Consolation of Philosophy, The

<h3><SPAN name="Page_195" id="Page_195" />V.</h3> <p>On this I said: 'I see how there is a happiness and misery founded on the actual deserts of the righteous and the wicked. Nevertheless, I wonder in myself whether there is not some good and evil in fortune as the vulgar understand it. Surely, no sensible man would rather be exiled, poor and disgraced, than dwell prosperously in his own country, powerful, wealthy, and high in honour. Indeed, the work of wisdom is more clear and manifest in its operation when the happiness of rulers is somehow passed on to the people around them, especially considering that the prison, the law, and the other pains of legal punishment are properly due only to mischievous citizens on whose account they were originally instituted. Accordingly, I do exceedingly marvel why all this is completely reversed&mdash;why the good are harassed with the penalties due to crime, <SPAN name="Page_196" id="Page_196" />and the bad carry off the rewards of virtue; and I long to hear from thee what reason may be found for so unjust a state of disorder. For assuredly I should wonder less if I could believe that all things are the confused result of chance. But now my belief in God's governance doth add amazement to amazement. For, seeing that He sometimes assigns fair fortune to the good and harsh fortune to the bad, and then again deals harshly with the good, and grants to the bad their hearts' desire, how does this differ from chance, unless some reason is discovered for it all?'</p> <p>'Nay; it is not wonderful,' said she, 'if all should be thought random and confused when the principle of order is not known. And though thou knowest not the causes on which this great system depends, yet forasmuch as a good ruler governs the world, doubt not for thy part that all is rightly done.'<SPAN name="Page_197" id="Page_197" /></p> <h3>SONG V.<br/>Wonder and Ignorance.</h3> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span>Who knoweth not how near the pole<br/></span> <span class="i2">Bootes' course doth go,<br/></span> <span>Must marvel by what heavenly law<br/></span> <span class="i2">He moves his Wain so slow;<br/></span> <span>Why late he plunges 'neath the main,<br/></span> <span>And swiftly lights his beams again.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>When the full-orb&egrave;d moon grows pale<br/></span> <span class="i2">In the mid course of night,<br/></span> <span>And suddenly the stars shine forth<br/></span> <span class="i2">That languished in her light,<br/></span> <span>Th' astonied nations stand at gaze,<br/></span> <span>And beat the air in wild amaze.<SPAN name="FNanchor_M_13" id="FNanchor_M_13" /><SPAN href="#Footnote_M_13" class="fnanchor">[M]</SPAN><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>None marvels why upon the shore<br/></span> <span class="i2">The storm-lashed breakers beat,<br/></span> <span>Nor why the frost-bound glaciers melt<br/></span> <span class="i2">At summer's fervent heat;<br/></span> <span>For here the cause seems plain and clear,<br/></span> <span>Only what's dark and hid we fear.<br/></span></div> </div> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><SPAN name="Page_198" id="Page_198" /> <span>Weak-minded folly magnifies<br/></span> <span class="i2">All that is rare and strange,<br/></span> <span>And the dull herd's o'erwhelmed with awe<br/></span> <span class="i2">At unexpected change.<br/></span> <span>But wonder leaves enlightened minds,<br/></span> <span>When ignorance no longer blinds.<br/></span></div> </div> <div class="footnotes"><p class="center">FOOTNOTES:</p> <div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_M_13" id="Footnote_M_13" /><SPAN href="#FNanchor_M_13"><span class="label">[M]</span></SPAN> To frighten away the monster swallowing the moon. The superstition was once common. See Tylor's 'Primitive Culture,' pp. 296-302.</p> </div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />