The Consolation of Philosophy

NOTES

or adverse, as is evident from what has been said, is a good existing outside the will of man. This fortune, therefore, is so good that, unless through the bad will or vice of those who abuse it, it is never bad: wherefore when the wicked, insofar as they 'persevere in their wickedness,' always abuse their prosperous fortune, for that reason Philosophy concludes that 'all'

fortune of the wicked 'is the worst:' but the fortune of the righteous is always good: because 'every fortune, which seems harsh to the righteous, punishes them if it does not exercise or correct them:' nor do these righteous ones reach eternal happiness except through fortune which seems harsh to them: since—

METRE VII.

Agamemnon, son of Atreus, after he had campaigned against the Trojans for ten years, having laid waste to Troy, atoned for the wife of his brother Menelaus who had been snatched by Paris: but before this, the same Agamemnon, wishing to give sails to the Greek ships, and redeeming the winds (which were denied to him because of the stag of Diana killed by him) with spilled blood, laid down pious—

NOTES

a Battles for twice five years, etc.

1. Philosophy proves by the example of Agamemnon that a man does not enjoy his desires except after many labors have been undertaken and tolerated. Naturally, Paris, son of Priam, King of the Trojans, having equipped a fleet, traveled to Greece, arrived at Menelaus, King of Sparta, and abducted Helen his wife: Agamemnon, son of Atreus and brother of the aforementioned Menelaus, taking this unfairly, having convened the princes of Greece, sailed across to Phrygia, besieged Troy, and after a ten-year war, captured it by deceit and laid it waste with iron and fire. But the same Agamemnon, about to besiege Troy, when he had come to Aulis, a port of Boeotia, and was reviewing his army there, unknowingly killed a stag of Diana:

on account of which Diana, being angered, having sent a pestilence, suppressed the winds. They consulted the oracle, from which the response was given that the Gods would not be pacified before Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon himself, had been sacrificed. The father obeys, and having performed the office of priest himself, he slaughtered his daughter: and thus after many calamities and many labors, he finally at one time attained his desires. Virgil, Aeneid II, lines 108: 'Often the Danai desired to effect flight, leaving Troy, and to depart, weary from the long war. And would that they had! Often the harsh winter of the sea blocked them, and the South Wind terrified them as they were leaving. Especially, when now this horse stood, woven of maple beams, the clouds thundered in the whole sky. We, in suspense, sent Eurypylus to seek the oracles of Phoebus; and he brought back these sad words from the inner shrine: By blood you appeased the winds and by a sacrificed virgin, when first you Danai came to the shores of Ilium,' etc.