Anicius Manlius Severinus Boetius, Of the consolation of philosophy in five books / made English and illustrated with notes by the Right Honourable Richard, Lord Viscount Preston.

PROSA II.

BUT now I would discourse thee a little in the Stile and Person of Fortune, and observe whether her Questions be reasonable or not. First; Why, O Man! dost thou by thy daily Complaints accuse me as guilty? What Injury have I done to thee? What Goods or Advantages have I withdrawn from thee? Im∣plead me before what Judg thou pleasest, con∣cerning the Possession of Wealth and Digni∣ties, and if thou canst prove that ever any Man had a true and fix'd Propriety in them, I will then readily grant, that those things were thine which thou dost so earnestly desire to be resto∣red to thee. When Nature first brought thee

out of the Womb into this World, I received thee naked, necessitous, and stripp'd of all things, and (which now is the Cause of thy Impatience against me) I indulgently educated thee, I heaped my Blessings upon thee, and en∣compassed thee with Glory and Splendor, and with an Affluence of all things which were in my Power; now when I have a mind to with∣draw my Bounty, and to stop the Current of my Favours, be thankful for the Use of that which was not properly thine. Thou hast no just Cause of Complaint, for thou hast lost no∣thing which was thy own: Why then dost thou mourn? I have done thee no Wrong. Riches, Honours, and all other things of that kind, are subject to me, and in my Power; they are my Servants, and acknowledg me their Mistress; they come with me, and when I depart they follow. I dare boldly affirm, that if those things (the want of which thou dost now deplore) had been thine own, thou hadst not lost them: Shall I alone be forbid to exercise my own Power, and to use my own Right? Heaven takes the liberty to bless the World with fair and sunny Days, and again to vail them in dark and cloudy Nights. The Year graces the Face of the Earth with Fruits, and bindeth her Head with Chaplets of Flow∣ers; and again she destroys these with Rains and Frosts. 'Tis lawful also for the Sea now to

appear with a calm and smooth Brow, and a∣gain to rage in Storms and Tempests: And shall the boundless Covetousness, and other depraved Affections of Men, oblige me to Con∣stancy, which is so contrary to my Nature and Customs? This is my Power, and this my con∣tinual Sport and Exercise. I turn with a flying Motion the rolling Wheel, pleasing my self to exalt what was below, and to depress and humble what was on high: Ascend then, if thou pleasest, to the height, but upon this con∣dition, that thou shalt not think I do thee an In∣jury if I make thee descend when my Sport or Humour require it. But art thou not acquaint∣ed with my Ways and Methods? Dost thou not know that(e) Croesus King of the Lydians, who, not long before, having been formidable to Cyrus, and being taken by him, was led to the Flames, to be a miserable Sacrifice to his Fury; was delivered by a Shower, which in that Moment was poured down from Heaven?

Hast thou forgot how Paulus Aemilius, Con∣sul of Rome, when he had taken(f) Perseus King of the Macedonians, was grieved, and even wept for his Sorrows and Captivity? What doth the Tragick Buskin more exclaim against than Fortune, overturning with an un∣distinguishing Stroke the Happiness and Peace of Kings and Common-wealths? Dist thou not learn, when thou wert young, that Jupiter, at the Entry of his Palace of Olympus, doth al∣ways reserve two great(g) Tuns; out of the one of which he dispenses Good, out of the other Evil to the World? What if thou hast drunk too deep of the Vessel of Good? What if, for the present, I have only vailed my self, and am not wholly departed from thee? What if even this very

Mutability, so much complained of, which is of my Essence, should give thee just Cause to hope for, and expect better things? Yet do not despair, be not dismayed; nor desire, whilst thou art plac'd within the common Circum∣stances of Humanity, to live under a Law, to be calculated for thy Meridian, and to be ap∣propriated to thy Complexion and Inclinations.

Notes

• (e)

  Croesus.] He was the last and the richest King of the Lydi∣ans, who having been once overcome by Cyrus King of the Persi∣ans, and rebelling against him, he was condemned to be burnt: He being upon the Pile, cried out, O Solon, Solon, Solon: Cyrus asking him who Solon was, he answered, Solon was a very wise Man, who long since told me, that no one was happy in this Life, which I now find by experience. Then Cyrus considering the Changeableness of Fortune, ordered the Fire which was made for the Execution to be extinguished; but a Shower from Heaven fell down, and put it out before he could be obeyed.
• (f)

  Perseus.] The Son of Philip, last King of the Macedoni∣ans, was overcome by Paulus Aemilius, the Roman Consul, at Sa∣mothrace, and with his Sons led in Triumph: When he was first taken, and brought before Paulus, he, pitying his Fortune, wept, and commanded him to sit down by him.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• (g)

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] This Doctrine of the Platonists Boetius learnt when he was a young Student at Athens: For those Philoso∣phers finding that the Souls of Men, which they believed were formed long before they were joined to the Bodies, did some of them live miserable, and some of them more happy, feigned that two great Vessels did stand before the Gates of Jupiter's Pa∣lace; one of which was filled with Good, the other with Evil: of either of which, as the Souls which were to be infused into Bodies did drink, they were to have an happy or a miserable Lot upon Earth.