Upload
louishai
View
219
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
7/29/2019 Boethius Consolatio Philosophiae Poems Books One and Two
1/9
Book One
1
I who once wrote poems with flourishing zeal
Am now pitiably forced to sing sad tunes.
The harsh muses tell me what to write
And my mouth is moist with real tears.No fear can deter them
From being my travelling companions.
My fate as a sad old man
Finds consolation only in the glory
Of a once happy and vigorous youth.
Old age has come unexpectedly
Hastened by misfortune
And grief has announced that it is here to stay.
Grey hairs flow prematurely from my head
And the loose skin of my weak body
Begins to tremble.Death is fortunate
When it comes not in the sweet years
But after much calling in the sad ones.
But oh, how deaf an ear
It turns to the wretched
And savagely refuses
To let weeping eyes close.
While untrustworthy Fortune
Favoured me with insubstantial goods,
I scarcely endured a moment of discomfort.
But now deceptive Fortune has changed her features,
And unfaithful life promises
Only dreary delay.
My friends, you boasted so often of my happiness.
But the one who falls was never on a steady foot.
2
My mind gapes, sunk in a deep abyss,
And, having departed from its own light,
Moves towards the outer darkness.
Destructive care, swelled so often by the winds of earth,Grows and grows.
Here the free man under an open sky
Once used to wander,
Able to see the bright red light of the sun
And the gleam of the cold moon.
Successfully following
The recurrent wandering of the stars
Through all their orbits
And understanding
Why the seas
Are troubled by noisy gales,Which spirit turns the unmoving earth,
Why the star descending in the waters of the West
7/29/2019 Boethius Consolatio Philosophiae Poems Books One and Two
2/9
Rises glowing and red in the East,
Why spring brings days of mildness
And decorates the earth with flowers,
Why autumn is rich and full
And overflows with heavy grapes.
It was his habit to ask
Nature to reveal its many secrets.But now he lies, with the light of his mind enfeebled
And forced by the heavy chains pressing on his neck,
To look down at the earth
And consider its dullness.
3
Then the night dissolved.
Darkness left me.
My former strength returned with the light.
As, when the clouds are gathered
In headlong chorusAnd the sky is full of grey showers,
The sun is hidden and, the stars not yet in the sky,
And night begins to fall on earth.
The north wind, blowing from its Thracian cave,
Beats the earth and releases the day,
Phoebus shines forth and, shimmering with sudden light,
Strikes the watching eyes with its rays.
4
The one who serene in a settled age
Has brought proud fate to heel
And justly looking at each fortune
Has been able to keep his face unconquered,
He will not be moved
By the anger and threats
Of a swelling raging sea
Nor by the swirling smoke-filled fires
That break out of Vesuvius
Nor by the lightning that strikes the highest towers.
Why do the poor admire
Vicious tyrants in their powerless rage ?When you have disarmed the anger
Of the impotent,
May you not hope for anyhing
May you not fear anything.
But those who tremble and are afraid,
Or keep wishing,
They do not know
That they have given up their freedom.
They throw away the shield,
Desert the battle
And make tighter the chainsOf their captivity
7/29/2019 Boethius Consolatio Philosophiae Poems Books One and Two
3/9
5
Founder of the star-studded sky,
Who sits on an eternal throne
And directs the heaven with rapid spinning
And compels the stars to submit to law,
That the moon, shining fullAnd meeting all the flames of its brother,
May create smaller stars
And, waning, may lose its brightness
As Phoebus approaches,
That the one who at nightfall
Stirs the cold Hesperi as they rise,
Lucifer,
May once again change course
And fade with the rise of Phoebus.
You draw in the light
In the cold of leaf-destroying winter.You break up the agile hours of the night
When the heat of summer rages.
Your power regulates the changing year,
So that the leaves blown away by the north wind
Return with the gentle wind of the west
And the seed that is seen in the winter
Grows high with the heat of the the summer.
It is ancient law that everything has its place.
Ruler, you guide everything with unwavering purpose
And reject only the actions of men
Obliging them to behave in a decent way.
Why does slippery Fortune make so many changes ?
It taxes the innocent with a punishment
Worthy of a crime.
Moral perverts sit on high
And, viciously unjust,
Kick the holy in the neck.
Virtue is hidden and obscure,
Shining in its darkness.
The just suffers the penalty of the criminal,
But he is not punished for his perjury,Falsehood and deceit.
But force can be used at will,
And he rejoices in humiliating the highest kings
Feared by so countless peoples.
Look at the wretched lands,
You who keep the world together,
Whoever you may be.
We humans,
Not the least part of so great a work,
Are shaken and tossed about
On the sea of fortune.Ruler, check the rapid waves
And the laws you use to rule the heavens
7/29/2019 Boethius Consolatio Philosophiae Poems Books One and Two
4/9
Use them also to regulate the earth.
6
The star of Cancer swells heavily
With the rays of Phoebus
And the one who has placed his trust
In those furrows that refuse the broadcast,Let him go to the oak trees,
Deceived by his faith in Ceres.
May you never seek the purple grove
To pick violets,
When the field bristles
Screeching with the savage north wind
Nor may you seek with greedy hand
To prune the spring shoots
That it may enjoy the grapes.
Bacchus brings his gifts
Later in autumn.The proper times
For the proper occasions
Are appointed by the god
And he permits no mixing
Of the times he has ordained.
So, what leaves the fixed order
In precipitate flight
Can only end in tears.
7Stars that are hidden
Among the black clouds
Can never shed light.
When the wild south wind,
Is churning the sea
Embroiling the tide,
The water, lately
Glazed and serene,
Fills with filth and mud,
Becomes unlimpid.
