: past potential subjunctive.
quam: sc. ea as antecedent.
non relicturam: sc. esse ; indirect discourse governed by poterit esse securus (taken as verb of thinking/feeling).
n2.1.13p : abituram: translate, "that is going to pass away."
manendi fida: literally, "faithful in remaining," here "that may be relied on to remain."
allatura: future active participle < adfero , "bring"; translate, "that is going to bring."
n2.1.14p : ex arbitrio: "at (your) choice."
calamitosos: predicative, sc. homines .
fugax: "transient, fleeting"; though this word is in all the manuscripts, it may be an interpolation \304\304 cf. Gruber.
n2.1.15p : suffecerit: future perfect.
exitus: accusative plural.
prudentia: nominative; cf. imprudentia , 1P3.8.
in alterutro: i.e., in good fortune and in bad.
formidandas . . . exoptandas: future passive participles (gerundives) of necessity: "that are to be feared . . . to be desired."
n2.1.16p : oportet: "it is necessary" + subjunctive.
intra fortunae aream: "on fortune's turf." Fortune is like a cruel and arbitrary empress presiding in the amphitheater.
n2.1.17p : iniurius: "wrongful, unjust."
fueris . . . exacerbes: the variation between perfect and present subjunctive is without significance for the meaning.
n2.1.18p : quo . . . quo: "whither."
promoveres: intransitive, "move forward."
inter se: here, "with each other."
n2.1.19p : volventis rotae: From as early as the fifth century B.C. Fortune is depicted as the mistress of a wheel whose revolutions govern the fates of men; largely through Boethius the image impressed itself vividly on the Middle Ages. In the commonest form of illustration, four figures appear at the cardinal points of the wheel (cf. 2P2.9): at the top, a king wearing a crown (labeled: regno ); at the right, a falling man, losing a crown ( regnabam ); at the bottom a figure prostrate with no crown ( sine regno ); and at the left, an ascending figure reaching for a crown ( regnabo ).
incipit: sc. Fortuna .
fors: predicative.
Metrum 1: P. continues to describe Fortuna.
Meter: Scazons ("limping" iambic trimeter). The limping effect is produced because the last foot is always a spondee.
n2.1.1m : Haec: sc. Fortuna .
n2.1.2m : et aestuantis: this is the reading of the manuscripts, but it creates a cum-clause with two verbs in different moods ( verterit . . . fertur ). The emendation exaestuantis has proven attractive; on that reading, line 1 is the cum -clause.
Euripi: The narrow churning strait separating the island of Euboea from the Greek mainland.
n2.1.3m : dudum: "just now"; adverb with tremendos .
n2.1.6m : ultroque = ultro ("moreover, furthermore") + -que .
n2.1.8m : su<ae v>is: "of her power," genitive with ostentum . The letters in brackets are an emendation designed to heal the meter; the manuscripts read simply suis ("to her [followers]"), but the line then has one syllable too few. Other possible emendations include su<biti>s ("by sudden [occurrences]") and <de>monstrat ; but cf. Gruber: "The suggested emendations are not satisfactory."
n2.1.9m : stratus: < sterno , "lay low."
Prosa 2: P. speaks as if she were Fortuna stating her case. This second powerful female figure is quoted but does not actually appear; hence she remains a creature of P. and is seen through P.'s eyes, not as she might appear if B. encountered her directly. For this reason, we are meant to infer, the portrait is accurate.
n2.2.1p : postulet: subjunctive of an indirect question.
n2.2.2p : Quid . . . quam . . . quae: introducing three separate questions.
ream: "defendant."
n2.2.3p : quovis iudice: "with any judge you like."
cuiusquam mortalium proprium: "belonging to anyone of mortals," i.e., "the property of any mortal"; predicative.
quid horum: "any of these."
tua: accusative plural neuter, antecedent of the following quae .
sponte: adverb, "voluntarily, freely."
n2.2.4p : te: object of all the verbs in this sentence.
opibus: < ops ; in plural, "wealth."
quod . . . facit: almost parenthetical, "[a thing] which makes . . ."
nostri: objective genitive.
prona: nominative singular, "well-disposed."
mei iuris: "in my power."
n2.2.5p : habes gratiam: "you have thanks [which you owe]."
usus: past participle < utor .
alienis: "[goods] belonging to someone else"; ablative.
prorsus: "entirely."
tua: accusative plural neuter.
n2.2.6p : talium: "of such things [like opes and honores ]."
n2.2.7p : si . . . forent (= essent ) . . . perdidisses: mixed condition contrary to fact.
n2.2.8p : Licet . . . proferre: licet with a dative and infinitive often has virtually the force of the concessive subjunctive: "[Although] it is permitted for the sky to bring forth. . ."
redimire: "to crown, encircle."
frigoribus: < frigus , "chill, cold weather."
ius est mari: continues the construction with licet above; "[though] it is lawful for the sea . . ."
strato: see on 2M1.9; here, "smooth."
n2.2.9p : rotam: cf. note on 2P1.19.
volubili orbe: "in a whirling circular course."
n2.2.10p : ea lege, ne, uti cum . . . : "with this provision: that you not think it unjust to descend, when the pattern of my game demands." Either uti or cum is strictly superfluous (some scholars follow a tenth century manuscript and delete cum ) but some doubling of conjunctions with cum is possible in late Latin (LHS, 620).
n2.2.11p : Croesum: cf. Herodotus 1.86ff; in 1.207.2, Croesus tells Cyrus, "But if you recognize that even you are a man and that you rule over others like yourself, learn this lesson first, that there is a wheel in human affairs and that as it goes around it does not allow the same men always to be fortunate."
formidabilem . . . miserandum . . . traditum . . . defensum: modify Croesum in two pairs, while specifying three stages in his career ( miserandum and traditum speak to the same moment).
n2.2.12p : Paulum: L. Aemilius Paulus (consul in 170 B.C.) defeated the last king of Macedonia, Perseus (genitive: Persi ); Livy and others told of Paulus's sober reflections on the instability of mortal prosperity.
se: Paulus; where the subject is impersonal, the reference of the reflexive pronoun is directed by common sense.
Quid . . . vertentem?: A ninth-century commentator, Remigius of Auxerre, attributes this definition of tragedy to the early Roman tragic poet Pacuvius; the words indiscreto . . . vertentem may indeed be such a citation, but Pacuvius's works are lost. The definition was much quoted and discussed in the Middle Ages.
indiscreto: "indiscriminate."
n2.2.13p :
iacere: subject is
n2.2.14p : mei: objective genitive.
tamen ne: Read as tamenne (i.e., tamen + interrogative ne ), "do you still [in spite of all this] . . . ?" (Cf. Gruber)
proprio . . . iure: "as [your] own master."
Metrum 2: Mankind is reproached (still in Fortune's words) for a greed insatiable by any riches.
Meter: Asclepiad (glyconic internally compounded with a choriamb [ - u u -]) alternating with pherecratic:
n2.2.1m : Si: take with fundat . . . nec retrahat . . . Copia (lines 5-6).
n2.2.1-3m : quantas . . . quot: correlative with tantas (l. 5).
n2.2.6m : Copia: "Plenty"; the image of the cornucopia goes back to earliest Latin literature.
n2.2.7m : ideo: "for that reason."
n2.2.8m : cesset flere querelas: "would cease to weep out its laments."
n2.2.10m : prodigus: "lavish," governs genitive.
n2.2.12m : nil iam parta (< pario ) videntur: "Things that have already been gained seem as nothing."
n2.2.13m : quaesita: accusative plural neuter, "that which is sought-for."
n2.2.16m : retentent: "hold fast, keep back"; potential subjunctive.
n2.2.17m : cum potius: "when instead [of the restraints mentioned in line 15]."
n2.2.18m : sitis: "thirst."
n2.2.19m : dives agit: "is rich"; ago here = sum or vivo .
Prosa 3: P. recalls the happiness B. enjoyed during the years fortune smiled upon him.
n2.3.1p : His: sc. verbis .
quid . . . non haberes: "you would not have anything to blurt out in return"; hisceres : < hisco , "open the mouth"; subjunctive in indirect question.
iure: "justifiably."
n2.3.2p : oblita: < oblino , "smear, daub."
rhetoricae et musicae: cf. 2.P1.8.
tum . . . oblectant: almost parenthetical; should not obscure the contrast: "Speciosa . . . sunt . . . sed miseris . . . ."
n2.3.3p : contumacis: modified by the adverb adhuc , and governs adversum curationem .
n2.3.4p : ammovebo: "I will apply."
ne . . . velis: ne with subjunctive for prohibition.
n2.3.5p : Taceo, quod: "I say nothing [concerning the fact] that"; cf. sec. 7, praetereo . This stylized mention-by-not-mentioning ( praeteritio ) was a recognized rhetorical ploy.
summorum . . . virorum: Symmachus and his friends.
delectus: "chosen, taken up."
quod . . . genus est: parenthetical, antecedent is the clause to follow.
n2.3.6p : cum . . . cum . . . tum: "both . . . and . . . and."
coniugis: Rusticiana, daughter of Symmachus.
masculae . . . prolis: B. had two sons, Boethius and Symmachus.
n2.3.7p : sumptas . . . dignitates: "offices assumed"; dignitas throughout the Consolatio is the specific term for "public office." Adulescentia (the stage between pueritia and iuventus ) could extend as far as age 30 or so. Born c. 480 or shortly after, B. was consul in 510.
n2.3.8p : lucis: here = "day."
quantalibet . . . mole: "however great a mass."
ingruentium: < ingruo , "assail, fall upon."
duos pariter consules liberos tuos: in 522, just before B.'s rise to the post of magister officiorum . For two westerners to hold the consulship together was unusual at this time; two from the same family had not done so since 395 A.D. This is a sign that B. had friends in high places at Constantinople, where final decisions about the consulship were taken.
alacritate: "exuberant enthusiasm."
curules: sc. sellas , the official consular chairs; object of insidentibus .
regiae laudis: The biographical note about B. in the Ordo Generis Cassiodororum fragment specifies that this speech was in honor of Theoderic (who did not come closer to Rome than Ravenna after one ceremonial visit in 500) rather than the emperor Justin.
in circo: the circus at Rome, as at Constantinople, was still the site of the games and shows that the consuls (or their wealthy and doting fathers) were expected to stage.
duorum medius consulum: "in the middle [between] two consuls."
triumphali: i.e., on a scale worthy of an imperator's triumph.
n2.3.9p : Dedisti . . . verba: "you deceived, you hoodwinked." The idiom dare verba is classical.
dum . . . demulcet, dum . . . fovet: the historical present is common with dum meaning "while."
nulli: dative.
abstulisti: "carried off."
calculum ponere: "put the stone [on the counting-board]," i.e., "settle accounts," "come to a reckoning."
n2.3.10p : liventi: "envying."
praestrinxit: "touched" (post-classical meaning).
laetorum tristiumve: sc. hominum .
n2.3.11p : idcirco . . . quoniam: correlative: "for this reason . . . since."
non est, quod: "there is no reason why."
n2.3.12p : reris: < reor , "think."
fortuitis: "things that come by chance."
manendi fides: see on 2P1.13.
n2.3.13p : mors quaedam: "a kind of death."
etiam manentis: "that lasts even so long."
n2.3.14p : referre: "be important, matter."
-ne . . . an: "whether . . . or."
Metrum 3: Vacillation between peace and turmoil is common and characteristic of all the world of nature.
Meter: Sapphic hendecasyllable alternating with glyconic. The sapphic consists of a cretic ( - u -) + a headless hipponactean, i.e., a hipponactean that has been shortened by one element at the beginning (x - u u - u - -). It has a caesura after the fifth syllable.
n2.3.3m : albentes . . . vultus: accusative of respect, governed by hebetata (< hebeto , "make dull, blunt").
n2.3.7m : spiret: sc. si .
insanum: adverb, "madly," a colloquialism.
n2.3.9m : radiat: "shines."
sereno: noun, "clear, bright sky."
n2.3.13m : sua: i.e., mundi .
n2.3.15-16m : crede: with dative, "trust in." Ironic.
n2.3.17m : lege est: elides.
n2.3.17-18m : constat . . . constet: to capture the pun, try "it is certain . . . nothing . . . is certain."
n2.3.18m : genitum nihil: "nothing that is begotten."
Prosa 4: P. complements the last section's summary of past happiness with a positive view of B.'s present condition.
n2.4.2p : fuisse felicem: "to have been happy."
n2.4.3p : quod . . . luas: in apposition with id , "the fact that you are paying the penalty."
mecum reputes licet: "please consider with me . . . ," governing the indirect question quam . . . abundes .
n2.4.4p : quod . . . possidebas: antecedent is id .
divinitus: "by divine influence."
meliora quaeque: "all the better things"; see note on 1P3.14.
de infortunio . . . causari: "to complain about misfortune"; iure is adverbial (see on 2P3.1).
n2.4.5p : quod: antecedent is to be inferred from following main clause ( vir . . . iniuriis ).
emeres: < emo , "buy."
securus suarum (sc. iniuriarum ) : "without fear of injuries of his own."
n2.4.6p : pudicitia pudore: both ablatives governed by praecellens ; the two terms are very close in meaning, but are used together without a connective (cf. Sallust, Catilina 12.2).
dotes: < dos , literally, "dowry," figuratively, "gifts"; B. plays on both meanings here.
tibique tantum: "for you alone."
vitae huius exosa spiritum servat: "(although) detesting this life, (yet) keeps breath [in her body]"; vitae huius is a very rare use of the objective genitive (see Gruber).
quoque uno: "and in which thing alone"; the antecedent is the whole clause tui desiderio . . . tabescit : enclitic -que correlates with tibique in the preceding line.
vel ipsa: "even I."
tui desiderio: "with longing for you."
n2.4.7p : quorum: the clause is marked by anacoluthon, a shift in grammatical structure in midstream; it would be easier to translate if quorum were in quibus .
id aetatis: "at that age." ( AG 397a).
n2.4.8p : o te . . . felicem: accusative of exclamation, "O happy you!"
suppetunt: "are available."
vita: ablative of comparison with cariora .
n2.4.9p : nondum . . . fortuna: literally, "Fortune has not yet hated all, to [the last] one." Omnes must be Boethius's loved ones.
n2.4.11p : aliquantum: adverb, "somewhat."
nondum: "not yet."
piget: constructed with accusative of the person affected and genitive of the source of the emotion: "you are not yet vexed with your lot as a whole."
delicias: if applied to inanimate objects, "triflings, whimsicalities"; metaphor for self-indulgence.
qui . . . conqueraris: subjunctive in a causal relative clause ( qui = cum tu ).
n2.4.12p : et quae: "and one which."
n2.4.13p : census: literally, "register of property," hence the property itself; here, "wealth."
pudori: dative of purpose; "a source of shame," i.e., "an embarrassment."
rei familiaris: "property, wealth."
n2.4.14p : utroque: "with both," i.e., wealth and nobility.
orbus: "bereft of," with ablative.
n2.4.15p : inest . . . exhorreat = inest singulis [rebus aliquid] quod inexpertus ignoret [et quod] expertus exhorreat . ( expertus: "one who has experienced [it].") Roughly, "Every silver lining has a cloud."
n2.4.16p : delicatissimus: "most fastidious."
ad nutum: "according to his whim."
insolens: "unaccustomed to"; with genitive.
minimis quibusque: "every least thing."
fortunatissimis: dative of separation.
n2.4.17p : Hic ipse locus: see on 1P4.36.
n2.4.18p : omnis tolerantis: possessive genitive: "of every (person) enduring . . ."
n2.4.19p : dederit impatientiae manus: dare manus + dative = "to yield to, to give in to."
n2.4.20p : respersa: < respergo , "besprinkle, splash."
quominus . . . abeat: clause of prevention after retineri ; the subject of the verb is dulcedo .
n2.4.21p : liquet: "it is clear"; with indirect question, quam sit misera . . . ("how wretched is . . .").
n2.4.22p : Construe: Quid ("Why") petitis extra [vos] felicitatem positam intra vos?
n2.4.23p : cardinem: literally, "hinge, axis"; here, "crucial element."
inquies: "you will say."
tui compos: "in control of yourself."
n2.4.25p : naturae . . . ratione degentis: "of a nature living by reason" ( degentis < dego , "live").
manifestum est, quin: "it is clear that"; quin after a positive statement is rare, even in later Latin, but manifestum est has the force of non est dubium ( AG 558a); cf. dubitari nequit . . . quin in sec. 28 below.
n2.4.26p : Ad haec: "moreover."
vel si amiserit: "if he does in fact lose [it]."
n2.4.27p : perexile: literally, "very thin, meagre."
n2.4.28p : nequit: "cannot."
haec: sc. fortuita felicitas .
quin: cf. on sec. 25 above.
in miseriam . . . labatur: "slides toward wretchedness."
mortis fine: "at the end, which is death"; mortis is epexegetic (i.e., explanatory) genitive.
n2.4.29p : multos: e.g., Zeno (1P3.9); it is not necessary to see here an allusion to Christian martyrdom (though medieval readers would have).
praesens: sc. felicitas fortuita .
Metrum 4: The wise man lives quietly in humble circumstances.
Meter: Iambic dimeter catalectic (i.e., lacking final syllable) alternating with pherecratics.
n2.4.1m : volet: future instead of the present vult (cf. line 6, curat ) for sake of meter.
n2.4.3m : stabilis: nominative singular masculine.
n2.4.4m : Euri: the east wind.
n2.4.8m : vitet: hortatory subjunctive in main clause.
n2.4.9m : illud: sc. cacumen .
n2.4.11m : hae: sc. harenae .
pendulum: "pulled downward by gravity"; modifies pondus .
n2.4.15m : memento: imperative < memini , "remember."
n2.4.19m : quieti: ablative of place where with conditus .
n2.4.20m : valli: genitive < vallum , "rampart."
Prosa 5: Wealth cannot truly be owned and is of no value: not money (4ff), not precious stones (8ff), not land (11ff), not fine clothes (17), not a crowd of slaves (18ff).
n2.5.1p : paulo . . . puto: "I think somewhat stronger [remedies] must be used."
paulo: ablative of measure of difference with validioribus .
utendum (sc. esse ) : "one must use"; the impersonal passive must be used for the passive of intransitive verbs (i.e., verbs that do not govern an accusative object).
n2.5.2p : Age: imperative < ago ; here colloquially, "go on."
caduca et momentaria: predicate nominative.
n2.5.3p : vestrae: predicative, in the question ("are riches yours?").
n2.5.4p : effundendo . . . coacervando: gerunds, hence active; "in the pouring out . . . in the heaping up"; but a passive sense is required in translating: "by being poured out . . . by being heaped up."
n2.5.5p : potest: subject is the implied antecedent of quod .
largiendi usu: "by the act of being given away." For voice, see on sec. 4 above.
n2.5.6p : At eadem . . . congeratur: construe: At si eadem [pecunia] (quanta est ubique gentium) apud unum [hominem] congeratur .
sui: objective genitive with inopes .
fecerit: subject is eadem (sc. pecunia ).
comminutae: < comminuo , "break into pieces."
faciant . . . relinquunt: subject is divitiae .
n2.5.7p : o . . . divitias: see on 2P4.8.
pluribus: dative of reference with licet .
veniunt: sc. quae as subject.
n2.5.8p : praecipui: partitive genitive with quid .
n2.5.9p : motu atque compage: ablatives after carens .
compage: "structure."
animatae rationabilique naturae: dative with videatur .
opera: ablative.
n2.5.10p : suique: "and of [the gems] themselves."
distinctione: literally, "differentiation"; here effectively approaches English "distinction"; cf. distingueris (sec. 13 below).
postremae: "final, lasting, ultimate," modifies pulchritudinis .
mereantur: subjunctive in apodosis of a mixed condition; but merebantur (the reading of the manuscripts) is equally possible. If merebantur , the reference would be to B.'s earlier life; if mereantur , to his present plight.
n2.5.12p : attingit: "touch, concern."
audes: < audeo, audere .
n2.5.13p : tua: word position emphasizes the absurdity.
n2.5.14p : raperis: < rapio .
tua . . . aliena: "yours . . . not-yours"; both predicative (accusative plural neuter), contrasted with each other.
n2.5.15p : animantium: "animate beings"; take closely with alimentis.
procul dubio: "doubtless."
quod naturae satis est: the antecedent is the clause replere . . . velis .
n2.5.16p : quod infuderis: "what you shall have sent flooding in."
fiet: future < fio , "become."
n2.5.17p : intuitu: "to look at," ablative supine with grata .
artificis: < artifex , "craftsman, maker."
n2.5.18p : famulorum: < famulus , "servant, attendant."
domus: genitive.
ipsi: dative.
sin: "but if."
n2.5.19p : liquido: adverb, "clearly."
