Boethius in this and several other passages in this book has the Gorgias in mind; for Plato there discusses the strength and happiness of good men, and the impotence and unhappiness of bad men.Socrates is also there represented as proving that the unjust man is happier punished than unpunished, as Boethius does below.Page 111fierce glances, and their hearts heaving with passion.If any man take from these proud ones their outward covering of empty honour, he will see within, will see that these great ones bear secret chains.For the heart of one is thus filled by lust with the poisons of greed, or seething rage lifts up its waves and lashes his mind therewith: or gloomy grief holds them weary captives, or by slippery hopes they are tortured.So when you see one head thus labouring beneath so many tyrants, you know he cannot do as he would, for by hard task-masters is the master himself oppressed.
'Do you see then in what a slough crimes are involved, and with what glory honesty shines forth? It is plain from this that reward is never lacking to good deeds, nor punishment to crime.We may justly say that the reward of every act which is performed is the object for which it is performed.For instance, on the racecourse the crown for which the runner strives is his reward.But we have shewn that happiness is the identical good for the sake of which all actions are performed.Therefore the absolute good is the reward put before all human actions.But good men cannot be deprived of this.And further, a man who lacks good cannot justly be described as a good man; wherefore we may say that good habits pever miss their rewards.
Let the wicked rage never so wildly, the wise man's crown shall never fail nor wither.And the Page 112wickedness of bad men can never take away from good men the glory which belongs to them.Whereas if a good man rejoiced in a glory which he received from outside, then could another, or even he, may be, who granted it, carry it away.But since honesty grants to every good man its own rewards, he will only lack his reward when he ceases to be good.And lastly, since every reward is sought for the reason that it is held to be good, who shall say that the man, who possesses goodness, does not receive his reward?
And what reward is this? Surely the fairest and greatest of all.Remember that corollary 1 which I emphasised when speaking to you a little while ago; and reason thus therefrom.While happiness is the absolute good, it is plain that all good men become good by virtue of the very fact that they are good.But we agreed that happy men are as gods.Therefore this is the reward of the good, which no time can wear out, no power can lessen, no wickedness can darken; they become divine.In this case, then, no wise man can doubt of the inevitable punishment of the wicked as well.For good and evil are so set, differing from each other just as reward and punishment are in opposition to each other: hence the rewards, which we see fall to the good, must correspond precisely to the punishments of the evil on the other side.As, therefore, honesty is itself the reward of the honest, so wickedness is itself the punishment 112:1 -- P.84.Page 113of the wicked.Now whosoever suffers punishment, doubts not that he is suffering an evil: if, then, they are ready so to judge of themselves, can they think that they do not receive punishment, considering that they are not only affected but thoroughly permeated by wickedness, the worst of all evils?
'Then, from the other point of view of the good, see what a punishment ever goes with the wicked.You have learnt a little while past that all that exists is one, and that the good itself is one; it follows therefrom that all that exists must appear to be good.In this way, therefore, all that falls away from the good, ceases also to exist, wherefore evil men cease to be what they were.The form of their human bodies still proves that they have been ?men; wherefore they must have lost their human nature when they turned to evil-doing.But as goodness alone can lead men forward beyond their humanity, so evil of necessity will thrust down below the honourable estate of humanity those whom it casts down from their first position.The result is that you cannot hold him to be a man who has been, so to say, transformed by his vices.If a violent man and a robber burns with greed of other men's possessions, you say he is like a wolf.Another fierce man is always working his restless tongue at lawsuits, and you will compare him to a hound.Does another delight to spring upon men from ambushes with hidden guile? He is as a fox.Does one man roar and not restrain Page 114his rage? He would be reckoned as having the heart of a lion.Does another flee and tremble in terror where there is no cause of fear? He would be held to be as deer.If another is dull and lazy, does he not live the life of an ass? One whose aims are inconstant and ever changed at his whims, is in no wise different from the birds.If another is in a slough of foul and filthy lusts, he is kept down by the lusts of an unclean swine.Thus then a man who loses his goodness, ceases to be a man, and since he cannot change his condition for that of a god, he turns into a beast.
'The east wind wafted the sails which carried on the wandering ships of Ithaca's king to the island where dwelt the fair goddess Circe, the sun's own daughter.There for her new guests she mingled cups bewitched by charms.Her hand, well skilled in use of herbs, changed these guests to different forms.One bears the face of a boar; another grows like to an African lion with fangs and claws; this one becomes as a wolf, and when he thinks to weep, he howls; that one is an Indian tiger, though he walks all harmless round about the dwelling-place.The leader alone, Ulysses, though beset by so many dangers, was saved from the goddess's bane by the pity of the winged god, Mercury.But the sailors had drunk of her cups, and now had turned from food of corn to husks and acorns, food of swine.
