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Book II, Part VIII
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Consolation of Philosophy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Classical Philosophy and Medieval Christianity
Wisdom, Fortune, and Happiness
The Problem of Evil
Human Free Will and God’s Foreknowledge
Summary
Analysis
After Philosophy finishes singing, Boethius praises her for comforting him and preparing him to “fac[e] the blows of Fortune.” He is ready for her “cures.” She promises that her “remedies” will take him to “true happiness,” which he cannot yet understand. Before she explains these remedies for Boethius, Philosophy insists on “sketch[ing] an idea of the cause of happiness.”
In fact, although she has spent many pages explaining the problems with Fortune, Philosophy has so far only explained what false happiness consists of, and all she has said about “true happiness” so far is that it has something to do with the soul. So while Boethius now understands what he has done wrong—and, specifically, why he is wrong to be so miserable about his misfortune—he still has no idea what he should feel or believe in.
Themes
In verse, Philosophy sings that an area must be cleared for crops to grow, that food is sweeter after one “taste[s] bitter food,” and that the stars seem brighter after the rain. Similarly, having known the false good of material things, Boethius is ready to understand “true good.”
These metaphors allow Philosophy to explain her method and, more generally, suggest that false beliefs must be shown incorrect before people can learn the truth.
Themes