Quibus: dative of possession; "if these have . . ."
amissis . . . retentis: ablative absolutes, "[when they] have been lost . . . [when they] have been kept."
laeteris: < laetor , "rejoice, be glad."
n2.5.20p : natura: ablative.
quid . . . refert: "what has it to do with you?" ( tua : ablative, sc. re ).
placuissent: pluperfect subjunctive in an implied past contrary to fact condition (the protasis is inferred from a tuis quoque opibus sequestrata = si sequestrata essent ).
n2.5.21p : idcirco . . . quod: correlative, "for this reason . . . because."
venere = venerunt .
n2.5.22p : fortunae: objective genitive.
n2.5.23p : cedit: here, "goes"; cf. incedo, accedo , etc.
amminiculis: "props, supports."
opus est: "there is need of," + ablative.
supellectilis: < supellex , "furniture, apparatus."
permultis . . . possideant: proverb, phrased in indirect statement after verum . . . est ; permultis is ablative after indigere .
minimum: sc. eos [ qui . . . metiantur ] indigere , in a continuation of the proverb with a change from ablative to accusative after indigere .
n2.5.24p : vobis: dative of possession.
n2.5.25p : versa: "turned upside-down."
merito: ablative of cause with divinum .
n2.5.26p : alia: sc. animalia .
deo mente consimiles: cf. divinum merito rationis animal in the preceding sentence.
captatis: < capto , "hunt, try to get."
n2.5.27p : praestare: "to stand out among, to be superior to," with dative.
n2.5.28p : si omne cuiusque bonum . . . pretiosius: "if it is clear that the good of anything is more valuable than the thing to which it belongs."
vilissima rerum: "the cheapest of things."
vosmet: intensive for vos .
summittitis: < summitto , "place one thing [accusative] below another [dative]."
cadit: "happens, falls out."
ceteris rebus: dative after excellat .
n2.5.29p : cum se cognoscit: cf. the Socratic command, "Know thyself."
nosse = novisse , "to know." (On tense, see note on 1P3.9.)
naturae: genitive of characteristic.
hominibus vitio venit: supply a "but" in translating. There is no explicit connective with previous clause ("adversative asyndeton").
vitio: dative of purpose, "as a vice."
n2.5.30p : qui: antecedent is vos , inferred from vester .
n2.5.31p : appositis: "things set beside [itself]."
nihilo minus: "nonetheless"; nihilo is ablative of measure of difference.
foeditate: < foeditas , "foulness."
n2.5.32p : habenti: dative after noceat (< noceo , "harm").
n2.5.33p : eoque: "and for that reason" (i.e., because he is pessimus ).
se solum . . . putat: "thinks himself alone most worthy to have it."
n2.5.34p : contum: "pole, club."
vacuus: here, "empty of pocket."
intrasses = intravisses .
coram: "in the presence of," with ablative.
Cf. Juvenal 10.20-22:
nocte iter ingressus gladium contumque timebis . . .
cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.
"Going on a journey by night, you will fear the sword and club. . .; the traveler with empty pockets will sing in the robber's face."
adeptus: < adipiscor , "attain, acquire."
Metrum 5: The Golden Age found happiness without riches. (The ideas and images of this poem are part of a long, rich tradition of poetic depictions of an idyllic past.)
Meter: Anapestic dimeter catalectic. Diaeresis between the metra occurs only in lines 1 and 27.
n2.5.4m : facili: "ready-to-hand, easy-to-find," picked up randomly from the earth where they lay abundantly. Cf. 1M6.6, where acorns are a less attractive food.
sera: "tardy," modifying ieiunia ; people in olden days were less hastily attentive to their hunger.
glande: "acorn, nut."
n2.5.6m : Bacchica: "Bacchic"; see on 1M6.15.
norant = noverant ; here, "knew [how to]."
n2.5.7m : melle: < mel , "honey"; honey wine or mead ( mulsum ) was a luxury at Rome.
n2.5.8m : lucida vellera Serum (< Seres , "the Chinese"): "gleaming fleeces of the Chinese," i.e., silk from China (not long after B.'s death the emperor Justinian sought to import silkworms to the empire to satisfy demand for the fabric).
Tyrio . . . veneno: "Tyrian dye," extracted from shellfish and exported from Tyre in Phoenicia to adorn the richest garments. ( Venenum is ordinarily "venom," but with proper adjectives is regularly used for "dye" as well.)
n2.5.10m : herba: "grass."
n2.5.13m : secabat: < seco , "cut, cleave"; subject is hospes (line 15).
n2.5.14m : mercibus undique lectis: "having gathered merchandise from all over."
n2.5.16m : classica: < classicum , "battle signal, trumpet."
n2.5.21m : viderent: effectively "foresaw" for providerent ; the shorter form is metrically convenient.
n2.5.23m : Utinam . . . redirent . . . tempora: "If only our times might return"; imperfect subjunctive in a present wish incapable of fulfillment.
n2.5.25m : Aetnae: the volcano in Sicily.
n2.5.26m : amor ardet habendi: cf. 2M2.18, sitis ardescit habendi .
n2.5.29m : latere volentes: "preferring to remain hidden."
n2.5.30m : fodit: "dug [up]," less precise than effodit , but metrically easier.
Prosa 6: Worldly offices and power bring a happiness no more certain than what is brought by wealth.
n2.6.1p : dignitatibus: see on 2P3.7.
qua: sc. potentia , ablative of means, with vos as object of exaequatis . Some editors read quas (i.e., dignitates potentiamque ), making it the object of exaequatis . Cf. Gruber.
quae. . . Aetnae . . . quod diluvium: "what Aetnas [i.e., volcanoes] . . . what deluge?"
n2.6.2p : uti: "as."
consulare: adjective, "of the consuls." The allusion is to the rise of the tribunes of the people as a balance to oligarchic power, itself the result of revolt against the kings.
veteres: here, "ancestors."
n2.6.3p : deferantur: "are conferred upon," with dative; sc. dignitates as subject.
n2.6.4p : expetibilis: "desirable."
Nonne . . . quibus qui . . . videamini: "Do you not, mere earthly animals, consider over what creatures you who [seem to rule] seem to rule?"
mures: < mus , "mouse."
cachinno: < cachinnus , "derisive laughter."
n2.6.5p : imbecillius: < imbecillus , "weak."
quos: sc. homines .
muscularum: < muscula , "little fly" (diminutive of musca ).
reptantium: "of [creatures] creeping."
in secreta quaeque: see on 1P3.14.
n2.6.6p : Quo: "How, in what way?"
quempiam: "anyone [else]," masculine or feminine accusative singular of quispiam .
exserere: < exsero , here "exert."
imperabis: < impero ("command, give orders") is constructed with accusative of the command and dative of the one commanded.
sibi: with cohaerentem ; where the subject of the sentence is in the second person, the reflexive points to the nearest noun.
n2.6.8p : adacturum (sc. esse ) : < adigo , "compel" governs ut -clause to follow. The "free man" was Zeno of Elea (see on 1P3.9).
adversum se: i.e., adversum tyrannum .
proderet: < prodo , "betray."
momordit: < mordeo , "bite."
cruciatus: "tortures," accusative plural.
virtutis: sc. materiam .
n2.6.9p : possit . . . possit: Bear in mind that possum has the same root as potentia and potestas .
sustinere: here, "suffer."
n2.6.10p : Busiridem: < Busiris , king of Egypt; his story was told in Herodotus 2.45 and often elsewhere.
solitum: < soleo , "be accustomed"; since soleo is semi-deponent, the perfect participle is active in meaning.
n2.6.11p : Regulus: Roman hero of the first Punic war (264-241 B.C.); captured by the Carthaginians, he was released to report (ignominious) peace terms back to Rome, under oath to return if his mission failed. At Rome, he argued eloquently against the proposed treaty and when it was rejected returned honorably to Carthage, where he was put to (gruesome) death.
plures: literally "more," but here there is no comparative force: "many."
victorum: < victor .
n2.6.12p : potest: sc. facere .
ne . . . valeat: substantive clause of result after efficere ("to bring it about").
n2.6.13p : Ad haec: see on 2P4.26.
pessimis: dative with provenirent , "come to."
adversa: "opposites" (subject of solent ).
sociari, natura: connective omitted (asyndeton); English punctuation would replace the comma with a semicolon.
contraria quaeque: "any opposites whatever."
n2.6.14p : pessimos . . . fungi: accusative/infinitive after dubium non sit .
natura sui = natura sua (ablative); antecedent of sui is bona .
n2.6.15p : dignius: adverbial < dignus ; modifies existimari .
n2.6.16p : nemo . . . cui: "no one doubts that [that person] is brave, in whom."
n2.6.17p : effectibus: "things brought about, effects."
n2.6.18p : fecerit: future perfect.
collata: < confero , "confer upon," with dative.
non modo . . . sed . . . potius: "not only . . . but rather [i.e., instead]."
n2.6.19p : provenit: "happen."
Gaudetis: ironic address: "You [mortals] take pleasure . . ."
res . . . habentes: "things that regard themselves otherwise," object of compellare ("to call").
quae: sc. nomina .
redarguuntur: "are contradicted."
divitiae . . . potentia . . . dignitas: each is predicative.
n2.6.20p : idem . . . concludere: "to conclude the same thing," i.e., to draw the same conclusion.
Metrum 6: A famous example of wickedness unimproved by attaining supreme power.
Meter: Sapphic hendecasyllable (cretic + headless hipponactean).
n2.6.1-2m : The great fire at Rome of A.D. 64; rumors of an imperial arsonist were spread by well-placed citizens.
quantas dederit ruinas: indirect question; the subject is the relative clause (lines 3-7).
n2.6.2m : urbe . . . caesis: ablative absolute.
patribus: "senators."
n2.6.3m : fratre interempto: Tiberius Claudius Caesar, son of Claudius, murdered by his adoptive brother in A.D. 55.
n2.6.4m : matris effuso . . . cruore: ablative of means with maduit. Refers to the murder of Agrippina in 59 A.D.: the rumor that the murderous son cast a coolly appraising eye over his mother's corpse is repeated by Tacitus ( Ann. 14.3ff), but neither endorsed nor scotched by him.
n2.6.5m : visu: < visus , "sight, vision."
n2.6.7m : censor: here, "evaluator, judge."
n2.6.9-13m : Rome's sway reaches from west to east and from north to south.
n2.6.11m : septem . . . triones: literally, "the seven plough-oxen," i.e., the seven stars constituting the constellation known variously as the Wain, Ursa Maior, the Big Dipper),
n2.6.12m : Notus: south wind.
n2.6.15m : vertere: last syllable is closed (thus long) before pr- .
Neronis: the name is postponed as long as possible; the identity was clear to B.'s readers as early as line 3.
n2.6.16m : gravem sortem: accusative of exclamation.
Prosa 7: Worldly fame is weak in true consolations.
n2.7.1p : minimum: adverb, with nobis .
dominatam: < dominor , "rule over," here as often in later Latin, with dative (of the object of rule).
quo ne = ne (or quominus ).
n2.7.2p : nondum . . . perductas: take the whole phrase together to modify mentes .
ad extremam manum: "to the finishing touches."
gloriae scilicet cupido: in apposition with hoc unum . Cf. Milton's Lycidas: "Fame . . . that last infirmity of a noble mind."
n2.7.3p : ambitum: "encirclement, encompassing."
astrologicis: "of the science of the stars"; there was not in B.'s time any hard and fast distinction between astronomy and astrology; here we would think of astronomy.
ad: "[compared] to."
puncti . . . rationem: "the ratio of a point"; ratio was already used in later Latin in the modern arithmetical sense.
id est, ut: introducing the result of the comparison just made.
n2.7.4p : The "known world" was believed to fill only one-fourth of the globe, from Europe to Asia, bounded by the arctic, by the oceans, and by uninhabitable burning desert to the south. ( Ptolomaeo: see on 1M2.12.)
nobis: dative depending on cognitis .
n2.7.5p : Even in the inhabited portion of the globe, there is so little habitable land that the arena for human activity is as small compared to the whole planet as the planet is small compared to the cosmos.
Huic quartae: dative with verb of taking away.
quantum . . . quantumque: relatives corresponding to an implicit tantum (object of subtraxeris ). The first quantum is accusative; the second is adverbial.
n2.7.6p : quodam: here, "as it were, so to speak."
artata: < arto , "compress."
n2.7.7p : habitaculi: "dwelling-place."
saeptum: used of any small penned-in area.
insolentia: "un-accustomedness, infrequency."
non modo: for non modo non .
urbium: sc. fama .
n2.7.8p : M. Tulli: Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 B.C.), the orator.
quodam loco: Cicero, De Republica 6.22, recounting the famous dream of Scipio ( Somnium Scipionis ) on which Macrobius wrote a commentary in the fifth century. B.'s father-in-law Symmachus had arranged for the Macrobius work to be copied under his aegis.
Caucasus: Cicero and B. seem to have used this name for different mountains: Cicero the Himalayas, B. the modern Caucasus between the Black and Caspian Seas.
adulta: sc. res publica .
Parthis . . . ceterisque . . . gentibus: datives with formidolosa .
id locorum: see on 2P4.7.
n2.7.9p : quam
dilatare: "to broaden, expand."
ubi: here virtually of place "to which," for quo .
n2.7.10p : Quid quod: "What of the fact that . . . ?"
n2.7.11p : conducat: here impersonal: "it is advantageous, profitable," with dative.
n2.7.12p : pervagata ("far-wandering") . . . gloria: ablative.
n2.7.13p : scriptorum inops . . . oblivio: literally, "forgetfulness, poor in writers"; i.e., a lack of writers of history leaves many great men to be forgotten.
proficiant: "avail, profit."
n2.7.15p : pertractes: "consider, handle"; object is famam understood.
ad: "[in comparison] to."
quid habes, quod . . . laeteris: i.e., "what reason do you have to rejoice?"
n2.7.16p : The argument used above to show the spatial insignificance of human deeds (3f) recurs to prove temporal insignificance.
utrumque: "each."
minimam licet: sc. esse portionem .
eiusque quamlibet multiplex: sc. numerus , "and however great a multiple of that one [it may be]."
n2.7.17p : "There could be some [comparison] to each other in turn for finite [i.e., measurable] things, but of infinite and finite there could never be any comparison."
n2.7.18p : Ita fit, ut: "so it happens that."
quamlibet: take with prolixi , "long."
n2.7.19p : ad: here, "in the face of."
facere nescitis: "you don't know how to act."
relicta . . . praestantia: ablative absolute.
n2.7.20p : festive: "wittily."
adortus esset: < adorior , "attack, assail."
sciturum: sc. esse .
velut insultans: "as if to taunt [him]."
intellexeram: In a contrary to fact condition, the indicative may be used to express what was likely, intended, or already begun ( AG 517b).
n2.7.21p : post resolutum . . . corpus: "after dissolution of the body."
attineat: "pertains, belongs."
n2.7.22p : nostrae . . . vetant: cf. 2P4.28.
toti: "as a whole, completely."
n2.7.23p : This ascent to heaven and disdain for the cares of this world is the subject of the Somnium Scipionis and the commentary by Macrobius.
quae: sc. mens .
se . . . exemptam: sc. esse ; accusative/infinitive after gaudet .
Metrum 7: The arguments of prosa 7 (on gloria ) are restated with little variation.
Meter: Iambic trimeter alternating with iambic dimeter. In the trimeter, the anceps (x) of the first and third metra may be either u or - or uu; caesura always occurs after the first element of the second metron.
n2.7.2m : summum: sc. bonum esse .
n2.7.3m : cernat: jussive subjunctive: "let him perceive."
n2.7.4m : artum: "narrow, hemmed-in."
n2.7.5m : replere non valentis: "not able to fill."
n2.7.6m : pudebit: sc. eum . For the construction, see on 1P4.19.
n2.7.8m : levare: "lighten, ease."
gestiunt: translate as second person plural after the vocative o superbi ; B. seems here to have erred. (For an attempt to defend B., see Gruber ad loc.)
n2.7.10m : explicet: "loosen."
n2.7.11m : titulis: "titles, inscriptions."
n2.7.14m : aequat summis infima: cf. 2P2.9.
n2.7.15m : Fabricii: Fabricius, the hero of the war with Pyrrhus (c. 280 B.C.), renowned for an austere and virtuous way of life.
n2.7.16m : quid: "[to] what [purpose]?"
There is no need to decide which Brutus (the expeller of kings or the assassin of Caesar) and which Cato (the consul of 195 and later censor renowned for strict morals and hostility to Carthage or the contemporary and opponent of Caesar) B. has in mind; all were proverbial heroes.
n2.7.17m : superstes: nominative, modifies fama .
n2.7.19m : quod: "because."
vocabula: i.e., "names."
n2.7.21m : iacetis: sc. superbi (line 7).
n2.7.24m : aura: ablative.
n2.7.25m : hoc: i.e., the "immortality" of fame.
Prosa 8: P. concedes that 'Fortune' has its uses.
n2.8.1p : est aliquando: "There is a time when"; use of the adverb virtually as a noun is not classical.
nihil: accusative of respect with fallax : "not at all false"; adverbial in effect.
mereatur: here, "behaves," with de hominibus , "towards men"; subjunctive in circumstantial cum -clause.
tum scilicet, cum: "namely then, when"; the cum -clauses to follow are temporal (specifying a time) hence the verbs are indicative.
n2.8.3p : Fortuna is now distinguished as prospera and adversa . Good fortune falsely seems desirable, but bad is always sincerely hostile. The vivid personification with which this book began can now be dispensed with.
n2.8.4p : illa = prospera fortuna .
haec = adversa fortuna .
mendacium: genitive plural < mendax , "false, untruthful"; with bonorum .
fruentium: sc. se (ablative object).
absolvit: "frees," sc. mentes fruentium se .
fluentem . . . succinctam: "ungirdled . . . belted."
suique . . . ignaram: "and ignorant of herself."
exercitatione: "training, testing."
n2.8.5p : devios: "off the path"; predicative.
reduces: accusative plural < redux , "led back."
n2.8.6p : tibi: with detexit .
secrevit: "set apart, distinguished."
n2.8.7p : Quanti: genitive of price.
hoc: i.e., this separation of faithful and faithless friends.
integer: "unimpaired, intact," i.e., before his fall from power.
querere: imperative, ironic (cf. similar expression at 2M3.15-16).
quod . . . genus est: see on 2P3.5.
Cf. Cicero, De amicitia 6.20: Est enim amicitia nihil aliud nisi omnium divinarum humanarumque rerum cum benevolentia et caritate consensio; qua quidem haud scio an excepta sapientia nihil melius homini sit a dis immortalibus datum. Divitias alii praeponunt, bonam alii valetudinem, alii potentiam, alii honores, multi etiam voluptates.
"For friendship is nothing less than the harmony of divine and human affairs through generosity and esteem. I know no better gift granted to men by the immortal gods than friendship, except wisdom. Some prefer riches, some good health, some power, some high office \304\304 many even prefer pleasure."
Metrum 8: The world is governed by love.
Meter: Glyconic.
n2.8.1-6m : Each couplet is a self-contained noun clause, ( quod = "that") in apposition with hanc rerum seriem (line 13).
n2.8.2m : concordes: < concors , "of one heart, at one, harmonious."
n2.8.7-12m : Each couplet is a purpose clause after ligat (line 13).
n2.8.7m : Hesperos: see on 1M5.11.
n2.8.8m : Phoebe: the moon, sister of Phoebus, the sun.
n2.8.9m : fluctus: last syllable long, therefore accusative plural.
n2.8.15m : imperitans: < imperito , frequentative < impero , with dative.
amor: the thematic word appears at the center of the poem.
n2.8.16m : Hic: sc. amor , as again in 22, 24, 26.
n2.8.17m : invicem: "reciprocally, in return."
n2.8.19m : quam: sc. machinam (line 21).
n2.8.20m : incitant: subject is unclear, probably still to be inferred from quicquid (line 17).
n2.8.22-27m : These lines summarize the theme of Book 2; cf. 2P3-4, 2P8.6-7.
book 3
Book Three
This book is preceded by one poem about love (2M8) and ends with another (3M12). P. now sets out to answer the second outstanding question from 1P6 ( quis sit finis rerum ), exploring the nature of true happiness: what it is not (3P1-3M8) and what it is (3P9-3M12). At the center of the book, and of the entire work, is the solemn and difficult 3M9, subject of many medieval commentaries.
Prosa 1: P. promises to lead B., highly encouraged by the progress of his cure in Book 2, towards the goal of true happiness.
n3.1.1p : The pluperfect ( finiverat . . . defixerat [< defigo , "fix firmly"]) and paulo post indicate that a few moments have elapsed between books (cf. on 2P1.1).
mulcedo: "agreeableness."
n3.1.2p : quam: exclamatory.
refovisti: < refoveo , "refresh, revive."
adeo: adverb of degree introducing ut -clause of result.
perhorresco . . . efflagito: "shrink from violently . . . demand urgently"; both intensive (compare horresco and flagito ).
n3.1.3p : quippe: "for in fact . . ."
interius: adverb, taken closely with recepta .
n3.1.4p : quonam: "to what place/thing."
aggrediamur: < adgredior , "approach, undertake," governs the complementary infinitive, ducere .
n3.1.5p : somniat: < somnio , "dream about."
occupato ad imagines visu: ablative absolute; an allusion to Plato's cave-dwellers ( Rep. 7.515A), who sat chained in darkness watching shadows cast on the wall by a source of light they could not see; seeing nothing save shadows, they took them for reality.
potest: sc. animus .
n3.1.7p : tui causa: "for your sake"; tui is objective genitive.
quae: sc. felicitas , as outlined in 3P1-8.
causa
notior: comparative adjective < notus .
eam: sc. felicitatem .
in contrariam partem: cf. 3.P9-12.