The wandering streamFlowing through hills
Often encounters
Barriers of rocks.
You too, if you wish
To see clear the truth,
Walk along the path
With upright footsteps.
Banish all pleasure.
Drive away your fear
Put your hope to flight
Let pain be absent.The mind is cloudy
And checked with bridles,
7/29/2019 Boethius Consolatio Philosophiae Poems Books One and Two
5/9
Where these things hold sway.
7/29/2019 Boethius Consolatio Philosophiae Poems Books One and Two
6/9
Book Two
1
She, when she has turned fortune with a proud right hand
And is borne like Euripus swelling and raging,Savagely treads on once fearful kings
And deceptively raises up the humble face of the conquered.
She does not hear the wretched
And does not care
For the weeping and moaning she has caused.
So she plays, so she tests her strength
And provides melancholy theatre
When someone is seen at once
To be both happy and prostrate.
2All the sand poured out by the sea
Stirred up by strong winds
All the stars that shine in the sky
Brought out on clear nights
Plenty with its cornucopia
May pour out so much wealth
And not stay its hand
And the human race may still not cease
To weep and complain.
Although the willing god,
Generous with much gold,
Receives prayers
And adorns those greedy for honours,
Once acquired they seem to be nothing,
And savage greed devours what it has sought
And opens up its jaws for still more.
What check can put a certain end
To this headlong greed
When the thirst for things
Rages even more, increased
By prizes already consumed.He is never rich, who moaning and fearful
Thinks himself in need.
3
After Phoebus has begun
To scatter light in the North
On his reddish chariot,
The star, beset by the flames of the sun,
Grows dim,
Its face becoming pale.After the grove has reddened
With the roses of spring
7/29/2019 Boethius Consolatio Philosophiae Poems Books One and Two
7/9
In the gentle winds of the west,
The misty south wind blows
Its unhealthy breath
And beauty disappears from the thorns.
The sea, tranquil and serene
With unmoving waves,
Sometimes radiates.The north wind upsets
The sea sometimes
With hurricanes.
Its form may seldom be fixed
And it may continue to change,
But the fortunes of men can be trusted to fall
And their wealth to disappear from them in flight.
There is only one eternal and constant law:
Everything born will die.
4Those who wish to build
A cautiously permanent house
And wish it to withstand the noisy west wind
And take care to stay far from the sea
With its threatening waves,
They would do well to avoid
Hilltops and beaches.
Hilltops are exposed to the wind.
Beaches lack foundations.
Avoid the dangerous fate of a pleasant spot
And remember to build your house
On low secure ground.
The wind may churn up the sea
And fill it with flotsam and jetsam,
But you will be happily concealed
Behind the quiet strength of your rampart
And you will smile serenely
At the angry outbursts of the weather.
5
An earlier and happier ageContent with faithful fields
Not lost in useless luxury
Was easily used to satisfying hunger
With its fruits.
The mixture of the Bacchic gift
And honey was unknown.
And so too was silk dyed with purple.
Health-giving sleep was provided by the grass,
Drink by the river and shade by the tall pine.
The sea was unsailed
Merchants with their goodsHad not yet seen foreign shores.
The savage trumpets of hateful war
7/29/2019 Boethius Consolatio Philosophiae Poems Books One and Two
8/9
Had not yet sounded
And fields were not soaked with bitter blood.
There was no enmity to move men to arms,
Where they would see gruesome wounds
Or the rewards of blood.
I wish it were possible to return
To those ancient days.But greed burns more brightly
Than the fires of Etna.
Who was that first man
Who dug out gold from the ground
And jewels that wished to be unfound.
Ah, the dangers of wealth.
6
We know how much havoc Nero wrought,
With cities in flames and parents slaughtered,
Who murdered his brother and steeped himself wildlyIn the blood of his mother,
Wandering with a body so cold to look at,
Unweeping, but able to
Decide to snuff out beauty.
But he ruled with a sceptre peoples
Whom Phoebus, coming from his faraway home,
Sees as he brings his rays beneath the waves,
Whom the seven freezing constellations press down,
Whom the south wind, as it fans the burning sands,
Violently scorches with its dry heat.
Was a power on high able to deflect the madness
Of a morally depraved Emperor ?
It is a difficult fate to bear,
Each time the iniquitous sword is made more deadly
By a savage poison.
7.
Whoever seeks glory with headlong mind
And believes it is the highest good,Let him look at the wide open spaces heaven
And the narrow confines of earth.
He will be ashamed of a swollen name
Unable to complete the brief round.
The proud, why do they vainly
Lift up their necks in a mortal yoke ?
Fame may wander through remote peoples
And far and wide unfold their tongues,
The great house may be gleam with famous titles
But death mocks the glory of the high
Overwhelms the proud and the humble alikeAnd levels the high and the low.
Where are the bones of faithful Fabricius now ?
7/29/2019 Boethius Consolatio Philosophiae Poems Books One and Two
9/9
What is Brutus or the unpliant Cato ?
8
That the world varies harmonious change
With a stable faith,
That warring seeds keep a treaty forever,That Phoebus advances the rosy dawn
With his chariot of gold,
So that Phoebe may rule over
What is brought from the west,
So that an all-embracing sea
May confine the waves
Within a set boundary,
Lest wandering lands be allowed
To extend their wide boundaries,
Love that that rules land and sea
And dictates to heavenBinds these things together.
If it relaxes the reins,
Whatever things love each other
Will wage uninterrupted war.
The machine that they move
With beauty and trust
They will struggle to destroy.
Love keeps people joined by a holy bond
And binds the sacrament of marriage
With pure love.
It governs its followers with its laws.
O happy race of men
If the love by which heaven is ruled
Should rule your hearts.