The Consolation of Philosophy

PROEM

...sitting in his prison, distraught with grief, indignant at the injustice of his misfortunes, and seeking relief for his melancholy by writing verses that describe his condition. Suddenly, the divine figure of Philosophy appears to him, disguised as a woman of superhuman dignity and beauty. Through a series of discourses, she convinces him of the vanity of regretting the lost gifts of fortune, raises his mind once more to the contemplation of the "True Good," and clarifies the mystery of the world’s moral governance.