Metrum 1: In nature, beautiful things are easier to appreciate against a background of adversity. (Thus, we infer, true happiness will be more clearly seen after its opposite has been delineated in 3P1-3P8.)
Meter: Meiuric ("mouse-tailed") dactylic tetrameter. The term "mouse-tailed" characterizes the substitution of u - for - - at the verse's end.
n3.1.1m : ingenuum . . . agrum: in its context, the phrase suggests a field not recently cultivated and hence fruitful; ingenuus can mean "freeborn," and the expression perhaps parallels English "virgin soil," suggesting land that has not previously fallen under the sway of a master.
fruticibus: < frutex , "bush, shrub."
n3.1.3m : rubos: < rubus , "bramble bush."
filicemque: < filix , "fern."
n3.1.4m : nova: final syllable short, hence nominative.
n3.1.5m : Dulcior . . . mage: double comparatives are not uncommon in later Latin.
apium . . . labor: literally, "the labor of bees," i.e., "honey."
n3.1.9m : ut: "when."
n3.1.11m : prius: adverb modifying incipe .
n3.1.12m : colla iugo: cf. 2M7.7.
n3.1.13m : vera: sc. bona .
subierint: < subeo , "come in secretly, steal in"; future perfect.
Prosa 2: P. defines true happiness in abstract terms before considering afresh the claims of worldly wealth and success to be the means to that happiness (in 3P3-3P8).
n3.2.1p : A solemn new beginning; cf. 3M9.22. recepta: "withdrawn."
quo . . . adepto: ablative absolute; translate, "when that good has been acquired . . ." Note that adepto is passive in meaning, although adipiscor is deponent; so also adeptis (sec. 5 infra).
quis = aliquis .
n3.2.3p : Quod = Et id .
cui: antecedent is quod .
aforet = abesset .
congregatione: "gathering together, assembling."
n3.2.5-7p : This list of sought-after goods provides the framework for the rest of Book 3; the five ( divitiae - dignitates - regna - gloria - voluptates ) constantly recur in the same order.
n3.2.5p : Quorum: sc. hominum .
summum bonum esse nihilo indigere: accusative/infinitive following credentes: "the highest good is to lack for nothing."
veneratione: ablative with dignissimum (delete comma between the two words).
reverendi: nominative plural, "to be revered."
civibus suis: dative of agent with reverendi .
n3.2.6p : regnantibus: dative with compound verb adhaerere , "to cling to."
n3.2.7p : diffluere: "to be dissolved in, abandoned to."
n3.2.8p : alterutro: "with each other" (they confuse cause and effect).
ut: "such as, like."
causa: "for the sake of"; takes two genitives, pecuniae and proferendi nominis .
veluti: "such as, for example," introducing examples to define in his . . . ceterisque talibus .
n3.2.9p : gratia: "for the sake of," with genitive.
amicorum: sc. genus (attracted into the relative clause that follows); cf. 2P8.
reliquum: sc. genus .
n3.2.10p : promptum est: "it is obvious," with ut + subjunctive (instead of accusative/infinitive).
n3.2.11p : prae ceteris: "ahead of [all] other things."
definivimus: in sec. 3 of this prosa.
n3.2.12p : Epicurus: Greek philosopher (341 - 270 B.C.); this familiar oversimplification of his views was already common in late antiquity, when there was little accurate knowledge of or living devotion to his teachings.
quod: "because," followed by the subjunctive when (as here) the reason given is not that of the writer but that of another person whose views are being represented.
n3.2.13p : caligante memoria: ablative absolute ( caligante : "fading, growing dim"). Platonic dependence on memory is especially important in Book 3.
domum: accusative of place to which governed by revertatur ; the preposition is regularly to be omitted with domus .
n3.2.14-18p : All five bona are sought for the reputed ability to bring some abstract good: sufficientia - reverentia - potentia - claritudo - laetitia: cf. 19 infra).
quod: relative pronoun.
n3.2.15p : cultu: "worshipful attention," with epexegetic genitive ( reverentiae ).
n3.2.16p : Quid igitur: "What then," introducing the question that follows.
n3.2.17p : nihili: genitive of value.
sequestrari: < sequestro , "remove, take away."
quin: same construction as a clause of prevention.
n3.2.18p : esse . . . subiectam: indirect statement, depends on dicere .
attinet: "matter, be of importance."
quod: object of both habere and frui (though if the latter verb were alone it would take an ablative).
n3.2.20p : cum: "since"; the use with the indicative is irregular in classical Latin, but common later.
licet: "although" (taken only with variae dissidentesque ).
Metrum 2: All things return in the end to their source. (Cf. 1P6.10-12 for an early hint of this doctrine.)
Meter: Anapestic dimeter, with diaeresis between the metra.
n3.2.1-2m : Quantas . . . quibus: introducing indirect questions (through nexu , line 5) governed by promere (line 6).
n3.2.3m : provida: "foresightful," sc. natura .
n3.2.4m : stringat: here, "draws together."
ligans: sc. natura (takes as object singula ).
n3.2.5m : arguto: "melodious."
n3.2.6m : fidibus lentis: "slow lyres," i.e., lyres being played slowly.
n3.2.7-16m : Lions were kept for the bloody shows of the amphitheater.
n3.2.10m : soliti: sc. leones .
magistrum: here translate as "tamer."
n3.2.12m : resides (< reses , "calm") olim: "once calm [but no longer]."
n3.2.13m : meminere sui: "they remember themselves," i.e., come to their senses.
n3.2.15-16m : The tamer is the first victim, lacer dente cruento ("torn by a bloody tooth").
n3.2.17m : garrula: "chattering, twittering."
n3.2.18m : caveae . . . antro: "in the recess of a cage."
n3.2.19m : inlita: < illino , "smear over, bedaub"; inlita pocula is one object of ministret .
n3.2.22m : arto . . . texto: "from the tight web," i.e., from the cage.
n3.2.24m : sparsas: < spargo , "scatter, disperse."
proterit: < protero , "trample on."
n3.2.25m : tantum: "only," to be taken closely with silvas .
maesta: sc. ales (line 18).
n3.2.26m : susurrat: "murmurs, whispers."
n3.2.27-30m : A tree-limb ( virga: "twig, branch") can be bent and bowed but once freed resumes its posture.
n3.2.34m : recursus: "returns, reversions."
n3.2.36m : ulli: dative, "anything."
n3.2.37m : quod: antecedent is ulli .
n3.2.38m : orbem: an abstract symbol of completed symmetry; B. may have used orbem here to echo ordo and ortum in lines 36-37.
Prosa 3: Wealth cannot bring sufficientia .
n3.3.1p : Cf. 1P6.10-12.
tenui licet imagine: "though by a faint image."
licet minime . . . cogitatione: take whole phrase together, paralleling tenui licet imagine .
eoque: "and for that reason."
n3.3.3p : tale quid . . . cui: "some such thing."
n3.3.6p : libero . . . animo: ablative of description.
quin = qui non , introducing a relative clause of result; "so that [I was] not."
aliquid: accusative of respect governed by angerer , < ango , "trouble, distress."
n3.3.7p : velles . . . noluisses: At the time of which P. speaks, B. desired the presence of what was in fact missing; at the same time some things were present which B. had not wanted (at a prior time). Hence the sequence of tenses.
n3.3.9p : usquequaque: "everywhere, in every way."
Minime: "not at all," agrees with P.'s statement.
n3.3.10p : Quidni?: "How not?"
n3.3.12p : suapte natura: "by its very nature"; ablative of manner; the suffix -pte intensifies.
ut . . . auferri (< aufero , "take away") : a loosely connected result clause.
n3.3.13p : forenses: literally, "of the forum," here, "legal, of the courtroom."
n3.3.14p : extrinsecus: adverb modifying petito .
n3.3.16p : In contrarium . . . res est: "the argument has fallen back on the other side," i.e., turned out differently from expectation.
Num . . . num . . . num: introduce ironic rhetorical questions.
n3.3.18p : opulentis: < opulentus , "rich"; possessive dative.
quo: antecedent is understood subject of adest .
haec: sc. indigentia .
n3.3.19p : taceo: "I am silent, I omit"; see on 2P3.5.
quod . . . est: indirect statement ( quod = "that").
ipsae suam faciunt: sc. ipsae [opes] [indigentiam] suam faciunt .
quid est quod: "why is it that?"
Metrum 3: The rich are plagued by cares.
Meter: Iambic trimeter alternating with elegiac pentameter (= 2 hemiepes). In the trimeter there is a caesura after the fifth element; no substitutions are allowed in the second hemiepes of the pentameter.
n3.3.2m : non expleturas: "not about to fulfill," i.e., "that will not fulfill/satisfy."
n3.3.3m : bacis: < baca , literally, "berry"; by extension, "pearl."
rubri litoris: i.e., from the shore of the "Red Sea," which for ancients could be either the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, or what we call the Red Sea itself.
n3.3.4m : centeno . . . bove: "with a hundred oxen" (collective singular common in poetry).
n3.3.5m : superstitem: "surviving," i.e., "while he lives," to contrast with defunctum in next line.
n3.3.6m : leves: here, "fickle."
Prosa 4: Public offices do not bring reverentia .
n3.4.1p : P. first sets out the common view she is about to refute.
mentibus: dative with inserant .
n3.4.2p : solent: sc. dignitates .
quo fit, ut indignemur: "by which it comes about that we become indignant," followed by an accusative/infinitive setting out the source of the indignation.
Catullus: See his poem 52.2: sella in curuli struma Nonius sedet . We do not know why Catullus thought Nonius was a boil ( struma ) on the face of the body politic when he held office as aedile.
licet: "although"; take closely with sedentem .
n3.4.3p : malis: sc. hominibus .
n3.4.4p : tot periculis: ablative of means.
ut . . . putares: "that you should deem [it right]."
Decorato: a lawyer who served as quaestor of the palace for Theoderic at some time in the 510's or early 520's (he died before Boethius). We do not know why B. thought him a dandy ( scurra ) and an informer ( delator ).
n3.4.6p : praeditum: "endowed with," with ablative.
n3.4.7p : propria = sua .
transfundit: subject is virtus .
n3.4.8p : Quod: antecedent is the whole preceding sentence; accusative object of facere (here: "do").
populares honores: popularis always has a negative connotation in the Consolatio .
n3.4.9p : si eo abiectior . . . quo magis . . . comtemnitur: "if the more a man is despised . . . the baser he is." eo . . . quo are ablatives of degree of difference and are used correlatively ( AG 414a).
magis . . . pluribus: double comparative; see on 3M1.5
nequeat . . . ostentat . . . facit: dignitas is the subject.
despectiores: "more despised"; predicative.
n3.4.11p : The argument of this part of the attack on dignitates is essentially the same as that used in 2P7.3f to attack gloria (which is not discussed in Book 3 until 3P6).
umbratiles: literally, "in the shadows," thus, "private, out of public sight"; to a tradition-minded Roman, the phrase umbratiles dignitates would thus seem an oxymoron at best. To a philosophic observer even public office is a petty matter of parochial concern.
functus: < fungor , "perform, discharge [office]"; with ablative.
n3.4.12p : quoquo gentium . . . ubique terrarum: "anywhere . . . everywhere."
n3.4.13p : id: sc. munus ; accusative
vanescunt: "disappear, pass away."
n3.4.14p : Sed hoc: sc. verum est .
ortae (< orior , "arise") sunt: sc. dignitates .
n3.4.15p : The praetorship ( praetura ) had been an important judicial office in classical Rome, but in the late empire it had become an onerous glory and was regarded as a virtual tax by the great families.
curasset . . . habebatur: mixed past conditional, with a hypothetical protasis, but a real apodosis.
magnus: wordplay, alluding to Pompey (106-48 B.C.), who was called Magnus and who had distinguished himself in looking after the grain supply ( annona ); in later times the prefect of the annona had a thankless task, trying to keep an adequate supply coming from Africa and Sicily and performing related chores; in times of short supply, the office could be a dangerous one if the mob rioted.
quod: "[the thing] which."
n3.4.17p : ultro: "in addition."
expetendae pulchritudinis: partitive genitive with quod .
nedum: "much less."
Metrum 4: Worldly offices do not convey true honor.
Meter: Phalaecean hendecasyllable (glyconic + bacchiac) alternating with Alcaic decasyllable (hemiepes + bacchiac).
n3.4.1m : Another reference to the royal purple: cf. 2M5.9.
n3.4.2m : comeret: < como , "dress, adorn."
lapillis: "stones, gems."
n3.4.4m : Nero: cf. 2M6 (scan the name with both syllables short).
luxuriae . . . saevientis: genitive of description.
n3.4.6m : indecores: predicative; they were unseemly because they came from Nero.
curules: sc. sedes , ceremonial chairs of office.
n3.4.7m : beatos: modifies honores (line 8).
n3.4.8m : For consistency, Quos here should be lower case.
miseri: nominative plural masculine.
Prosa 5: Thrones are not true sources of potentia .
n3.5.1p : regumque familiaritas: B. was no king, but he had hobnobbed with a king; the phrase points the moral.
n3.5.2p : qui reges . . . mutaverint: reges has been attracted into the relative clause; translate, "[examples of] kings who . . ."
n3.5.3p : qua parte: "in some part," i.e., "somewhere."
n3.5.4p : quibus: dative with imperet .
n3.5.5p : Qua . . . parte: "where."
beatos faciens: almost the equivalent of a relative clause modifying potestas .
hac: "there," correlated with qua . . . parte above.
subintrat: "enters secretly."
n3.5.6p : Expertus: "having experienced, known"; governs genitive ( periculorum ).
metus: accusative plural.
The "sword of Damocles" (hung by the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse [405-367 B.C.]) was already proverbial.
n3.5.7p : aculeos: "stings, barbs."
vellent vixisse: "they would have liked to have lived . . ." Subject must be supplied from the exempla of sec. 2, hence the past potential subjunctive and perfect infinitive.
n3.5.8p : qui satellite latus ambit: "who surrounds [his] flank ( latus ) with a bodyguard."
n3.5.9p : imbecillitatis: "weakness, helplessness."
incolumis: "unharmed"; nominative.
n3.5.10p : adeligendae mortis . . . arbitrium: "to the choice of opting for death," i.e., to suicide.
Papinianum: a famous Roman jurist, executed in 212 A.D. by the emperor Antoninus Caracalla.
aulicos: "courtiers."
gladiis: dative with obiecit ("handed over to the sword").
n3.5.11p : uterque: "both"; often, as here, with plural verb.
potentiae: dative with renuntiare , "renounce."
otium: here, "retirement."
dum: "since"; see on 1P1.1.
ruituros: < ruo , "fall headlong."
moles ipsa: sc. regnorum magnorum .
n3.5.13p : praesidio: dative of purpose.
infortunium faciet inimicum: cf. 2P8.6.
Metrum 5: True power lies within the person.
Meter: Anapestic dimeter catalectic. No dactyls appear, and there is no diaeresis between metra.
n3.5.2m : domet: jussive subjunctive (like summittat ).
n3.5.3m : victa: accusative with colla .
n3.5.5-7m : Indica . . . tellus . . . ultima Thyle: the limits of human habitation known to Romans; B. would not know the precise location of either.
n3.5.10m : non posse: "not to be able," i.e., "inability"; to be taken as subject of est .
Prosa 6: Worldly glory does not bring true claritudo .
n3.6.1p : Euripides, Andromache 319-320:
"O glory, glory, for thousands of mortals,
nothing-at-alls, you heaped up a great living"
\304\304 i.e., have made them seem greater than they are.
n3.6.2p : falsis . . . opinionibus: ablative of origin, here without preposition.
quo quid turpius: "than which what more shameful thing . . . ?"
praedicantur: "are praised, glorified."
n3.6.3p : Quae: sc. laudes .
sapientis: genitive with conscientiae (and antecedent of qui ).
n3.6.4p : Construe: Quodsi hoc ipsum ([i.e.,] propagasse nomen) videtur pulchrum .
non extendisse: sc. nomen ; subject of iudicetur .
n3.6.5p : paulo ante: 2P7.7, 3P5.4.
fit, ut . . . videatur: (cf. 3P4.11); "it happens that he seems"; later Latin was fond of this kind of redundant construction.
n3.6.6p : popularem gratiam: "the approval/favor of the populus ," here contrasted with nobilitatis nomen (see on 3P4.8).
iudicio: ablative of instrument.
n3.6.7p : refertur: "is compared"; a later Latin meaning of refero .
quaedam: modifies laus .
n3.6.8p : praedicatio: "praise"; cf. on sec. 2 supra.
tuam: sc. claritudinem .
n3.6.9p : id: i.e., the good, explained by the ut -clause to follow.
ut imposita nobilibus necessitudo videatur = ut nobilibus necesse sit .
ne . . . degeneret: the implied subject is nobilitas ; some emend to degenerent and take the subject from nobilibus (see Gruber).
Metrum 6: All people are equally noble.
Meter: Dactylic tetrameter catalectic + ionic dimeter. The two units are separated by diaeresis.
n3.6.4m : ut: sc. dedit ; "just as he gave . . ."
n3.6.5m : animos celsa sede petitos: implies a pre-existence of the soul in some form.
n3.6.6m : germen: here, "origin, seed."
n3.6.7m : strepitis: here transitive: "why do you bleat on about family and forefathers?"
n3.6.8m : degener: literally, "unlike its own genus ," hence "base, degenerate."
n3.6.9m : vitiis: ablative of means.
Prosa 7: Pleasure brings no true laetitia .
n3.7.1p : loquar: deliberative subjunctive.
appetentia: "craving," with objective genitive.
n3.7.2p : illae: i.e., voluptates .
nequitiae: governed by fructum .
fruentium: governed by corporibus .
n3.7.3p : tristes . . . esse . . . exitus: accusative/infinitive.
libidinum suarum: genitive with reminisci ("to remember").
n3.7.4p : explicare: approximately the same meaning here as efficere .
nihil causae est quin: "there is no reason why not"; takes subjunctive.
lacunam: "emptiness, lack."
n3.7.5p : dictum est: the source for this aphorism is unknown.
nescio quem: < nescio quis , "someone, a man."
tortores: predicative. "One man found his sons to be his torturers." (Many manuscripts read tortorem ; in that case the aphorism would run, "it was some torturer who invented children." Cf. Gruber.)
neque alias . . . : "it is not necessary to remind you, [who have] both experienced [the truth of the saying] at other times, and [are] now anxious." Cf. Chaucer's version: "it nedeth nat to tellen it the that hast er this tyme assayed it, and art yit now angwysshous."
n3.7.6p : Euripidis: Andromache 418ff (a hundred lines after the passage quoted at the beginning of 3P6).
Metrum 7: Pleasure is sweet for the moment but leaves a bitter taste.
Meter: Anaclastic ionic dimeter (i.e., ionic dimeter with fourth and fifth elements reversed). Also known as anacreontic meter.
n3.7.1m : voluptas: subject of all the verbs in this poem; here, final syllable short.
n3.7.3m : par = similis , with genitive.
n3.7.5m : nimis tenaci: with morsu .
Prosa 8: The last five sections (3P3-7) are summarized briefly.
n3.8.1p : Nihil . . . dubium est quin: "It is not at all doubtful that," with subjunctive.
hae . . . viae: riches, high office, thrones, glory, pleasure.
eo . . . ad quod: "to that point . . . to which."
n3.8.3p : habenti: dative of separation (with verb of taking away).
Danti: < do , dare; present participle; dative with supplicabis , "you will entreat, pray to."
vilesces: "will grow cheap," i.e., "will cheapen yourself."
n3.8.4p : insidiis: dative governed by obnoxius ("exposed, vulnerable").
periculis: dative with subiacebis .
n3.8.6p : corporis: in apposition with rei .
n3.8.7p : prae se . . . ferunt: "esteem . . . more than themselves."
nituntur: "rely."
n3.8.8p : desinite: < desino , "cease."
his: i.e., spatium, firmitudo, celeritas ; ablative of cause.
qua regitur: cf. 2M8.30.
n3.8.9p : nitor: "elegance, beauty."
ut: "How . . . !" (exclamatory).
n3.8.10p : ut Aristoteles ait: in his (now lost) Protreptic (fragment B 105 D). Lynceus was one of the Argonauts, famed for his keen sight.
obstantia: < obsto , "obstruct."
introspectis visceribus: ablative absolute.
Alcibiades: brilliant younger Athenian contemporary of Socrates (see Plato's Symposium ), proverbially handsome and corrupt.
superficie: ablative of respect.
reddit: "renders, makes," with accusative/infinitive ( te pulchrum videri ).
n3.8.11p : quam vultis nimio: "as excessively as you wish."
dum: "provided that," with subjunctive.
triduanae: "lasting three days."
igniculo: diminutive < ignis , "fire."
n3.8.12p : illud: anticipates the quod (= "that") clause.
redigere in summam: "to sum up, to gather together in a whole."
haec: i.e., wealth, office, power, glory, pleasure.
quae: antecedent is bona .
ea: echoes the demonstrative pronoun ( haec ) for emphasis.
quasi quidam: "as, so to speak . . . "
calles: "paths"; cf. devia (3P8.1).
