The Consolation of Philosophy

I was called Elpis, a foster-daughter of the Sicilian region,
Whom the love of her husband drove far from her native land.
Without whom, the day is sad, the night anxious, the hour tearful.

A decorative divider consisting of seven small, six-pointed star-shaped ornaments.

Now, a stranger, I rest in the sacred porticoes,
Having witnessed the throne of the eternal Judge.

After the death of Elpis, Boethius took a second wife, Rusticiana, the daughter of the senator and consular man Symmachus, from whom he received two sons who displayed the appearance of their father's and grandfather's intellect. And he calls these "consular," not because they had been Consuls, but because they were born of a consular man.

There followed afterward the third and final consulship of Boethius, which he held with his father-in-law Symmachus, in the year of Christ DXXII 522 AD, in the LXVII 67th year of his age. Yet, it was not ambition or the hope of gain that impelled Boethius to seek this, or other honors, but the common pursuit of the good. And it seems that Symmachus was given as Consul by the Senate of New Rome Constantinople, but Boethius by the Senate of Old Rome. To this Symmachus, Boethius inscribed a little book composed by himself, "On the Holy Trinity against the errors of Nestorius and Eutyches." For Boethius was, first and foremost, a student of Holy Theology; and at that time, he was all the more intent on it because he saw the orthodox opinion regarding the Holy Trinity being vehemently attacked by the Arian Ostrogoths and their King Theodoric. He wrote, therefore, "On the Unity of the Trinity: whether the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are predicated substantially concerning the divinity." Furthermore, "On the Faith, to John the Deacon: and on the two natures in Christ." But by publishing these works, Boethius incurred the hatred of King Theodoric, and came under suspicion of having formed a plan to change the state of the Republic and to restore liberty to Italy. Nor were there wanting those who, on this occasion, rose up openly against him and attacked the authority of the Consul: against all of whom Boethius, relying on the conscience of an upright mind, strongly opposed himself, and did not fear to undertake the enmity of the powerful for the sake of defending the Republic and the rights of private citizens.