The Consolation of Philosophy

in speech. Let it suffice to have foreseen this, that God, the creator of all natures, disposes all things while directing them to the good: and while He hastens to retain those things which He has brought forth in His own likeness, He eliminates all evil from the boundaries of His commonwealth through a series of fatal necessity. From this, it happens that those things which are believed to abound on earth, if you look at the disposing Providence, you will perceive to be nothing of evil anywhere. But I have seen for a long time now that you are both burdened by the weight of the question and fatigued by the prolixity of reason, and are waiting for some sweetness of song. Receive, therefore, a draught, by which, refreshed, you may contend more strongly for what lies ahead.

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only to have foreseen Delph., Hack.—³ Ms. Rittersh. and Nuremberg edition: eliminates.—⁴ You will perceive to be anywhere Delph., Hack.

NOTES

[...] we cannot explain with words: for Homer says it best in the Iliad, M: “But it is difficult for me,” etc., that is: but it is difficult for me to utter all these things as if I were God.

METRE VI.

If you desire to notice the providence of the highest God, with a diligent and pure mind, con-

NOTES

ᵖ Laws of the Thunderer] The providence of God: for since this ‘Providence,’ as stated, ‘is the divine reason established in the supreme prince of all things, which disposes all,’ this is not undeservedly called divine law, or divine decree. Furthermore, ‘Thunderer’ is God: for since the peculiar causes of lightning, thunder, and the thunderbolt are not commonly known, these effects have been so attributed to God alone that the poets, especially by naming the ‘lightning-maker,’ the ‘thunderer,’ and the ‘thunderbolt-caster,’ intend for God to be understood.

ᵠ Discern with a pure mind] To know clearly and distinctly, with a mind stripped of all prejudices, the divine Providence: and of this Providence, in the judgment of Philosophy, the arguments are the very laws of nature, which...