Metrum 8: To find true goodness, accurate knowledge is required.
Meter: Asclepiad (glyconic compouded with choriamb) alternating with iambic dimeter.
n3.8.3-8m : The sequence of absurdities points up the folly of looking for happiness in the wrong place.
n3.8.4m : vite: < vitis , "vine."
n3.8.5m : abditis: < abdo , "hide away"; present tense.
n3.8.6m : ditetis: < dito , "enrich."
n3.8.8m : Tyrrhena: "Etruscan." The Tyrrhenian Sea lies between Italy and the islands of Corsica and Sardinia.
n3.8.9m : quin: "but rather."
n3.8.10m : norunt = noverunt (< nosco ) : understand as subject those who pursue these things skillfully.
n3.8.11m : quae: with unda .
feracior: < ferax , "fertile, fruitful," modifies unda , takes ablative gemmis and genitive purpurae .
n3.8.13m : nec non: "and also."
n3.8.14m : echinis: < echinus , "shell-fish."
n3.8.17m : quod: antecedent is bonum .
transabiit: < transabeo , "pierce."
polum: here, as often, "the sky."
n3.8.19m : quid . . . imprecer?: "what curse should I utter?" Deliberative subjunctive.
n3.8.20m : opes honores = opes et honores ; asyndeton.
ambiant: "solicit, seek, strive for"; subjunctive in a clause of wish (i.e., the curse implied in 19).
n3.8.21m : falsa: sc. bona .
gravi mole: "with great effort/travail."
Prosa 9: True happiness is a whole indivisible into parts. Note that in this section P. still follows the list of kinds of happiness given in 3P3: sufficientia, reverentia, potentia, claritudo, laetitia .
n3.9.1p : Hactenus: "to this extent, up to this point."
mendacis: < mendax , "lying, untruthful."
ordo: "the order [of the argument]."
deinceps: adverb, "next."
vera: sc. felicitas .
n3.9.2p : contingere: "befall, come about (for)," with ablatives.
n3.9.3p : tenui: < tenuis , "slender"; with rimula : "chink, crack."
malim: < malo .
n3.9.4p : promptissima: "very ready at hand."
Quod: relative, corresponds to id in following clause.
natura: ablative.
traducit: "transforms."
egere: infinitive of egeo .
n3.9.5p : imbecillioris valentiae: predicative genitive of description.
hac: antecedent is re .
praesidio . . . alieno: "protection from outside."
n3.9.7p : contra: adverb, "on the contrary."
n3.9.8p : addamus: "let us add," hortatory subjunctive.
haec tria unum esse: "[that] these three [things] are [really] one [thing]."
n3.9.9p : Quid vero: "What then?" Cf. 3P8.2.
celebritate: "fame, high reputation."
n3.9.10p : Considera: "take care, watch out."
ne . . . egere . . . atque . . . videatur (sc. esse ) abiectius: negative purpose clause after a verb of avoidance. (Gruber reads egeat for egere , to simplify the construction.)
n3.9.11p : Non possum: "I am helpless, unable to act"; with the same force as "I am prevented," thus taking quin and subjunctive.
superioribus: "former."
nihil: adverbial accusative, "in no way."
n3.9.13p : egeat: here governs the genitive.
quod . . . possit: sc. facere .
n3.9.14p : superiora: sc. argumenta . As logician B. specifies that his assent is dependent on the earlier discussion.
n3.9.15p : per eadem: sc. argumenta superiora .
n3.9.16p : dispertit: "breaks up into portions."
ipsam: sc. rem , "the thing itself," as a whole.
affectat: "aims at, desires."
n3.9.17p : fuga: ablative.
n3.9.18p : valentia: "bodily strength, vigor" (< valeo , like potentia < possum ).
n3.9.19p : posse: treat as a verbal noun ("power") object of desiderat .
potentia: ablative with carentem .
nihili: genitive of value.
n3.9.20p : hunc: object of deficiant ; antecedent is Qui in preceding sentence.
quam multa: "how many things."
id: in apposition with potens esse .
n3.9.21p : ratiocinari: < ratiocinor , "argue, infer."
quod cetera: "which the others [are]," i.e., "as the others."
sit: the subject is unumquodque .
n3.9.22p : si . . . cupiat . . . velit: future-less-vivid condition; B. poses the condition as a question and P. states the conclusion as her answer.
n3.9.23p : singula quaedam expetendorum: "certain single things [e.g., sufficientia or claritudo ] of the [whole group of] things to be sought [the five components of true happiness]."
vestiganda: gerundive of necessity < vestigo , "search for, track, trace."
hoc: ablative of comparison.
n3.9.24p : Habes . . . causas: set out in 3P2-9.
in adversum: "in the other direction."
veram: sc. felicitatem , subject of the discussion from here till the end of Book 3.
n3.9.25p : vel caeco: "even to a blind man."
conaris: The present tense is hard to construe and must be a slip; various medieval scribes substituted the imperfect indicative or subjunctive ( conabaris or conareris ) to save the syntax.
n3.9.26p : B.'s cure has progressed far enough that he gives the definition here, rightly.
perficiat: "makes"; but the prefix per- implies bringing to completion, to perfection. The accusative adjectives ( sufficientem . . . clarumque ) represent states of fulfillment that will result from perfect felicitas .
n3.9.27p : me interius animadvertisse: "[that] I have understood more deeply."
quoniam . . . sunt: "since they are all the same thing."
n3.9.28p : te . . . felicem: accusative of exclamation.
n3.9.29p : ostensum est: < ostendo , "show, demonstrate."
n3.9.30p : Haec: sc. res mortales caducaeque .
imagines: for Platonic overtones, see on 3P1.5.
n3.9.31p : quae
quae
mentiantur: "feign, claim (falsely) to present."
superest: "it remains [for my argument]."
iam dudum: "for a long time"; here, as usual, followed by a present tense, which should be translated by an English present perfect.
n3.9.32p : Timaeo: Plato, Timaeus 27C; this dialogue on cosmology and creation was known in B.'s time in partial Latin translation and had been commented on in Greek by the Neoplatonist Proclus (5th century A.D.).
Platoni: dative after placet .
invocandum: sc. esse censeo .
n3.9.33p : quo praetermisso: ablative absolute.
exordium: technical term for a formal rhetorical beginning. The following solemn poem opens the second, positive half of the Consolatio , now that the negative argument of the first half is complete.
modulata est: < modulor , "perform musically"; here, "sing."
Metrum 9: A formal prayer for help to the creator and father of all things.
Meter: Dactylic hexameter (caesura usually after first syllable of third foot).
n3.9.2m : sator: "he who sows the seed," hence, "father."
n3.9.2-3m : qui tempus ab aevo ire iubes: "[you] who order time to go [forward] from eternity." Cf. Tim. 37D-E. All the creator's deeds are described in the present tense to suggest the eternal present in which he dwells. Some of what follows lies in the past, from the human point of view, some lies in the future.
n3.9.3m : stabilisque manens: Tim. 38A.
das cuncta moveri: "you give [cause] all things to be moved," almost = "you give movement to all things." Do with an infinitive is rare, but cf. line 22 below.
n3.9.4m : quem: sc. creatorem .
pepulerunt: < pello , "force, compel," governs accusative/infinitive ( Tim. 30A).
n3.9.5m : materiae fluitantis: genitive of description: creation is an opus made from instable and mutable matter.
verum: "but" (last syllable elides), introducing the true power behind creation, the insita summi forma boni .
insita: < insero , "graft, implant."
n3.9.6m : livore ("envy, malice") carens: Tim. 29E.
n3.9.6-7m : superno . . . ab exemplo: "from a heavenly model" (recalling the Platonic doctrine of Ideas). Cf. pulchrum . . . gerens (7-8).
n3.9.8m : simili imagine: the created world is created "in an image resembling" the supernum exemplum in the divine mind.
n3.9.9m : perfectasque . . . partes: "ordering perfect [i.e., complete in every way] parts to constitute a perfect [world]."
n3.9.10m : numeris: "with numbers," i.e., in mathematically harmonious proportions; examples follow.
n3.9.11m : conveniant: "correspond to."
purior ignis: fire was the lightest and most rarefied ( purior ) of the traditional four elements (earth-water-air-fire).
n3.9.12m : mersas: "plunged, submerged"; proleptic adjective \304\304 i.e., it anticipates what would happen (but does not) if gravity were to pull the land beneath the waters.
n3.9.13-21m : A description of creation is given following the specifically Neoplatonic interpretation of the Timaeus .
n3.9.13-14m : triplicis . . . naturae: Nature is comprised of mens , anima , and materia , of which anima is the middle element, distributed among and giving motion to all things, binding them together.
n3.9.14m : per consona membra resolvis: "you distribute [anima] through harmonious [i.e., fitting and appropriate] limbs."
n3.9.15-16m : Anima is divided in two parts, whose motions take the form of twin circles, which each returns eventually to its origin.
glomeravit: "gathered"; in a temporal cum -clause.
semet: the intensifying ending may be only for metrical reasons.
meat: < meo , "go, pass."
n3.9.16-17m : Anima encircles mens at the inner heart of being, and sets heaven moving in a similar circle (hence the observable motion of the skies).
n3.9.18m : causis . . . paribus: "by like causes."
animas: here indicates human souls, to contrast with vita s minores , lower life-forms.
provehis: "bring forward, cause to advance."
n3.9.19m : The higher ( sublimes ) spirits are assigned to less burdensome bodies on the journey of life.
n3.9.20m : seris: < sero , "plant."
quas: antecedent is animas .
n3.9.21m : reduci: < redux (here, "which brings back"), ablative of means with igne .
facis . . . reverti: "you cause to return."
n3.9.22-28m : A formal prayer closes the hymn.
n3.9.22m : augustam . . . sedem: cf. 3P2.1. The mind seeks to ascend to the heavenly father, by a recursus that brings the movement of creation full circle (cf. lines 15-17).
n3.9.23m : lustrare: here, "to contemplate."
n3.9.24m : conspicuos . . . visus: almost redundant, i.e. "a vision that sees [clearly]."
n3.9.25m : Dissice: imperative < dis(s)icio , "scatter."
terrenae . . . molis: cf. materiae fluitantis : matter weighs down the soul.
n3.9.26m : mica: imperative < mico , "flash, flicker."
Tu: sc. es .
serenum: in neuter, an abstract noun: "serenity [itself]."
n3.9.27m : te cernere: To see the creator is the finis rerum (cf. 1P6).
n3.9.28m : The creator is our principium (cf. 1P6), vector , etc.; the nouns are best taken as vocatives.
Prosa 10: P. discusses the equation of true happiness with true goodness.
n3.10.1p : demonstrandum: sc. esse .
n3.10.2p : in quo: an antecedent like argumentum must be supplied.
paulo ante: 3P9.26.
in rerum natura: i.e., in the world of sense and matter.
ne . . . decipiat: purpose clause following inquirendum .
praeter rei subiectae veritatem: "apart from [i.e., void of] the truth of the matter under discussion."
cassa: "empty of," with genitive.
n3.10.3p : id: antecedent is omne .
imminutione: "reduction, diminution."
perhibetur: < perhibeo , "call, describe."
n3.10.4p : in quolibet genere: "in any way, manner."
sit: subjunctive in result clause after fit (at the beginning of the sentence).
sublata: < tollo , "remove, take away."
unde . . . exstiterit: indirect question.
fingi: < fingo , "imagine [contrary to fact]."
n3.10.5p : inconsummatis: "uncompleted, imperfect things," contrasted with absolutis in the next clause.
haec extrema atque effeta: the material world of our experience ( effeta: "exhausted of fertility").
n3.10.7p : Quo . . . habitet: "where [true happiness] dwells."
Deum . . . bonum esse: indirect statement; bonum is predicative.
melius
quo: "than which"; ablative of comparison.
n3.10.8p : convincat: "proves, demonstrates."
n3.10.9p : eo: i.e., deo .
perfectum . . . bonum: object of possidens .
quod: antecedent is aliquid .
hoc: i.e., deo ; ablative.
minus: take closely with integris .
claruerunt: "have become obvious," i.e., "it has become clear (in the earlier argument) that . . ."
n3.10.10p : ne . . . prodeat (< prodeo , "go on, advance").
constituimus: in 3P2.11.
quod: "[anything] which."
n3.10.11p : quam: "how," taken with sancte atque inviolabiliter ("invulnerably").
id . . . quod . . . diximus: object of probes .
summum deum esse plenissimum: accusative/infinitive after diximus .
n3.10.12p : naturaliter: "by nature."
habentis dei habitaeque beatitudinis: "of God who has [happiness] and of the happiness that is had [by God]."
n3.10.13p : acceptum: sc. bonum .
praestantius . . . existimare possis: apodosis of the condition.
ab eo quod acceperit: "than that which accepted"; ab with ablative for the ablative of comparison is late Latin.
n3.10.14p : Quod: connecting relative; antecedent is bonum .
ratione: here, "faculty of reason."
fingat qui potest: "let him who can imagine."
diversa: i.e., God and happiness.
n3.10.15p : quod
quod
quo: antecedent is eo .
n3.10.16p : concluserim: potential subjunctive: "I would conclude."
n3.10.17p : refragari: "to oppose," takes the dative.
illis hoc inlatum consequens: "[that] this conclusion/inference (< infero ) is the consequence of [i.e., follows from] these [things]."
n3.10.18p : hinc quoque: "hence also."
idem: "the same thing."
esse: "to exist."
n3.10.19p : quae discrepant bona = bonorum quae discrepant: bona has been attracted into the relative clause.
alterum . . . alterum: "the one . . . the other."
neutrum: "neither."
alterutri: < alteruter , "the other one"; dative with deest .
n3.10.21p : reapse = re-apse ( -apse is an emphasizing suffix).
nec . . . nec . . . nec: the negative force of the conjunctions may be ignored in translation; it only repeats that of nihil .
n3.10.22p : veluti
geometrae: "those skilled in geometry."
quae: antecedent must be taken as aliquid , whose indefinite force allows it to be construed here with the plural relative.
porismata: Greek plural <
veluti
corollarium: originally "a trifling gift" (usually a crown of flowers, hence a diminutive of corolla ); Boethius uses it to capture the serendipitous quality of this conclusion: something unlooked-for but welcome. Cf. also 3P12.32 ( munusculum ).
n3.10.23p : adeptione: "by acquisition . . ." 24. uti: "just as."
sapientiae: sc. adeptione .
divinitatem adeptos: "[those men] having acquired divinity."
n3.10.25p : Omnis . . . unus: "Every happy man [is] a god, but by nature there is one [God]."
quam plurimos: "as many [as you like]."
n3.10.27p : hoc: ablative, refers to the argument to follow in 28.
his adnectendum esse: "must be connected to these [earlier conclusions]."
n3.10.28p : multa: accusative plural neuter.
utrumne . . . an: introducing an alternative question: whether happiness is the sum of its parts or whether a single quality embodies happiness, from which the other qualities arise. The question is restated in section 31 of the next paragraph. In classical Latin, the verbs would have been in the indicative.
veluti corpus: see on 22.
n3.10.30-43p : The five main constituent parts of happiness ( sufficientia , etc., from 3P2-8) are now considered again in light of B.'s fuller understanding of true happiness.
n3.10.30p : Addas: subjunctive with licet ; "you may add."
eadem . . . eadem . . . beatitudo: subject of all the verbs.
n3.10.31p : verticem: "highest point."
n3.10.33p : discretionem: "distinction, separation," applied to the components of the logical problem.
discreparent: "would differ."
n3.10.34p : alioquin: "otherwise."
quod fieri nequit: because coniuncta implies a joining together of more than one thing.
n3.10.36p : palam est: "it is clear that"; governing accusative/infinitive.
idem: object of coniectare .
n3.10.37p : expeti: present passive infinitive < expeto .
n3.10.38p : tamen si: "if still."
esse videantur: sc. bona .
summa, cardo atque causa: subject of esse videatur .
bonitas: predicate nominative.
n3.10.39p : cuius . . . causa quid expetitur, id: "that for the sake of which something is sought."
veluti: "as for example."
equitare: "to ride horseback."
n3.10.41p : sic quoque: "in this way also," i.e., by this argument also.
n3.10.43p : securo: "surely," adverb.
usquam alio: "anywhere in another place," i.e., "anywhere else."
Metrum 10: True happiness bestows a light brighter than the sun.
Meter: Phalaecean hendecasyllable alternating with sapphic hendecasyllable, except that line 2 is phalaecean where one would expect sapphic if the alternation were regular. In the sapphics there is a caesura after the fifth syllable.
n3.10.1m : Huc: "here, hither."
pariter: take with venite .
n3.10.6m : asylum: "place of refuge."
n3.10.7-9m : Tagus . . . Hermus . . . Indus: rivers of Spain, Asia Minor, and India, respectively; take donat with each.
n3.10.7m : aureis harenis: "golden (gold-bearing) sands."
n3.10.8m : rutilante: "reddish," from the color of the silt.
n3.10.9m : calido . . . orbi: i.e., the equatorial regions.
n3.10.10m : candidis: sc. lapillis , pearls.
virides lapillos: emeralds.
n3.10.11-12m : inlustrent . . . condunt: (1) plural subject to be taken from the gifts of the three rivers; (2) inlustrent is potential subjunctive (goes with non in line 7: its object is aciem : "sight") (3) magisque: "and instead" (lit.: "more").
n3.10.12m : suas: antecedent in the subject of the verb; these bright things have a darkness of their own.
n3.10.13m : Hoc: object of aluit (< alo , "raise, nourish") and antecedent of quicquid .
n3.10.15m : quo regitur . . . caelum: cf. 2M8.30, 1M5.47.
n3.10.17m : hanc lucem: i.e., splendor (line 15).
n3.10.18m : candidos: sc. esse .
Prosa 11: The Good and the One are the same.
n3.11.1p : nexa: < necto , "fasten, weave."
n3.11.2p : Quanti: genitive of value.
agnoveris: < agnosco , "recognize, understand"; future perfect.
n3.11.3p : Infinito: ablative of price.
pariter . . . quoque: emphatically repetitive.
n3.11.4p : modo: "provided that," with subjunctive ( maneant ).
paulo ante: 3P10.31ff.
n3.11.5p : ea: subject of four infinitives \304\304 esse, posse, fieri, habere \304\304 in indirect discourse after monstravimus .
idcirco: explained by the quoniam clause.
invicem: take with a se : "from one another."
cumque: introduces a causal clause depending on [ea] . . . non posse .
alteri: dative with abesset .
cum . . . colliguntur: circumstantial clause, depending on [ea] . . . fieri .
efficientiam: "efficacy, capacity for acting."
ut . . . iucunditas: result clause.
nisi . . . sint: protasis for a future-less-vivid condition, whose apodosis is furnished by [ea] . . . habere .
quo . . . numerentur: causal relative clause.
n3.11.6p : Demonstratum: sc. est . Answers the question, nonne monstravimus ?
n3.11.7p : Quae . . . fiunt: compound relative clause defining haec later in the sentence.
haec ut bona sint: result clause after a verb of making ( fieri ["to come to be, to be made"] . . . contingit ).
n3.11.8p : an minime: "or not?"
n3.11.9p : unum atque bonum: "The One and the Good."
n3.11.10p : Nostine = novistine .
pariter atque: "as soon as, at the same time as."
n3.11.11p : in unum coeunt: "come together as a single entity or unit."
utriusque: "of each, of both (body and soul)."
n3.11.12p : visitur: "is looked at, strikes the eye."
humana species: "outward appearance of a human being."
n3.11.13p : percurrenti cetera: "to one going over the rest of the argument."
aliud: "anything else"; take closely with minime .
n3.11.14p : quod: "[anything] which."
relicta . . . appetentia: ablative absolute.
n3.11.15p : considerem: subjunctive in protasis of mixed condition; cf. invenio in the apodosis.
nihil: "no [animal]."
nullis . . . cogentibus: ablative absolute.
extra: "from without."
abiciant . . . festinent: plural because of animalia ( AG 317d).
n3.11.18p : non est = nihil est .
quod: object of ambigere , antecedent assumed from non est .
primum: "first of all," in a sequence that continues through sec. 29.
innasci: "to be born in."
ubi . . . possint: purpose clause.
exarescere: "to dry up."
n3.11.19p : aliae: sc. herbae atque arbores .
quas: relative (antecedent: aliarum ) takes its case as object of transferre , but has also attracted the subject of arescant .
n3.11.20p : elaborat: "works for, takes pains"; governing the purpose clause, ne . . . intereant .
n3.11.21p : Quid quod: "What of the fact that . . ."
omnes: still of plants/trees.
ore demerso: ablative absolute.
alimenta: "nourishment."
per medullas . . . corticemque (< cortex ) : "through pith and bark."
robur: object of diffundunt .
n3.11.22p : Three layers are imagined: interiore . . . sede, extra ("outside [the inner layer]"), ultimus . . . cortex .
quadam ligni firmitate: sc. reconditur .
mali: objective genitive with defensor .
n3.11.24p : ad tempus manendi: "of lasting for a time"; manendi is genitive governed by machinas .
generatim: "after their kind."
n3.11.25p : Construe: nonne quaeque desiderant quod suum est? Quaeque echoes the demonstrative pronoun ( ea ) for emphasis.
n3.11.26p : nisi quod: "if not because."
singulis: "to each."
n3.11.27p : Porro autem: "but moreover"; introduces a further point.
consentaneum: "fitting, appropriate, suited."
sicuti: "in the same way."
n3.11.28-29p : Each of the traditional four elements (earth, water, air, fire) resists disunifying division in a characteristic way, thus revealing the importance of unity in the natural order.
n3.11.29p : liquentia: indicates transparency as well as fluidity and hence describes both air and water.
n3.11.30p : Conscious and unconscious volition are to be distinguished.
sicuti est quod: "such as [the fact] that."
acceptas: perfect passive participle, modifying escas .
transigimus: "we make to pass through."
spiritum ducimus: "we draw breath."
n3.11.32p : quam: sc. mortem .
contraque: "and on the contrary."
gignendi opus: "act of procreation."
n3.11.33p : sui caritas: "love of self." (This is the only occurrence of caritas in the Consolatio .)
animali: "of the animating spirit"; adjective.
quoad possunt: "insofar as they can."
n3.11.35p : indubitato: adverb.
n3.11.36p : hoc: i.e., unum esse . Without unum esse ( hoc enim sublato : ablative absolute) there can be no esse at all.
n3.11.37p : unum: "The One, Oneness."
quod bonum: sc. sit .
n3.11.38p : ita describas licet: "you may describe thus"; with indirect statement.
n3.11.39p : nihil unum: "no Oneness."
uno veluti vertice destituta: "devoid of Oneness as if [devoid] of its crowning point."
n3.11.40p : mediae veritatis notam: the phrase resists translation, but clearly indicates that the truth grasped is at the center of all philosophy.
Metrum 11: The truth lies within us already, to be discovered by exercise of memory.
Meter: Scazons ("limping" iambic trimeter). See on 2M1. In line 5 the first anceps (x) and the second long (-) are replaced by u u.
n3.11.2m : deviis: cf. 3P8.1.
n3.11.3m : revolvat: jussive subjunctive.
visus: genitive.
n3.11.4m : longos . . . motus: movements of the rational soul. (For the underlying idea, cf. Gruber.)
n3.11.5-6m : doceat: governs indirect discourse; construe: animum possidere (quicquid extra [animus] molitur) retrusum .
extra molitur: "work upon outside [itself]."
n3.11.6m : retrusum: < retrudo , "push back, hide away."
n3.11.7m : dudum: adverb with texit .
nubes: "cloud," nominative singular.
n3.11.10m : obliviosam: "bearing forgetfulness," with molem .
n3.11.11m : introrsum: "within," adverb.
n3.11.12m : ventilante: "fanning, stirring up," in ablative absolute, with doctrina .
n3.11.13m : rogati: nominative plural masculine; "when asked."
recta: accusative plural neuter.
n3.11.14m : fomes: "tinder, kindling."
n3.11.15m : personat: "makes resound, cries out."
n3.11.16m : immemor recordatur: "remembers forgetfully"; we might say, "unconsciously." Plato had taught that all knowledge comes by a process of recollection, or anamnesis; cf. Plato's Meno 82Cff for a convenient summary.
Prosa 12: God's goodness rules the world.
n3.12.1p : secundo: adverb, "a second time."
commemoras: "remind" someone (accusative) about something (genitive).
primum quod: "first because"; P. reminded B. of the doctrine first in his youth because, like all people, he had forgotten it when his soul entered the body (cf. 3M11); and second here in the Consolatio because he had lost sight of truth under a burden of sorrow.
n3.12.2p : priora . . . concessa: "the principles agreed to earlier [in the Consolatio ]."
illud: anticipates the substance of the following quin -clause.
n3.12.3p : Quibus . . . gubernaculis mundus regatur: 1P6.7.
fuisse confessum = confessum esse: < confiteor , "acknowledge, confess."
n3.12.4p : regi: passive infinitive < rego .
paulo ante: cf. 1P6.4-7.
quibusque . . . accedam: "the arguments to which I accede in this [matter]"; indirect question.
n3.12.5p : esset: the protasis is present contrary to fact (because this being continues to exist), even though the apodosis is past contrary to fact.
n3.12.6p : Coniuncta: accusative plural.
invicem: "from one another."
n3.12.7p : tam dispositos motus: "such orderly movements."
locis . . . qualitatibus: ablatives of respect with explicarent ; these five terms are a virtual inventory of the ancient philosophical terms for all possible forms of motion; cf. Gruber.
explicarent: "deploy, arrange"; sc., e.g., diversae partes .
n3.12.8p : usitato: "regularly used."
n3.12.9p : sospes: "safe and sound."
n3.12.11p : amminiculis: "means of support."
n3.12.14p : clavus atque gubernaculum: "rudder and helm."
mundana: "of the world."
n3.12.15p : te . . . dicturam: indirect statement with prospexi .
n3.12.16p : quod dicam: "what I am about to say"; the subject of patet .
n3.12.17p : bonitatis clavo: "with the rudder of [i.e., that is] goodness"; epexegetic genitive.
sicuti docui: 3P11.
voluntaria: "beings possessed of conscious will."
rectori: dative of agent with passive participle.
n3.12.18p : detrectantium iugum: "a yoke [upon the neck] for people who shrank [from it]."
obtemperantium salus: "safety and well-being for those who obey."
n3.12.19p : deo contra ire: "to go against God"; treat contra ire as a compound verb taking the dative.
n3.12.20p : quicquam: subject of proficiet .
beatitudinis: objective genitive with potentissimum .
n3.12.22p : regit cuncta fortiter suaviterque disponit: these words are thought by some to be a clear echo of Wisdom 8.1, attingit [sapientia]. . . fortiter et disponit omnia suaviter , a contention perhaps fortified by B.'s ensuing statement that the choice of words delights him more than the principle expressed. This is the clearest echo of any Christian scripture to be found in the Consolatio .
n3.12.23p : Quam . . . delectant: "How much . . . [they] delight!"
verum multo magis: "but much more[so]."
tandem aliquando: "at long last."
magna lacerantem: "tearing [down] great things"; the habitual action of stultitia . For stultitia , cf. 1P3.6ff.
sui: "of itself," genitive with pudeat .
n3.12.24p : lacessentes: "challenging, provoking."
Gigantas: The war of the giants against the gods (they were defeated with the aid of Hercules) made them proverbial figures for resistance to divine order.
uti condignum fuit: "as was most fitting."
n3.12.25p : visne . . . collidamus: "do you wish that we should bring into conflict . . .?" (Literally, "strike together": P. takes her image from the practice of striking stones together to make sparks.
dissiliat: "fly out"; potential subjunctive after forsitan .
n3.12.26p : omnium potentem = omnipotentem .
dubitaverit: past potential subjunctive.
mente consistat: "is unshaken in his mind."
n3.12.27p : Qui: antecedent is ille .
n3.12.29p : qui nihil non potest: "who is unable [to do] nothing," i.e., "who can do everything."
P.'s argument is coy, but the principle that evil does not really exist and is only the absence of existence was common among Platonists and Christians in this period.
n3.12.30p : Ludisne . . . me: "Do you make fun of me?"
quae: sc. Philosophia (subject of introeas ).
qua: sc . via .
quae . . . egrediare: causal relative clause.
egrediaris . . . egrediare: < egredior ; both present subjunctive second person singular.
introieris: < introeo , "enter"; perfect subjunctive.
simplicitatis . . . complicas: the two words from the same root but with opposed meanings emphasize the paradox of divine order: innately simple but complex from the point of view of human understanding. B. will continue to play with words containing the root -plic - through the rest of the Consolatio .
n3.12.31p : paulo ante: 3P10.17.
beatitudine: ablative of origin.
n3.12.32p : ex quo . . . dabas: "from which [argument] . . . you gave"; introduces indirect statement.
quasi munusculum: "as a sort of little gift"; cf. 3P10.22, veluti corollarium .
n3.12.34p : bonitatis gubernaculis: cf. 3P12.17, bonitatis clavo .
n3.12.35p : nullis extrinsecus sumptis: ablative absolute: "with no [premises] imported from outside"; taken by some to be a way of saying that no reference is made here to Christian revelation.
ex altero <altero> fidem trahente: "with the one taking its credibility from the other." The angle brackets indicate that the manuscript authority for the second altero is very weak, but editors agree that the word is necessary.
n3.12.36p : quem dudum deprecabamur: cf. 3P9.32-33 and 3M9.
exegimus: "accomplished."
n3.12.37p : dilabatur: "slips away, disperses."
Parmenides: cf. Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (28B 8, 43); the line is quoted by Plato ( Sophist 244E) and many Neoplatonists. Here again is evidence of B.'s 'Eleatic' loyalty (cf. 1P1.10).
n3.12.38p : nihil est, quod ammirere: "there is no reason that you should wonder."
Platone sanciente: ablative absolute; a reference to Timaeus 29B (the same part of the work which provided the content for 3M9).
didiceris: < disco ; perfect subjunctive, governs oportere .
cognatos . . . rebus . . . esse sermones: "for words to be related to the things . . ."
Metrum 12: We lose sight of what is above us when we pay too much heed to things that are below us.
Meter: Glyconic.
n3.12.1m : Echoes Vergil, Georgics 2.490ff (itself probably in praise of Lucretius), quoted above in note on 1M4.2.
n3.12.2m : Cf. 3M9.23.
visere: not merely "to see" ( videre ) but "to look at fixedly."
n3.12.6m : vates Threicius: i.e., Orpheus, the legendary poet and husband of Eurydice; invoked through antiquity for a variety of religious and philosophical doctrines. His song had magical power over nature and the animal kingdom. This poem is strongly indebted to Seneca, Hercules Furens , 569-589.
n3.12.7m : flebilibus modis: cf. 1M1.1-2.
n3.12.10m : latus: neuter accusative singular: iungere latus , "to stand side by side."
n3.12.12m : visum: modifies canem .
lepus: "hare."
n3.12.13m : iam cantu placidum: "already calm by virtue of [Orpheus's] song."
n3.12.14-15m : intima . . . pectoris: "inmost [depths] of [his] heart."
n3.12.16m : qui: sc. modi (line 17).
n3.12.18m : immites (sc. esse ) superos: indirect statement governed by querens (< queror , "complain").
n3.12.19m : infernas . . . domos: i.e., the underworld.
n3.12.22-25m : quidquid . . . quod . . . quod: objects of deflet (line 26).
n3.12.22-23m : deae matris: the muse Calliope.
n3.12.25m : luctum: object of geminans .
n3.12.26m : Taenara: object of commovens . Taenarum (in the southern Peloponnesus of Greece) was one of the legendary entrances to Hades. In the plural it stood for the underworld in general (as early as Seneca).
n3.12.28m : rogat: takes two objects ( veniam and dominos ).
n3.12.29-39m : Hell takes a holiday, music by Orpheus.
n3.12.29m : stupet: scan first syllable short, second long.
n3.12.29-30m : tergeminus . . . ianitor: Cerberus, the three-headed hound of hell.
n3.12.31m : quae: antecedent is deae : the Furies.
sontes: "the guilty ones," accusative plural.
n3.12.34-35m : Ixion was tortured endlessly on the wheel, for assaulting Juno.
n3.12.36m : longa: ablative with site (< sitis , "thirst").
n3.12.36-37m : Tantalus was punished by being placed in water which fell away whenever he tried to stoop and drink.
n3.12.38-39m : Tityus was chained down while vultures gnawed his liver.
n3.12.40-41m : arbiter umbrarum: probably Minos, legendary king of Crete and judge in the underworld.
n3.12.42m : comitem viro: "as companion to the husband."
n3.12.44m : coherceat: jussive subjunctive, placing a condition on the gift.
n3.12.45m : dum: "until."
liquerit: perfect subjunctive.
n3.12.46m : lumina flectere: i.e., look backward toward hell.
n3.12.47m : det: potential subjunctive: "Who could give . . .?"
n3.12.50m : Eurydicen: Greek accusative.
n3.12.51m : occidit: middle syllable short, "died"; to read the middle syllable long (i.e., "he killed [her]") would be unmetrical and redundant after perdidit .
n3.12.56m : lumina flexerit: cf. line 46.
n3.12.57m : trahit: "carries, bears."
n3.12.58m : dum videt: "when he sees."
book 4
Book Four
Prosa 1: B. laments the presence of unpunished evil in the realm of a good God. P. denies the charge and sets to demonstrate divine justice.
n4.1.1p : Haec: accusative plural; refers to contents of the preceding metrum.
dignitate . . . servata: ablative absolute.
cecinisset: < cano , "sing."
nondum penitus: adverbial phrase with oblitus .
intentionem . . . parantis: "the concentration . . . of a person making ready."
abrupi: < abrumpo , "break off."
n4.1.2p : praevia: "forerunner"; vocative.
quae: accusative plural, object of fudit (< fundo ); antecedent is the understood subject of patuerunt .
cum . . . tum: correlatives; "both . . . and."
sui speculatione divina: "divine in their contemplation," i.e., when one looks at them.
eaque: object of dixisti .
etsi oblita: "although forgotten"; sometimes, as here, the past participle of obliviscor is passive.
n4.1.3p : vel maxima: "the very greatest"; vel with superlatives emphasizes the very highest degree.
cum: "although."
omnino: "at all."
praetereant: "pass by," i.e., escape.
n4.1.4p : in locum facinorum: "in the place of crimes [which deserve to be punished]."
n4.1.5p : Quae fieri: accusative/infinitive governed by nec ammirari nec conqueri .
scientis . . . potentis . . . volentis: genitive participles modifying dei .
potentis omnia: "capable of all things"; in this passage B. frequently uses posse with a direct object meaning "to be able to do [something]."
nec . . . nec: "either . . . or" (in translation the negative force is supplied from nemo ).
n4.1.6p : infiniti stuporis: "a [source of] boundless amazement."
patris familias: "father of the household"; genitive singular.
dispositissima: "very well-ordered"; modifying domo .
n4.1.7p : ipso . . . auctore: ablative absolute, to be taken with cognosces ; i.e., God will be the source of B.'s next advance in knowledge.
id genus: "of this kind"; adverbial accusative.
n4.1.8p : quoniam . . . vidisti . . . agnovisti: "since you have seen [and] you know." Note asyndeton and translation of agnovisti (< agnosco ).
me dudum monstrante: i.e., in 3P10.
decursis omnibus: "having run over all the things."
n4.1.9p : ductu . . . semita . . . vehiculis: cf. 3M9.28.
Metrum 1: The mind has powers to ascend to its true homeland.
Meter: Dactylic tetrameter alternating with iambic dimeter. The tetrameter ends with the cadence u x.
n4.1.1m : mihi: dative of the possessor.
conscendant: subjunctive of purpose.
n4.1.4m : perosa despicit: "detesting, it looks down on."
n4.1.6m : postergum = post tergum .
n4.1.7m : quique = qui + -que ; antecedent is ignis verticem in line 8.
The movement of the 'ether' (above the atmosphere) was the source of such signs of fire as comets, meteors, and the Milky Way (so said Aristotle). In late antiquity the ilky Way was regarded as the pathway of souls on the way to highest heaven. (See Gruber.)
n4.1.9m : astriferas domos: "star-bearing houses," the zodiac signs.
n4.1.11m : gelidi senis: i.e., Saturn.
n4.1.12m : miles corusci sideris: subject of surgat , coniungat , and comitetur ; perhaps an allusion to Mars.
n4.1.13m : pingitur: "is decorated."
n4.1.14m : recurrat: "follows again" (i.e., the mind in its ascent follows the course of a star).
n4.1.15m : exhausti . . . satis: "enough of fatigue"; subject of fuerit .
n4.1.16m : polum . . . extimum: "outermost sky," cf. stabilem . . . orbem in 1M2.15.
n4.1.17-18m : The mind reaches the other side of the fast-moving ether ( dorsa velocis aetheris ) itself and so attains the domain of true, venerable ( verendi ) light.
n4.1.19m : Hic: "here."
regum: < rex , "king."
n4.1.23m : Huc: "to this spot."
n4.1.24m : quam: sc. patriam (see following line).
immemor: cf. 3M11.
n4.1.25m : dices: parenthetical.
n4.1.26m : sistam: < sisto , "cause to stand still, bring to a halt."
n4.1.27-28m : See on 2P7.23
Prosa 2: P. explains how the virtuous are really powerful, the wicked impotent.
n4.2.1p : Papae: see on 1P6.6.
modo: "just, only"; take with ne moreris (negative command).
moreris: here, "put off, delay."
n4.2.2p : adesse potentiam, malos . . . esse desertos: accusative/infinitive.
licebit: sc. tibi , "you may," governs agnoscas .
alterum . . . ex altero: "the one [proposition: e.g., potentiam semper adesse bonis ] . . . from the other."
n4.2.3p : bonum malumque: take throughout this section as abstract substantives (Good and Evil).
esse constiterit = sit . Literally, "shall be established to be"; this pleonasm probably comes from habitual preference for ending sentences and clauses with particular rhythms.
n4.2.4p : alterutro: "by each [in turn]."
n4.2.5p : omnis . . . constat effectus: "every accomplishment consists."
explicari: as often in B., "be accomplished, completed" (e.g., 3P7.4).
n4.2.6p : Deficiente . . . voluntate: ablative absolute; the equivalent of a conditional clause ( si deficit voluntas ).
aggreditur: "approaches," hence, "begins, undertakes."
n4.2.7p : huic: antecedent is quem ; dative with defuisse .
obtinendi: gerund, objective genitive with valentiam .
n4.2.8p : Quem: accusative subject of effecisse .
n4.2.9p : Quod . . . potest: see on 4Pl.5.
in eo . . . in hoc: each pronoun is antecedent for the preceding relative clause.
censendus: "must be thought."
n4.2.10p : superioribus rationibus: cf. 3P2.
n4.2.11p : Num recordaris: cf. 3P10.
n4.2.12p : indiscreta intentione: "with intentions that are not distinguished [from each other]."
n4.2.13p : certum: sc. est .
n4.2.17p : duo: sc. homines .
idem: "the same thing."
quam naturae convenit: "than accords with nature."
implentem: "the one who does fulfill [his intention]."
n4.2.20p : eiusque rei: i.e., ambulandi .
pedum: predicative.
Ne hoc quidem: sc. dubito .
n4.2.21p : manibus nitens: "relying on his hands."
n4.2.22p : potens: "[the one] in control of," with genitive.
eo: ablative of comparison.
n4.2.23p : boni: nominative plural, "good people."
adipiscendi boni: "of attaining the good."
idem ipsum: "one and the same thing."
n4.2.27p : praeeuntis naturae: "of Nature going on before."
n4.2.28p : in eo . . . quod solum . . . moliuntur: "in that . . . which alone . . . they strive for."
n4.2.29p : Sicut: begins a simile picked up by ita three lines below.
quo nihil ulterius pervium iaceret incessui: "where nothing further passable should lie open to [one's] approach"; i.e., "where you can go no further."
expetendorum: "of seeking after things."
quo nihil ultra est: "beyond which there is nothing else."
iudices: < iudico , subjunctive after necesse est .
n4.2.30p : quod huic obiacet: "what lies over against this," i.e., the converse.
n4.2.31p : inscitiane = inscitia + ne , ablative of cause; sc. est ; correlated with an sectanda noverunt .
sectanda: "the things to be pursued."
transversos: "sideways," i.e., off the right path.
intemperantia: sc. praecipitat .
n4.2.32p : omnino esse: "to exist at all." Compare the argument from 3P12.24-29, on the non-being of evil.
n4.2.33p : cuipiam: < quispiam , "someone, something."
n4.2.34p : eos malos esse: "that they are evil"; here esse is merely a copulative.
eosdem esse: "that they [the same people] exist."
n4.2.35p : uti: "just as," introducing a simile.
malos: predicative.
n4.2.36p : Est enim, quod: "For that thing exists which . . ."
ordinem retinet: "preserves the order [innate in things]."
esse: "(its) existence"; accusative verbal noun.
n4.2.38p : quae minime valerent: "which they would be unable [to do] at all."
n4.2.39p : possibilitas: abstract quality < posse (but not identical with potentia or potestas ); P. is being deliberately ironic.
n4.2.40p : idem: i.e., the summum bonum .
n4.2.41p : homines: accusative subject of posse .
idem: i.e., homines .
n4.2.42p : bonorum tantummodo potens: "capable only of good actions."
queant: takes accusative object ( omnia ) by analogy with posse .
n4.2.43p : Huc accedit quod: "there is added to this the fact that"; in a word: "moreover."
omnem potentiam . . . numerandam: sc. esse .
n4.2.44p : patrandi: < patro , "accomplish, achieve"; here, of a scelus , it has the sense of "commit."
n4.2.45p : minime dubitabilis: "indubitable."
Platonis . . . sententiam: Gorgias 466DE.
The distinction made between quod desiderent ("what they [really] want") and quod libeat ("what pleases/seems good") reflects a like subtlety in Plato. All men naturally desire the good (cf. 3P11), so a different expression must be found to describe the yearning of wicked men for evil.
n4.2.46p : probra: "disgraceful acts."
Metrum 2: Those who appear to exercise great power in this world are in truth impotent.
Meter: Trochaic dimeter plus ionic dimeter with a diaeresis.
n4.2.1m : Quos: antecedent is superbis (line 4).
n4.2.4m : cultus: "attire, trappings," genitive singular.
n4.2.5m : intus: "within"; metaphorically: "in reality, in spirit."
n4.2.6m : hinc: "hence".
versat: < verso , "keep turning," hence, "upset, disturb."
n4.2.7m : fluctus: accusative plural, object of tollens .
n4.2.8m : captus: < captus , "mental acuity"; accusative plural. Some manuscripts read captos , sc. dominos .
n4.2.9m : tot: modifies tyrannos ; the irony is that the tyrant is tyrannized by his own passions.
Prosa 3: Good men are like gods, while bad men are merely beasts.
n4.3.1p : caeno: "mud, filth."
probra: see on 4P2.46.
quo: antecedent is the situation summarized by the preceding sentence.
n4.3.2p : Rerum . . . quae geruntur: a mild anacoluthon (lack of grammatical consistency) with the rest of the sentence. The sense could be rendered more grammatically with a phrase like: In rebus gerendis .
currendi in stadio: "of running in the arena," depends on praemium in following line.
iacet: "lies ready at hand"; copulative joining a subject and predicate nominative.
n4.3.3p : est . . . propositum: perfect passive < propono .
n4.3.4p : bonis: "good people."
ultra: "any longer."
probos: < probus , "honest, upright."
n4.3.5p : Quantumlibet: adverb.
saeviant: concessive subjunctive.
decidet: < decido , "fall down, die"; often used of leaves in autumn (compare arescet , < aresco , "dry up, wither").
n4.3.6p : extrinsecus: adverb, modifying accepto .
accepto: sc. decore .
laetaretur: the subject is the sapiens of the previous sentence; note that the condition is contrary to fact, but with indicative in the apodosis, as often with possum .
hoc: sc. decus .
alius quispiam: "someone else," i.e., other than the giver ( ipse . . . qui contulisset ).
desierit: < desino , "cease"; future perfect.
n4.3.7p : compotem: see on 2P4.23.
expertem: < expers , "having no part in, without," with genitive.
n4.3.8p : cuius praemii: sc. expertem .
corollarii illius: cf. 3P10.22ff.
n4.3.9p : eo ipso: "by the very fact."
n4.3.10p : convenit: "it is appropriate/fitting."
est: note asyndeton.
deterat: < detero , "wear away, diminish."
fuscet: < fusco , "blacken."
deos fieri: predicative after est . . . praemium .
n4.3.11p : Quae cum ita sint: "And since these things are so . . ."
nequeat: potential subjunctive.
poenae: nominative plural.
adversa fronte: ablative absolute: "turned face-to-face."
quae . . . videmus accedere: "which . . . we see to happen."
contraria parte: "on the opposite side."
n4.3.13p : omnium malorum extremum: parenthetical exclamatory comment. The manuscripts all read extrema , implying that nequitia is the worst of evils; some editors print the emendation extremo , ablative of means with affecit .
affecit . . . infecit: affecit refers to external contact, infecit to internal penetration and permeation.
n4.3.14p : ex adversa parte bonorum: "on the other side [from that] of good people."
quae: interrogative adjective, modifying poena .
paulo ante: cf. 3P10.40; 3P12.33.
id: i.e., omne quod sit .
n4.3.15p : quod fuerant: "what they had been."
ipsa . . . reliqua species: "that . . . lingering appearance."
humanam: modifies naturam .
amisere = amiserunt < amitto .
n4.3.16p : ultra homines: "beyond [his fellow] men."
meritum: object of preposition infra ; but the correct reading may be merito (adverb, "deservedly"); hominis then is accusative plural, thus creating a clearer contrast with ultra homines .
deiecit . . . detrudat: subject of both is improbitas .
hominem aestimare: "judge [to be] a man."
n4.3.17p : Avaritia: ablative, governing objective genitive.
ereptor: "robber."
similem: "like," with dative.
n4.3.18p : inquies: "restless"; nominative singular.
n4.3.19p : subripuisse: < subripio , "steal, take by stealth."
vulpeculis: "to little foxes," dative.
n4.3.20p : Irae: objective genitive with intemperans : "failing to hold rage in check."
gestare: "carry around," i.e., "sport."
n4.3.21p : metuenda: "things one should fear."
n4.3.22p : asinum vivit: "he lives [the life of] an ass."
n4.3.23p : avibus: ablative with differt .
n4.3.24p : suis: < sus , "female pig, sow"; genitive singular.
n4.3.25p : beluam: "beast."
Metrum 3: The story of Odysseus's men turned into wild beasts by Circe illustrates the claims made in the preceding prosa.
Meter: Glyconic.
n4.3.1m : Neritii ducis: Odysseus. Neritos is both a mountain on Ithaca (Odysseus' home) and a smaller island nearby.
n4.3.2m : pelago: "the sea"; ablative of place where, with vagas .
n4.3.3m : appulit: < appello , -ere , "bring to land."
n4.3.4m : dea: i.e., Circe, daughter of the sun.
n4.3.5m : edita: nominative singular.
n4.3.7m : carmine: "by an incantation."
n4.3.8m : Quos: sc. hospites (line 6).
ut: "when."
modos: "forms, shapes."
n4.3.9m : herbipotens: "skilled with herbs"; apparently a Boethian coinage.
n4.3.10m : apri: < aper , "wild boar."
n4.3.11m : Marmaricus: "African"; Marmarica was a part of what is now Libya.
n4.3.14m : Human intent ( flere dum parat ) produces only a bestial result ( ululat ).
n4.3.15m : Indica: modifies tigris , nominative singular feminine.
n4.3.16m : tecta: "house, dwelling."
n4.3.17m : variis malis: ablative with obsitum (< obsideo , "surround, beset"), line 19.
n4.3.18m : Arcadis alitis: "of the winged Arcadian," i.e., Hermes/Mercury.
ducem: with obsitum ; object of both miserans and solverit .
n4.3.20m : hospitis: here, "of the host." Hospes refers to both host and guest in Latin, and in this poem (cf. line 6, "guests").
n4.3.21m : mala: modifies pocula .
remiges: "oarsmen," i.e., Odysseus's crew.
n4.3.22m : traxerant: "had drawn off, drained."
n4.3.23-24m : "Already swine, they had exchanged Ceres' foods [products of grain] for the acorn [and similar pig food]."
n4.3.26m : perditis: dative with manet .
n4.3.27-28m : The crew know the indignities they suffer.
n4.3.27m : super: adverb with stabilis , "above."
n4.3.28m : monstra: "portentous, misshapen things."
n4.3.29-30m : manum . . . gramina (< gramen , "herb") : accusatives of exclamation.
n4.3.31m : quae valeant: supply vertere from line 32.
n4.3.35-39m : P. contrasts the poisons that affected the bodies of Odysseus's crew with those (e.g., avaritia , ira : cf. 4P3.17f) that make the inner man bestial.
n4.3.37m : dira: modifies venena .
penitus: "all the way in."
n4.3.39m : mentis: scan both syllables long.
Prosa 4: The misery of the wicked.
n4.4.1p : quorum: antecedent is eis in following clause.
id ipsum: i.e., bonorum pernicie saevire .
n4.4.2p : convenienti loco: 4P6.
magna ex parte: "to a great extent."
n4.4.3p : cupita: < cupio .
n4.4.4p : potuisse: prava is still the object.
quo: antecedent is potuisse .
voluntatis: genitive with effectus , "the will's effectiveness," i.e., its power to influence action. Cf. 4P2.5 on potestas and voluntas .
n4.4.5p : singulis: "each," i.e., the three stages of crime ( velle , posse , perficere ) listed below; dative of possession.
n4.4.6p : cito: adverb, "quickly, soon."
patrandi sceleris possibilitate: cf. 4P2.44.
n4.4.7p : ocius: "more swiftly."
carituros (sc. esse ) : < careo , "be lacking."
metis: < meta , "boundary, limit."
serum: < serus , "late, long-delayed."
quod: relative (antecedent: aliquid ) introducing result clause.
quod exspectare: "to await which."
longum: sc. esse , in indirect discourse governed by putet .
n4.4.8p : Quorum: antecedent is the mali of sections 3ff.
machina: "machine," but particularly of military siege-works.
quod: antecedent is the preceding clause.
miserior . . . nequam: "it is necessary for the one (who is) wicked longer to be more wretched."
n4.4.9p : extrema: an adjective with force of an adverb, "at last."
infinitam . . . aeternam: wretchedness that is unlimited must be eternal.
n4.4.10p : concessu: ablative supine (< concedo ), with difficilis .
inlatio: "inference."
n4.4.11p : aequum est: ("it is equitable/fair") governs the subjunctive clauses ( demonstret . . . ostendat ) \304\304 compare necesse est .
efficacem: "productive of," with objective genitive (a later Latin construction).
nihil . . . causetur (< causor , "plead, quibble") : "there is nothing which can be cavilled at concerning the conclusion," i.e., "there can be no quibble about . . ."
n4.4.13p : Feliciores . . . esse: sc. dico or a similar verb of speaking.
n4.4.14p : veniat: potential subjunctive.
rectum: "[what is] right."
deduci: < deduco .
ceteris . . . exemplum esse: "and that others have an example."
culpanda: object of fugiendi .
ratio . . . respectus: almost interchangeable in meaning here; "account . . . attention," perhaps catch the idiom best.
n4.4.15p : quis: interrogative adjective, modifying modus .
praeter: "in addition to."
n4.4.16p : eo: sc. viro ; ablative of comparison.
n4.4.17p : multo: "much, by far," ablative of the measure of difference.
eo: see on 16.
n4.4.18-21p : The manuscripts (and most editors) give these sections in the following order: 20-21-18-19. See Gruber.
n4.4.18p : boni: partitive genitive with aliquid .
idemque: antecedent is improbi .
impunitas: in apposition with aliquid
iniquitatis merito: "by reason of inequity"; the construction of merito with the genitive in late Latin is similar to that of causa and gratia with the genitive in classical Latin.
n4.4.20p : puniri . . . elabi: infinitives in indirect statement (after iustum [esse] and iniquum esse respectively, which depend on manifestum est ).
n4.4.21p : illud: in apposition with the accusative/infinitive, bonum esse omne .
Liquere respondi: "I answered that it was clear." ( Liquere is the present infinitive related to liquet .)
n4.4.23p : alia: sc. supplicia (in both cases).
poenali: < poenalis , "penal, pertaining to punishment."
purgatoria clementia: "by forbearance that cleanses"; though the phrase has a Christian resonance already at this period, B. more likely has Platonic teaching in mind (see Gorgias 525Bff).
n4.4.24p : id . . . egimus ut: "we have brought it about that"; introducing a substantive clause of result.
longam: sc. licentiam (as with infeliciorem and infelicissimam ).
diuturnior: sc. est .
post haec: sc. argumenta , then supply a verb like videres or disceres .
iniusta impunitate dismissos: "let go with an unjust lack of punishment."
n4.4.25p : tum demum: "just precisely then."
urgueantur: variant spelling of urgeantur .
n4.4.26p : audienda: "worthy of a hearing."
n4.4.27p : assuetos: < adsuesco , "accustom."
intuitum: object of inluminat .
caecat: "blinds."
affectus: "feelings, emotions"; accusative plural.
n4.4.28p : Melioribus: dative.
conformaveris: jussive subjunctive with force of a proviso: "[Assume] you have conformed . . ."
nihil opus est: "there is no need of," with ablative ( iudice ).
n4.4.29p : deflexeris: cf. on conformaveris in 28.
trusisti: < trudo , "thrust down."
vicibus: "by turns, in turn."
cunctis extra cessantibus: "with all external circumstances giving way," i.e., being disregarded.
ipsa cernendi ratione: "by the means of seeing."
interesse: < intersum , "be present."
n4.4.31p : videntes: "[we] people who could see."
eadem: object of putaremus , here with dative, caeco ; "the same things as the blind man [thinks]." The manuscripts all read caecos , which makes little sense; caeco is deduced by comparison with a medieval Greek translation.
n4.4.32p : illud: anticipates the quod -clause.
adquiescent: "agree to," with accusative; subject to be inferred from beluis similes (4 lines above).
infeliciores eos esse: in apposition with illud . See on 21.
n4.4.34p : multipliciter: "in many ways."
n4.4.35p : si cognitor . . . resideres: "if you were to sit as judge."
cui: interrogative.
inferendum: sc. esse .
perpesso: < perpetior , "suffer"; here, "the victim," dative with satisfacerem .
dolore: ablative of instrument with satisfacerem .
facientis: "of the culprit" (i.e., of the one faciens iniuriam ).
n4.4.36p : inlator: "the one who brings, who inflicts" (< infero ).
n4.4.37p : Hac: sc. causa .
ea radice: explained by quod . . . faciat .
iniuriam . . . esse miseriam: accusative/infinitive after apparet .
n4.4.38p : contra faciunt: "do the opposite."
perpessi sunt: see on 35.
admittentibus: "the guilty ones," < admitto , "allow to approach," hence, "become guilty [by reason of admitting evil to one's presence]."
quos . . . duci oportebat: "who ought to be led."
culpae: genitive with morbos .
resecarent: "cut back, curtail"; sc. iudices as subject.
n4.4.39p : defensorum: "of defense attorneys."
frigeret: < frigeo , "grow chilly," hence "wane in influence."
n4.4.40p : aliqua rimula: ablative of means: rimula is the diminutive < rima , "chink, crack."
cruciatibus: < cruciatus , "torment, punishment."
viderent: governs accusative/infinitive: se deposituros [ esse ] sordes vitiorum .
ducerent: here as often, "think, consider."
n4.4.41p : oderit: < odi , "hate"; perfect subjunctive. Since this defective verb lacks a present system, the perfect tense is to be translated as present.
n4.4.42p : quidam: modifies morbus .
aegros corpore: "sick in body."
insequendi: < insequor , "pursue, persecute."
Metrum 4: Life is short: take pity on the wicked.
Meter: Phalaecean hendecasyllable, alternating with elegiac pentameter.
n4.4.4m : remoratur: < remoror , "hinder, delay."
n4.4.5m : leo: here, the second syllable is short.
aper: here, the first syllable is long.
n4.4.6m : idem: nominative plural, antecedent of quos .
n4.4.7m : an: governs whole sentence.
n4.4.10m : satis: adverb with iusta .
n4.4.11m : vis: < volo .
n4.4.12m : miseresce: imperative < miseresco , "have pity"; here governs dative.
Prosa 5: B. continues to object that the apparently unjust distribution of fortune's gifts is legitimate cause for dismay at the workings of providence.
n4.5.2p : fortuna populari: i.e., what the populus judges to be fortuna (but cf. the discussion of fortuna in Book 2).
perpendo: "weigh carefully, judge."
malit: < malo , malle .
n4.5.3p : testatius: comparative < testatus (< testor ), "manifest, public."
contingentes: "subject."
n4.5.4p : versa vice: "with the order reversed, vice versa"; ablative absolute.
quaeque = quae + -que .
ratio: here, "explanation."
n4.5.5p : Nunc . . . exaggerat: B.'s belief in God as rector exacerbates his outrage at the unfair distribution of fortune's gifts.
n4.5.6p : Qui: i.e., deus .
causa: i.e., the cause of this apparently unequal distribution.
n4.5.7p : ordinis: with ratione .
ne dubites: negative command.
Metrum 5: To understand an event, it is necessary to understand its causes.
Meter: (Unique to Boethius) The first half of each verse consists of two and a half feet (trochees in the odd numbered lines and iambs in the even numbered lines), to which is added an adonic, with diaeresis between the units.
n4.5.1m : Arcturi: cf. 1M5.21; Arcturus shines in the northern skies ( propinqua summo cardine ); with sidera , the reference may be to the bear or wain itself (cf. labi: < labor , "glide").
n4.5.2m : cardine: "pole" of heaven.
n4.5.3m : plaustra: the Great Bear/Big Dipper was also seen as an ox-drawn wagon.
Bootes: the constellation to which Arcturus belongs, thought by the ancients to be the wagon's driver.
n4.5.3-4m : tardus . . . seras: Bootes seems slow because his apparent motion (rotation around the pole star) in twelve hours of the night covers a smaller arc of the visible sky than that of stars further from the pole.
n4.5.5m : celeres . . . ortus: the image comes from optical illusion or from imagination, not astronomy.
n4.5.7m : Palleant: jussive, "let them grow pale".
n4.5.8m : metis: "by the boundaries," i.e., by the line of shade which crosses the moon in an eclipse.
n4.5.9m : quaeque = quae + que (antecedent is astra in line 10).
n4.5.10m : confusa Phoebe: the moon in eclipse.
n4.5.11-12m : Banging gongs was a superstitious practice thought to bring back the moon in an eclipse.
n4.5.12m : aera: < aes , "bronze."
n4.5.13-14m : flamina (< flamen , "gust")
n4.5.m : . . tundere: accusative/infinitive after miratur .
Cori: < Corus , the northwesterly wind.
n4.5.15m : nivis: genitive < nix , "snow."
frigore: ablative of means with duram .
n4.5.16m : solvier = solvi < solvo .
n4.5.17m : Hic: "here," i.e., on earth.
promptum est: "is easy."
18. illic: "there," i.e., in the heavens.
latentes: sc. causae .
n4.5.19m : cuncta: subject of cessent (line 22).
quae: object of both provehit and stupet .
n4.5.20m : subitis: "sudden occurrences"; ablative with mobile .
n4.5.21m : cedat: jussive subjunctive (the clause has the force of the protasis of a future-less-vivid condition): "[if] the cloudy error of ignorance should give way . . ."
inscitiae: genitive (scanned as three syllables, by treating the last -i - as a consonant: the practice is called synaeresis).
Prosa 6: The relation between providence and fate. (This is the longest single prosa of the Consolatio ; cf. 4P6.6.)
n4.6.1p : cum tui muneris sit: "since it's your task," predicative genitive.
hinc: "about this, from this question posed"; refers to B.'s complaint in 4P5; hinc for de hac re is late Latin.
miraculum: "marvel"; diminutive < mirum ; English sense of "miracle" is not present.
edisseras: < edissero , "explain in detail."
n4.6.2p : quaesitu: supine, with maximam ; < quaero , "inquire."
exhausti . . . satis: cf. 4M1.15.
n4.6.3p : una dubitatione succisa (< succido , "cut off, mow down") : ablative absolute.
hydrae capita: The hydra was a snake which grew a new head whenever the old one was chopped off. Hercules prevailed by cauterizing the hydra's wounds with a torch (cf. vivacissimo mentis igne below) to keep new heads from growing.
modus: "limit."
n4.6.4p : in hac: sc. materia .
fati serie: i.e., "chain of fate."
praedestinatione: the only occurrence of this word in the Consolatio ; cf. 5P2.11 for the cognate form praedestinata .
quae: i.e., all the abstractions just itemized.
quanti oneris sint: indirect question; quanti oneris is predicative genitive.
n4.6.5p : haec . . . te nosse: subject of est .
n4.6.7p : orsa: < ordior , "begin."
sortitur: "has as its lot," with accusative.
n4.6.8p : modum: "limit, rule, mode of conduct."
cum vero ad ea . . . refertur: "but when it [i.e., providence] is referred to those things . . . ," i.e., when considered in reference to them.
n4.6.9p : Quae: i.e., fatum and providentia .
suis . . . ordinibus: "in their orders, i.e., places in order."
n4.6.10p : digerit: "arranges"; with in motum , "sets in motion."
distributa: modifies singula .
in: governs prospectum .
adunata: < aduno , "unite, make one"; modifies explicatio .
n4.6.11p : fatalis: "of fate."
n4.6.12p : faciendae rei: "of the thing to be made"; to be taken with formam .
praecipiens: "holding/taking ahead of time." Cf. 3M9.8.
movet operis effectum = effecit opus .
praesentarie: "in a moment."
providentia: ablative of instrument.
temporaliter: "in time," i.e., subject to change and movement; note that multipliciter ac temporaliter exactly answers singulariter stabiliterque in the previous clause.
n4.6.13p : famulantibus: < famulor , "serve, attend upon," with dative; here modifies spiritibus .
exercetur: almost with an active sense, "works, acts."
anima: the "world-soul" of Neoplatonism is probably intended.
angelica: probably echoes Platonic doctrine as retailed by, e.g., Proclus (5th century) in commentary on the Republic of Plato (cf. Gruber); the same is true of daemonum .
gerenda: accusative plural neuter with quae .
n4.6.14p : superent: "transcend."
n4.6.15p : B. visualizes concentric spheres rotating about the same axis ( cardinem ). The inmost sphere approaches the simplicitatem medietatis (i.e., the immobility of the central point) and stands in the same relation to the outer spheres as the cardo stands to the inmost.
orbium . . . vertentium: genitive depends on intimus .
qui: sc. orbis .
extra locatorum: sc. orbium .
extimus: sc. orbis .
quanto . . . tanto: "so far as . . . to the same extent."
a puncti media individuitate: "from the indivisibility of a mid-point"; media is a transferred epithet.
illi . . . medio: "to that mid-point."
simili ratione: up to this point (from ut orbium . . . ) the sentence has been all simile; now the main clause begins.
prima mente: i.e., mente divina , but the turn of phrase is very Platonic.
vicinius: "more nearly."
n4.6.16p : Fati: genitive with necessitatem .
n4.6.17p : uti est: introduces four similes to describe the relation of the fati series mobilis to the providentiae stabilis simplicitas .
n4.6.18p : in se . . . temperat: "harmonizes to one another."
eadem: sc. series .
per similes fetuum seminumque . . . progressus: "by similar advances of offspring and seeds."
n4.6.19p : Haec: sc. series .
quae = et haec (sc. conexio ).
ipsas: sc. causas .
n4.6.20p : indeclinabilem: "constant, unvarying."
promat: < promo , "bring out, produce."
alioquin temere fluituras: "which would otherwise randomly dissipate away."
incommutabilitate: "immutability."
n4.6.21p : vobis . . . minime considerare valentibus: "to you . . . not at all able to consider."
suus modus: suus looks ahead to cuncta : "their own limit arranges all things, directing [them] to the good."
n4.6.22p : causa: "for the sake of . . ."
ne . . . improbis: "not even [when done] by the wicked themselves."
fiat: "is done."
quoquam: "in any direction."
deflectat: here intransitive.
n4.6.23p : tum . . . tum: "now (one one occasion) . . . now (on another occasion)."
n4.6.24p : ea: demonstrative force emphasized: "with such integrity" (specified by result clause ut . . . sit ).
degunt: "live, pass their lives."
uti existimant: "just as they judge [they are]."
n4.6.25p : depugnant: "fight it out."
n4.6.26p : temperiem: "harmonious balance of the elements," term borrowed consciously from medical usage.
n4.6.27p : miraculum: see on 4P6.1.
n4.6.28p : dinoscit = dignoscit , "distinguishes."
n4.6.30p : specula: "watchtower."
unicuique: < unusquisque , "each and every one."
accommodat: "furnishes, supplies."
n4.6.31p : hic: "here."
ab sciente: i.e., deo .
n4.6.32p : perstringam: < perstringo , "graze lightly, touch upon."
de hoc quem . . . putas: "of the one you think . . ."; another human being.
servantissimum: "most observant," < servans (participle < servo ).
omnia: object of scienti .
diversum videtur: impersonal; translate, "it seems otherwise."
n4.6.33p : Lucan, Bellum Civile 1.128; the gods side with Caesar (and give him victory) but Cato (a model of conscience and rectitude) sided with Pompey. B. misses Lucan's irony.
familiaris noster: Lucan was reputed a student of Stoicism.
n4.6.34p : citra spem: "this side of hope," i.e., falling short of what is hoped for.
n4.6.35p : bene moratus: "well-conducted."
animi viribus: cf. English, "strength of character."
adversi: partitive genitive with quid .
n4.6.36p : sapiens dispensatio: sc. dei .
laborare: "to struggle" under the burden of adversity.
n4.6.37p : absolutus: almost the same as perfectus ; cf. 3M9.9.
hunc contingi (sc. esse ) . . . nefas: indirect statement with hunc contingi as subject.
n4.6.38p : quidam me quoque excellentior: source is unknown; perhaps a late theosophic-philosophical text from the Hermetic tradition.
n4.6.40p : distribuit: sc. providentia .
quosdam . . . remordet: the ellipsis (inserted by Weinberger) marks the lack of an ablative of instrument. The point has been controverted by those who hold that remordet ("causes to worry") can stand with only the accusative object.
<sinit> agitari: the insertion of sinit is a conjecture; others emend agitari to agitat .
confirment: "make stronger"; subject is inferred from alios .
n4.6.41p : plus aequo: "more than is appropriate."
experimentum sui: "a trial of themselves."
n4.6.42p : saeculi: "of [this] world."
suppliciis inexpugnabiles: "unconquerable by tortures."
invictam . . . virtutem: accusative/infinitive in apposition with exemplum .
quae: i.e., the various fates described in 35-42.
disposite: "methodically."
ex eorum bono: virtually, "for their own good."
n4.6.43p : illud: subject of ducitur ; in apposition with noun clause, quod . . . proveniunt .
n4.6.44p : eos: sc. improbos .
malo: "by their evil"; on the text, cf. Gruber.
laeta: opposite of tristia (cf. optata in sec. 43).
quid . . . debeant iudicare: indirect question in apposition with argumentum .
famulari: see on 4P6.13.
n4.6.45p : illud . . . dispensari: "this thing is arranged," i.e., "this arrangement is made"; accusative/infinitive.
rei familiaris: "private property, wealth."
medetur: < medeor , "treat [a disease]," with dative.
n4.6.46p : Hic: introduces another hypothetical individual.
cuius: understand as antecedent a genitive with tristis amissio .
n4.6.47p : cladem: "ruin, disaster."
indigne acta: "unworthily handled."
quibusdam permissum (sc. est ) : there is no connective (asyndeton).
puniendi ius: "the right to punish," i.e., a civil magistracy.
causa: governs objective genitives exercitii and supplicii .
n4.6.48p : convenire: "to agree, come together."
n4.6.49p : a semet: "from himself," taken closely with dissentiat .
ipsis . . . vitiis: ablative absolute.
faciant . . . decernent: sc. viri .
n4.6.50p : Ex quo: antecedent vague; cf. sec. 47-49.
n4.6.51p : sibi . . . videntur: "they seem . . . to themselves."
rediere = redierunt .
dum: causal.
n4.6.52p : bona: predicative.
eis competenter utendo: "by using them [i.e., mala ] suitably."
elicit: "lure out, elicit, draw out"; subject is divina vis .
n4.6.53p : adsignata ordinis ratione: "from its assigned place in that order."
licet . . . ordinem: "although into another [order], nevertheless [into] an order."
temeritati: "unpredictable, random, disorderly action": dative with liceat .
n4.6.54p :
n4.6.56p : Hoc tantum perspexisse: subject of sufficiat .
proditor: a later Latin sense: "one who brings forth."
quod . . . disponat . . . eliminet: noun clause in apposition with hoc tantum . Classical Latin would prefer accusative/infinitive.
idem: modifying deus ; "one and the same."
in sui similitudinem: cf. 3M9.8.
n4.6.57p : quae: i.e., "evil things."
n4.6.58p : carminis . . . dulcedinem: postponed at 4P6.6.
haustum: "something to drink" (with medical overtones still).
Metrum 6: The world is ruled by an ordered plan. The poem has the same meter as 1M5, the same subject (order in the cosmos), the same number of lines, and the same outline:
1M5.1-24 order above 4M6.1-24
1M5.25-48 disorder below 4M6.25-48
Meter: Anapestic dimeter with diaeresis.
n4.6.1m : Tonantis: "the thunderer," i.e., Jupiter.
n4.6.2m : pura: ablative.
n4.6.6m : concitus: < concio , "rouse, provoke."
n4.6.7m : Phoebes: Greek genitive singular, "of the moon."
axem: literally, "axis," i.e., a fixed point of rotation; here, used for the rotation itself.
n4.6.9m : Ursa: antecedent of quae (line 8) and subject of cupit (line 12); the "great bear" never goes below the horizon for observers in the northern temperate latitudes.
n4.6.10m : occiduo: literally, "setting," thus "western" (where the sun and stars set).
lota: "washed," one way to spell the perfect passive participle < lavo ( lavatum and lautum also occur).
n4.6.17-18m : astrigeris . . . exulat oris: "is in exile from the starry shores."
n4.6.19-24m : Cf. 2M8.2ff, 3M9.10ff.
n4.6.20m : pugnantia: i.e., in conflict with the dryness to which they do in fact yield. (This word provides the only dactyl in a fourth foot in any of the four poems with this meter. The foot may in fact be a spondee with -tia pronounced as a single syllable by synaeresis.)
n4.6.21m : vicibus: "by turns."
n4.6.23m : pendulus: "hanging, poised"; fire is normally to be found balanced between the air and the ether.
n4.6.24m : sidant: "settle, subside."
n4.6.25m : vere: "in spring" (< ver, veris ).
n4.6.26m : spirat: here, "exhales, emits" with direct object ( odores ).
n4.6.30m : haec: accusative.
n4.6.32m : eadem: object of condit and aufert .
condit et aufert: both creates (cf. lines 30-31) and takes away (cf. line 33).
n4.6.33m : obitu . . . supremo: "in the final passing away."
orta: "things having arisen," i.e., "whatever has come to be"; object of mergens .
n4.6.38m : Cf. 3M9.3.
n4.6.39m : sistit: "causes to stop."
n4.6.40m : rectos: "straight, direct."
itus: "goings, courses"; first syllable scanned long, unclassically.
n4.6.43m : dissaepta: "separated as if by walls."
n4.6.45m : boni fine: i.e., by having the Good as their common goal.
n4.6.47m : converso rursus amore: The divine principle sets all things in motion but then in the end draws them back to rest in itself.
n4.6.48m : causae: dative with refluant .
esse: object of dedit ; translate, "being, existence."
Prosa 7: Everything that happens, including 'bad fortune,' is for the good.
n4.7.2p : Omnem fortunam: supply a verb like vides (sec. 1).
qui = quo , "how."
n4.7.3p : causa: "for the sake of," governing four preceding gerunds.
omnis bona: sc. est .
n4.7.4p : nixa (sc. est ) : < nitor .
n4.7.5p : inopinabiles: "unthinkable."
paulo ante: cf., e.g., 4P4.10.
et quidem crebro: "and indeed frequently."
n4.7.7p : visne . . . accedamus: "do you want us to agree . . .?" The point of view of the vulgus is taken through section 13.
n4.7.9p : Quae: sc. fortuna .
n4.7.10p : haec: sc. fortuna . 11. Quid vero: "But what about?"
iucunda: sc. fortuna .
num: begins question (expecting negative answer) and thus leaves construction of first part of sentence unfinished.
verum uti: "but [just] as."
n4.7.12p : reliqua: sc. fortuna . 13. Immo: "Quite the contrary . . ."
n4.7.14p : ne . . . confecerimus: clause of fearing or preventing ( vide here means virtually "beware").
n4.7.15p : evenit: governs accusative/infinitive, omnem . . . esse fortunam .
vel sunt: omit this vel in translation.
There are three classes to whom all fortune is good: those who have, those who approach, or those who are attaining virtue. By contrast, there is only one group to whom fortune is bad: those abiding in wickedness.
n4.7.16p : moleste ferre: "to take [it] badly."
n4.7.17p : quotiens (twice in this sentence) : "as often," hence, "whenever."
ut: "just as."
n4.7.18p : Utrique: "to both," i.e.,
huic: "to the vir fortis ," and
illi: "to the vir sapiens ."
materia: governs both gerundive phrases.
n4.7.19p : Ex quo: "Whence."
diffluere . . . emarcescere: "to wallow . . . to dry up"; infinitives of purpose after venistis .
n4.7.20p : acre: "bravely, ardently," adverb < acer .
conseritis: "you join [battle]."
n4.7.21p : medium . . . occupate: military imagery continues.
habet contemptum felicitatis = contemnit felicitatem . (The construction is used to parallel habet praemium .)
n4.7.22p : situm: sc. est .
Metrum 7 : Heroic endurance leads to success.
Meter: Sapphic hendecasyllable with caesura after the fifth syllable. The last verse is an adonic ( - u u).
n4.7.1m : bis quinis = decem .
operatus: < operor , "work, be occupied"; here, "having waged" (with accusative: late Latin).
n4.7.2m : Atrides: "son of Atreus," viz. Agamemnon, leader of the Greek expedition against Troy.
Phrygiae: i.e., Troy.
n4.7.3m : fratris: Menelaus, husband of Helen (whose absence is implied by amissos thalamos ).
n4.7.4-7m : In order to placate the goddess Artemis and secure favoring winds for his becalmed fleet on the way to Troy, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia at Aulis.
n4.7.6m : exuit patrem: "he put off [the role of] a father."
n4.7.7m : foederat: "had stained/defiled."
sacerdos: "[as a] priest," apposition with ille .
n4.7.8-12m : Odysseus's encounter with the Cyclops, Polyphemus.
n4.7.8m : Ithacus: "from Ithaca."
n4.7.10m : alvo: "belly."
n4.7.11m : caeco . . . ore: "blind visage"; causal ablative; Odysseus had put out the Cyclops's only eye.
furibundus: sc. Polyphemus .
n4.7.12m : rependit: "paid back."
n4.7.13m : celebrant: "make famous."
n4.7.13-31m : The twelve labors of Hercules, which won him divine status (lines 30-31), were given in various lists in antiquity; B. gives them in this order:
I) taming the Centaurs (line 14),
II) despoiling the Nemean lion (15)
( saevo . . . leoni: dative of separation),
III) slaughtering the Stymphalian birds (16)
( fixit: "transfixed," i.e., "shot"),
IV) stealing the golden apples of the Hesperides (17-18)
( laevam: accusative of respect with gravior , "weighed down in his left hand"),
V) chaining the (three-headed) hellhound, Cerberus,
and bringing him up to the light of day (19),
VI) feeding the stern Thracian Diomedes to his own horses (20-21),
VII) killing the Lernaean Hydra [see 4P6.3] (22)
( combusto: "burned up"),
VIII) shaming the river god Achelous in defeat, by breaking off his horns (23-24)
( Achelous: scanned short-short-long-short)
IX) killing the giant Antaeus (25)
( stravit: < sterno , "throw down, bring low"),
X) killing the half-man Cacus who had been plaguing Evander's city ( Aeneid 8.190f),
XI) capturing the Erymanthian boar (and bringing it back) (27-28)
( quosque: antecedent is umeros [28]), XII) holding the world on his shoulders \304\304 taking Atlas's place) (29-30, foreshadowed in line 27)
( inreflexo: "unbent").
n4.7.30m : pretium: governs genitive, ultimi . . . laboris .
n4.7.31m : caelum: in apposition with pretium .
n4.7.32-33m : celsa . . . via: probably the Milky Way.
n4.7.34m : terga nudatis: "bare your back," as you flee.
book 5
Book Five
Prosa 1: B. insists that P. explain the nature of chance (i.e., casus ); she denies that such a thing exists.
n5.1.1p : tractanda: < tracto , "handle, treat."
expedienda: < expedio , "extricate, disentangle [from confusion]."
n5.1.2p : dudum . . . dixisti: 4P6.2-4.
quaestionem . . . esse: accusative/infinitive in apposition with quod : "what you said, namely that . . ."
re: here, "in reality."
n5.1.3p : an . . . arbitrere (= arbitreris ) : indirect question.
esse . . . et quidnam esse casum: indirect statement: "[that] chance exists and what it is."
n5.1.4p : patriam: accusative of place to which.
n5.1.5p : cognitu: ablative supine < cognosco .
aversa: probably adjective: "contrary, in the wrong direction," with preposition a .
ne . . . possis: clause of fearing after verendum est ("it is to be feared").
emetiendum: "traversing" (gerundive of purpose).
n5.1.6p : loco: here, "opportunity, facility"; a dative of purpose.
fuerit: future perfect.
ea: object of agnoscere ("to understand").
n5.1.7p : omne: "every."
nihil: subject of ambigatur .
de sequentibus: "concerning the consequences [of your argument]."
ambigatur: potential subjunctive.
n5.1.8p : Morem . . . geram: < morem gero , "oblige, humor," with dative.
temerario: here, "accidental."
praeter subiectae rei significationem: "without signification of [any] subject"; i.e., casus is a word referring to no reality. Praeter regularly means "without" in later Latin.
quis . . . ullus: a pleonastic (redundant) later Latin combination; modifies locus . Translate: "what place . . . ?"
cohercente . . . deo: ablative absolute.
n5.1.9p : veterum: e.g., Parmenides (cf. on 1P1.10).
refragatus est: < refragor , "oppose, thwart," with dative.
id: the principle nihil ex nihilo existere , taken up by hoc below.
illi: sc. veteres .
de operante principio: "concerning the first mover," i.e., God.
materiali subiecto: "matter subject [to the first mover]."
omnium de natura rationum: "of all reasoning about nature."
n5.1.10p : possibile est: governs the accusative/infinitive, casum . . . esse .
qualem: antecedent is huius modi in the previous line.
paulo ante: 5P1.8.
n5.1.11p : iure: "by rights, justly."
lateat: "escape the notice of," here with accusative vulgus .
n5.1.12p : Aristoteles . . . in Physicis: Aristotle, Physics 2.4-5; more closely parallel is Metaphysics 1025a14ff.
propinqua: with genitive.
n5.1.13p : gratia: with genitive cuiuspiam rei .
aliudque: take closely with quam ("than") quod intendebatur .
obtingit: "happens, befalls."
ut si: introducing a hypothetical example.
defossi: < defodio , "dig up."
n5.1.14p : fortuito: adverb, "by chance."
operatus: sc. esse .
n5.1.15p : eo loci: "in that place"; loci is partitive genitive.
n5.1.16p : compendii: "profit."
quod: sc. compendium .
obviis sibi: "encountering each other."
gerentis: "of the one carrying out [the deed]."
n5.1.17p : ut: introducing purpose clause after intendit .
quo: sc. loco .
hunc fodisse: accusative/infinitive with convenit and concurrit .
n5.1.18p : in his: "in these matters."
ob aliquid: "for some purpose."
n5.1.19p : suis: "their own"; refers to cuncta .
Metrum 1: Apparent chance is subject to the laws of causation.
Meter: Elegiac couplets. See on 1M1.
n5.1.1-8m : The Tigris and Euphrates rivers arise from a single source (this was a common belief in antiquity); there is an order in nature that keeps them from joining again (an event whose results would be chaotic). (For the phenomenon in lines 1-2 cf. English "Parthian shot.")
n5.1.1m : Rupis: genitive singular.
Achaemeniae: "Persian," (Achaemenes was the first Persian king).
versa: accusative modifying spicula .
n5.1.2m : pugna fugax = pugnatores fugaces .
n5.1.3m : se . . . resolvunt: "free themselves, get loose."
n5.1.4m : abiunctis . . . aquis: ablative absolute.
n5.1.6m : confluat: sc. id (explained by the quod -relative clause that follows.)
alterni: "of each," the Tigris and the Euphrates.
quod: object of trahit .
n5.1.7m : convenient: future indicative in a mixed conditional.
vulsi: participle < vello , "tear up, uproot."
n5.1.8m : modos: here (often in later Latin), "appearances."
n5.1.9m : quos . . . vagos . . . casus: object of regit . Quos is connecting relative ("and these").
n5.1.9-10m : terrae declivia (< declive , "slope, incline") . . . gurgitis et . . . ordo: compound subject of regit (singular by agreement with the nearest element of the subject).
n5.1.11m : permissis . . . habenis: ablative absolute, "with the reins allowed [to slip], unchecked."
fluitare: "to move unsteadily, wobble."
n5.1.12m : ipsa: sc. fors .
Prosa 2: P. asserts the existence of human freedom of will even under the reign of divine providence.
n5.2.2p : haerentium sibi: "closely attached to each other."
arbitrii: "of choice." Where we speak of "free will," Latin writers are more inclined to speak of "free choice of [i.e., exercised by] the will."
n5.2.3p : fuerit: potential subjunctive, "would there be."
quin: "without"; with subjunctive after a negative main clause.
eidem: dative with adsit .
n5.2.4p : quod: subject of potest ; antecedent of id in next clause.
uti: < utor .
se: refers to the subject of the main clause.
n5.2.7p : substantiis: "entities, natures."
optatorum: genitive with efficax ; see on 4P4.11.
praesto est: "is at hand."
n5.2.8p : liberiores quidem: contrasts with minus [sc. liberas ] vero to follow.
speculatione: "contemplation."
dilabuntur: "slip away, disperse."
corpora: these bodies are a mid-point between pure spirit and terreni artus ; it was common Neoplatonic doctrine that spirit and matter could not interact directly without some such intermediary.
minusque etiam: "and still less."
colligantur: "gathered [and hemmed in] by."
n5.2.9p : deditae: sc. animae ; "given over [to]," with dative.
rationis propriae: objective genitive with possessione .
n5.2.10p : quibus: dative governed by gerunds that follow.
n5.2.11p : Quae . . . cuncta: object of prospiciens .
ab aeterno: "from all eternity."
Metrum 2: The creator sees and hears all things everywhere.
Meter: Dactylic tetrameter catalectic. Since dactylic lines of fewer than six feet normally end in - u u, the ending - - is catalectic.
n5.2.1m : Iliad 3.277 (of the sun), modified slightly to fit the syntax: after canit (verse 3) Phoebum is the subject accusative and
n5.2.3m : melliflui oris: genitive of description.
n5.2.4m : qui: sc. Phoebus .
n5.2.4-5m : intima viscera terrae . . . aut pelagi: object of perrumpere .
n5.2.11m : Past, present, and future.
n5.2.13-14m : solus . . . solem: note word-play.
Prosa 3: B. sketches the problems raised by the apparent conflict between divine foreknowledge and human freedom.
n5.3.2p : quibus perturbere (= perturberis ) : indirect question.
n5.3.3p : praenoscere . . . esse: the infinitives with their accusative subjects are the compound subject for videtur .
n5.3.4p : falli: < fallo , "deceive."
providentia: ablative, with word-play.
n5.3.5p : ab aeterno: cf. 5P2.11.
nescia falli: "which does not know [how] to be deceived"; modifies providentia .
n5.3.6p : si aliorsum: "if otherwise."
detorqueri: in a "middle" sense, "to twist away."
valent: sc. voluntates (sec. 5).
n5.3.7p : quidam: Many ancient writers, pagan and Christian, suggested the argument Boethius now rejects.
n5.3.8p : ideo: "for this reason."
necessarium hoc: "this necessity."
The gist of this proposal is that providence, not the foreseen act, is bound by necessity.
n5.3.9p : esse . . . esse: infinitives in indirect discourse (continued after aiunt [sec. 8]).
contingere . . . provideri: infinitives governed by necesse esse .
quasi vero . . . laboretur: "as if indeed one were laboring [to find out] . . ."; with indirect question, quae . . . sit .
praescientiane . . . providentiae: in apposition with causa .
illud: explained by the acusative/infinitive, necessarium esse eventum .
n5.3.10p : A hypothetical example.
atque e converso rursus: "and again on the other hand."
quoniam: here, "that," introducing indirect statement after opinio . This construction is common in later Latin.
n5.3.12p : quoniam: here, twice, "because, for the reason that" (explaining idcirco in previous line).
praecessit: "preceded," (subject is accusative/infinitive, quempiam sedere ).
n5.3.14p : Similia . . . ratiocinari patet: "it is possible to reason out similar things," i.e., "to reason similarly."
idcirco . . . ideo: "for this reason . . . for that reason."
provisa
quod: "which," antecedent is the whole preceding clause.
perimendam: gerundive of purpose < perimo , "kill, destroy."
n5.3.15p : praeposterum: "preposterous," in its root sense of "out-of-order, confused."
ut . . . eventus . . . dicatur: noun clause, subject of praeposterum est .
praescientiae: genitive governed by causa .
n5.3.16p : arbitrari: governs the accusative/infinitive deum futura . . . providere .
quae . . . acciderunt: subject of esse .
n5.3.17p : Ad haec: "[in addition] to this"; introduces further corroboration, in the simile, sicuti . . . ita . . . .
n5.3.18p : aliorsum atque: "otherwise than."
n5.3.19p : qui = quo , "how."
n5.3.20p : impermixta: "un-mixed."
n5.3.21p : quod: "that," explaining causa .
n5.3.22p : futura: sc. esse .
n5.3.23p : non . . . modo: "not only": "not only to think this is nefas , but even to utter it."
n5.3.25p : quid: "to what extent?"
refert: "differ [from]," with ablative; the usage is later Latin.
vaticinio: "prophecy, incantation."
Tiresiae: genitive < Tiresias , the blind Theban soothsayer. The quotation is from Horace, Sermones 2.5.59, a parody of Tiresias's conversation with Ulysses in the underworld.
n5.3.26p : praestiterit: "shall have excelled," with ablative of comparison.
uti homines: "as men [do]."
incerta: sc. esse .
n5.3.27p : incerti: partitive genitive with nihil .
praescierit: future perfect < praescio .
n5.3.29p : Quo: sc. argumento .
occasus: "fall, ruination."
n5.3.31p : ad alterutrum: i.e., to goodness or to wickedness.
n5.3.32p : quicquam: "at all"; adverbial.
fuerint: potential subjunctive.
quoque = quo + -que , "and, than which . . ."
fit: in a hypothetical discussion you would expect fiat , but the indicative renders the imagined state more vivid.
n5.3.33p : sperandi . . . deprecandi: "hoping [for] . . . praying away."
n5.3.34p : vicem: "recompense, reciprocation."
gratiae: The only occurrence in the Consolatio of this word in a sense approaching its Christian use.
qui: antecedent is commercium , but gender is from modus .
illique inaccessae luci: "and to that unapproachable light"; dative with coniungi . Prayer brings God and man together in a limited way before the final union of the afterlife.
prius . . . quam = priusquam .
impetrent: sc. lucem .
n5.3.35p : Quae: i.e., hope and prayer.
recepta futurorum necessitate: ablative absolute.
virium: partitive genitive (< vires ) with nihil .
n5.3.36p : paulo ante: 4M6.43
fatiscere: figurative: "become exhausted, drained of strength."
Metrum 3: B. puts his perplexity into verse.
Meter: Anapestic dimeter with diaeresis. The last verse is a monometer (- u u - -).
n5.3.3m : veris . . . duobus: "two truths."
n5.3.4m : carptim: "in parts, piecemeal."
n5.3.6m : No diaeresis between halves of verse in this line.
n5.3.9m : oppressi luminis igne: for oppressi ignis lumine (transferred epithet: here for metrical reasons). The light of the mind is caecis obruta membris , hence does not shine.
n5.3.11m : flagrat: sc. mens .
notas: "signs, indicators."
n5.3.13m : Scitne: "Does [the mind] know [already] . . . ?"
n5.3.14m : nota: < nosco .
n5.3.15m : caeca: nominative singular.
n5.3.17m : nescita: accusative plural, the opposite of nota (line 14).
n5.3.20m : mentem . . . altam: i.e., the divine mind.
summam et singula: "the whole and its parts."
n5.3.22m : condita: sc. mens humana (from line 8).
membrorum: sc. corporis (see note on line 9).
n5.3.23m : in totum: "completely."
sui: see on 1P2.6.
n5.3.26m : neutro . . . habitu: "in neither condition"; specified in 26-27.
n5.3.29m : alte visa: "things seen on high."
n5.3.30m : servatis: "to the [parts] retained (i.e., remembered)." Compare the discussion of memory's role in 3M11.
Prosa 4: P. begins to explain providence and freedom of the will with an analysis of kinds of cognition.
n5.4.1p : M.que = Marcoque (Cicero is meant); a dative of agent with the participle agitata .
distribuit: "categorized" ( De Divinatione 2.8ff, but the reference is not particularly apt).
vestrum: partitive genitive with ullo .
n5.4.2p : ammoveri: "approach," in a middle sense.
nihil ambigui: "nothing ambiguous, no ambiguity."
n5.4.3p : moveris: here, "are troubled."
expendero: < expendo , "assess accurately."
n5.4.4p : illam solventium rationem: "this method of those who resolve [the problem]"; cf. 5P3.7.
n5.4.5p : futurorum necessitatis: "of the necessity of future events."
non evenire non possunt: both negatives must be translated.
n5.4.6p : praenotio: "foreknowledge."
adicit: < adicio ; here, "adds, contributes."
paulo ante: 5P3.9.
quid est quod: "why is it that . . . ?"
voluntarii: "resulting from acts of the will," with exitus .
n5.4.7p : positionis gratia: "for the sake of argument"; positio here is a logical term (compare English "posit").
statuamus: "let us assume."
n5.4.8p : quantum . . . attinet: "as much as pertains to this," i.e., "as for that."
n5.4.9p : esse . . . iniungere: sc. praescientiam as subject.
n5.4.10p : necessario: adverb, "necessarily."
ea esse ventura: accusative/infinitive after signum est .
n5.4.11p : quid sit: "what is."
n5.4.12p : nihil non ex necessitate contingere: i.e., that everything does occur by necessity.
haec . . . illa: sc. necessitas . . . praenotio .
n5.4.13p : The same insistence on avoiding arguments drawn from without characterized the central exposition of Book 3 (cf. 3P12.35).
subnixam: "relying, resting on," with ablative.
n5.4.14p : habuisse: supply ea (from beginning of sentence) as subject accusative.
n5.4.15p : fiunt: "are being done, are happening." Fio is used in this sense throughout secs. 15-20.
ut ea: "such as those . . ."
quadrigis: "four-horse chariots."
aurigae: "charioteers"; subject of spectantur .
atque . . . cetera: "and other [examples] of this sort."
n5.4.19p : illud: object of dicturum .
nullum: "no one," subject accusative of dicturum (classical usage would dictate neminem ).
n5.4.20p : nihil . . . necessitatis: "no necessity."
n5.4.22p : videntur: subject must be supplied from earum rerum in the preceding sentence.
n5.4.23p : incerti . . . exitus: genitive singular.
id esse caliginem: sc. patet or apparet .
aliter . . . ac: "otherwise than."
arbitrari: "to think," with force of noun, "thinking"; subject of esse .
n5.4.24p : ipsorum: antecedent in quae sciuntur .
n5.4.25p : sui = suam .
cognoscentium: "of the ones doing the knowing."
n5.4.26p : visus . . . tactus: nominative, "vision . . . touch."
eminus: "out of reach."
iactis radiis: "rays darted forth"; sc. oculorum ; ancient physiologists explained sight as the result of rays that shot out from the eyes to the object seen.
cohaerens: "clinging to," with dative.
circa ipsum motus ambitum: "having moved around its perimeter." For the voice of motus see on ammoveri (5P4.2).
n5.4.27p : sensus: the physical sense of sight.
imaginatio: the mental power to create images of things unseen.
ratio: the power to reason from particulars to universals.
intellegentia: the understanding of the unity that underlies the multiplicity of forms.
n5.4.28p : in subiecta materia: "in matter subject [to the figura imposed on it]."
n5.4.29p : universali consideratione: i.e., "by consideration or comparison with that which is universal" (cf. Platonic ideas/forms; in sec. 32 infra, universales species ).
n5.4.30p : exsistit = est , as often in later Latin.
supergressa: < supergredior , "pass beyond"; sc. intellegentia .
universitatis: here, "the universe."
n5.4.31p : amplectitur: "embraces," here: "includes."
n5.4.32p : aliquid: "at all"; adverbial accusative.
concepta forma: ablative absolute (cf. forma in sec. 30).
quae: antecedent is cuncta .
nulli alii: dative; i.e., not to sensus , imaginatio , or ratio .
n5.4.33p : cognoscit: subject understood is intellegentia .
ut ita dicam: "so to speak."
n5.4.34p : quid universale: "something universal"; one of the forms.
n5.4.35p : Haec: i.e., ratio .
universale: here, "the universal form."
The definition of man is a sample of ratio 's way of knowing; cf. 1P6.15 for a similar definition.
n5.4.36p : cum: "although."
nullus = nemo .
illa: sc. ratio .
n5.4.37p : collustrat: "surveys."
imaginaria ratione: "by the method of imaginatio ."
n5.4.38p : cuncta: subject of utantur .
sua: modifies facultate , contrasts with eorum .
n5.4.39p : iniuria: "wrongly"; adverbial.
Metrum 4: P. asserts the powers of the mind against Stoic doctrines of the mind as tabula rasa .
Meter: Glyconic.
n5.4.1m : Porticus: "The Porch," i.e., the Stoa of Athens, where under Zeno was born the Stoicism that is attacked in these lines.
n5.4.4m : corporibus: second syllable scanned long here.
extimis: "outermost," i.e., alien from the spirit within.
n5.4.6m : ut: "just as."
quondam: "sometimes."
n5.4.6-9m : The image is from the stylus-marked wax tablet, the everyday writing material of antiquity.
aequore: any smooth, level surface; ablative of place where with figere (line 9).
n5.4.10-11m : propriis . . . motibus: "by its own activity."
n5.4.13m : notis: here, the impressions made on the senses.
n5.4.14m : cassas: "empty, insubstantial."
in speculi vicem: "in the manner of a mirror."
n5.4.18-20m : singula . . . cognita . . . divisa: accusative plural.
n5.4.22-23m : Compare the description of P. in 1P1.2.
n5.4.24m : sese referens sibi: "bringing itself back to itself," after considering all things lofty and deep.
n5.4.26m : efficiens magis = efficientior .
n5.4.26-27m : efficiens . . . causa: technical term of logic: "efficient cause."
n5.4.27m : longe: with potentior , for emphasis.
n5.4.28m : quae: sc. causa .
materiae modo: "in the manner of matter."
n5.4.32m : passio: "suffering, experience" (cf. patitur ); some bodily experience (at least sensory impression) precedes mental activity.
n5.4.36m : species: object of both vocans and applicat , attracted into the relative clause.
n5.4.38m : notis . . . exteris: " notae [coming from] outside."
n5.4.39m : introrsum: adverb with reconditis .
Prosa 5: P. continues to distinguish human from divine modes of understanding.
n5.5.1p : corporibus: "bodies," the material objects accessible to the senses; in corporibus sentiendis = cum corpora sentiantur .
forinsecus: "outwardly."
obiectae qualitates: "qualities that present themselves"; subject of afficiant .
insignitur: "is marked, characterized."
ea, quae: Chaucer's gloss in his translation at this point suggests "as God or his angels".
absoluta: "freed from."
expediunt: "accomplish, unfold, carry out."
n5.5.2p : cognitiones: "[modes of] knowledge"; i.e., sensus , imaginatio , ratio , intellegentia .
n5.5.3p : quaeque alia = et alia quae .
imaginatio: sc. cessit .
iam: "already (as we move up the hierarchy of creatures)."
n5.5.4p : tantum: "only" (for variation, B. uses the adjective sola in the next clause).
proprium: sc. subiectum ; i.e., that which is subject specially and particularly to it.
n5.5.5p : ratiocinationi: i.e., the activity of ratio .
dicentes: with sensus imaginatioque .
n5.5.6p : This section gives the argument made by sensus and imaginatio (hence the accusative/infinitive construction) against ratio and its claims ( ratio 's response is in section 7).
sibi notum sit: an impersonal verbal construction ( sibi = rationi ) introducing accusative/infinitive, plura . . . subiecta .
n5.5.7p : si ratio . . . esse credendum: protasis of a condition; for the apodosis we must wait for the clause beginning with nonne .
se quidem: answered by illa vero two lines later.
illa: sensus et imaginatio .
firmiori . . . iudicio: dative with credendum esse ("one must believe").
in . . . lite: "in a quarrel of this sort."
n5.5.8p : quod: "that."
futura: object of intueri .
ut: "in the way that, as."
n5.5.9p : disseris: 5P3.19.
certo: adverb; modifying praesciri .
n5.5.10p : quam: relative pronoun, antecedent praescientia .
n5.5.11p : uti: "just as," answered by ita .
sicuti: answered by sic .
n5.5.12p : erigamur: passive form for intransitive action: "let us lift ourselves up." This ascent is possible only in light of the corollarium at 3P10.22.
id . . . est: "i.e."
quonam . . . videat . . . praenotio: indirect question, governed by videbit .
neque = et non , continuing the indirect question.
Metrum 5: The position of mankind is between earth and heaven.
Meter: Archilochean (dactylic tetrameter plus an ithyphallic, with diaeresis). "The ithyphallic . . . is the second half of a catalectic iambic trimeter taken after the caesura after the second anceps." (See Rosenmeyer, Ostwald, Halporn, The Meters of Greek and Latin Poetry , 89.)
n5.5.2m : extento . . . corpore: ablative of description.
verrunt: "sweep."
n5.5.3m : vi pectoris incitata: "urged along by strength of chest"; B. is describing the motive power of reptiles.
n5.5.4m : sunt quibus: "there are those for whom"; a second category.
levitas: subject of sit (understood), verberet , enatet .
n5.5.5m : liquido . . . volatu: "in smooth, easy flight."
enatet: "swims along through," metaphorically.
n5.5.6m : haec: a third group of animals.
solo: < solum , "ground."
n5.5.7m : transmittere vel subire: "to go across or enter under."
n5.5.8m : Quae . . . omnia: sc. animalia ; quae is connecting relative.
n5.5.9m : prona . . . facies: "downcast visage"; cf. B.'s posture earlier (1P1.14).
n5.5.10m : cacumen: for caput ; cf. 1P1.2.
n5.5.11m : levis: modifies gens .
recto = erecto .
n5.5.12m : Haec . . . figura: i.e., mankind's erect posture.
male: with words having a bad sense, "very much"; cf. the English "badly."
n5.5.13m : exseris: "stretch forth" (an inquisitive posture).
n5.5.14m : feras: iussive subjunctive.
pessum: adverb, "all the way down."
n5.5.15m : corpore levius levato: ablative of comparison.
Prosa 6: Divine knowledge sees from the vantage point of eternity and thus knows all that has happened and will happen without impeding freedom of human voluntary action.
n5.6.1p : paulo ante: 5P4.24.
n5.6.2p : Deum . . . esse: accusative/infinitive, subject of est .
n5.6.4p : ex collatione: "from comparison."
n5.6.5p : crastinum . . . hesternum: sc. spatium ; "tomorrow's . . . yesterday's."
n5.6.6p : Aristoteles: De Caelo 283b.26ff.
n5.6.7p : licet: take closely with infinitae .
futura . . . transacta: "things to come . . . things past."
n5.6.8p : pariter: "equally, all at once."
idque . . . assistere . . . habere: accusative/infinitive after necesse est .
assistere: "to be present/at hand."
infinitatem . . . habere: Though time is full of motion and boundless, it is nonetheless seen from the point of view of eternity as though it were all simultaneously present.
n5.6.9p : visum: sc. esse .
Platoni: B. has in mind an interpretation current in his time of passages such as Statesman 270A, Timaeus 28B. On the significance of the issue for interpretation of the Consolatio , cf. Gruber.
n5.6.10p : totam . . . praesentiam: object of complexum esse .
n5.6.11p : proprietate: "by [i.e., as] a property."
n5.6.12p : praesentarium statum: i.e., a condition in which all things are perceived as if present, with no past or future.
effingere: "make an image, imitate."
aliquatenus: "to some extent."
quibuscumque contigerit: "to whatever things it touches."
id: i.e., ut esse videantur , "that they seem to exist."
n5.6.13p : eundo: gerund < eo, ire .
n5.6.14p : Platonem: cf. Timaeus 37D. The formal distinction between eternity and perpetuity really originated among Greek Neoplatonists, perhaps with Proclus.
n5.6.15p : supergressa: modifying scientia ; see on 5P4.30.
quasi iam gerantur: "as if they [sc. omnia ] were now (i.e., all in present time) being carried on."
n5.6.16p : dinoscit: sc. deus .
instantiae: "present moment."
n5.6.17p : praevidentia . . . providentia: plays on the meanings of the prefixes prae - (before in time) and pro - (before in space).
quod: "because."
porro a rebus infimis: "far from the lowliest of things."
n5.6.18p : cum ne homines . . . videant: as argued 5P4.4ff.
n5.6.20p : praesentis: participle as substantive, "the present."
temporario: "temporal," the opposite of eternal.
n5.6.21p : olim: "at some time."
n5.6.23p : dispiciens: "seeing clearly."
praesentium . . . futurarum: sc. rerum .
ad condicionem . . . temporis: "with respect to their status in time"; i.e., "from a temporal point of view."
n5.6.24p : exstaturum: < exsto , "exist."
quod idem: antecedent is quid .
non nesciat: the negatives cancel each other out.
n5.6.25p : rem: here, "proposition."
divini speculator: "one who contemplates the divine."
n5.6.26p : idem futurum: "the same future [event]."
n5.6.27p : condicionis: "condition," in the grammatical/logical sense.
n5.6.28p : simplicem: sc. necessitatem .
n5.6.29p : voluntate: ablative of cause with gradientem .
n5.6.31p : non desinunt: "do not leave off from."
n5.6.33p : Quid . . . refert: "What does it matter?" The answer is Hoc scilicet , specified by the following noun clause.
instar: "likeness," with the genitive; subject of eveniet .
n5.6.34p : paulo ante: 5P6.22.
unum: sc. sol oriens .
alterum: sc. gradiens homo .
n5.6.36p : sicuti . . . singulare: cf. 5P5.5ff.
ad se ipsa: plural, though the antecedent ( omne ) is singular.
n5.6.37p : propositum: "intention."
n5.6.38p : id te posse: indirect statement governed by intuetur .
an facias quove convertas: indirect questions governed by intuetur .
n5.6.39p : meane = mea + ne .
illa: sc. scientia divina .
noscendi vices: "changing forms of knowing."
n5.6.40-48p : This editor's punctuation makes the last lines of the Consolatio spoken by B.; most editors disagree. Some even give minime to P.
n5.6.40p : praevenit: "forestalls, heads off."
n5.6.41p : Quam . . . praesentiam: "and this presentness," i.e., this ability to experience things as if they were all present simultaneously.
n5.6.42p : paulo ante: 5P3.15.
n5.6.43p : praesentaria: ablative.
posterioribus: "to things [logically] later in order."
n5.6.44p : intemerata: "unspoiled."
n5.6.45p : desuper: adverb; with speculator (which has an implied verbal force).
concurrit: "concurs, corresponds."
n5.6.47p : Aversamini: imperative < aversor , "turn aside."
necessitas: the Consolatio ends with a piece of word-play.