BOOK IV.

GOOD AND ILL FORTUNE.

SUMMARY.

CH. I. The mystery of the seeming moral confusion. Philosophy

engages to make this plain, and to fulfil her former promise to the

full.--CH. II. Accordingly, (a) she first expounds the paradox that

the good alone have power, the bad are altogether powerless.--CH.

III. (b) The righteous never lack their reward, nor the wicked

their punishment.--CH. IV. (c) The wicked are more unhappy when

they accomplish their desires than when they fail to attain them.

(d) Evil-doers are more fortunate when they expiate their crimes by

suffering punishment than when they escape unpunished. (e) The

wrong-doer is more wretched than he who suffers injury.--CH. V.

Boethius still cannot understand why the distribution of happiness

and misery to the righteous and the wicked seems the result of

chance. Philosophy replies that this only seems so because we do

not understand the principles of God's moral governance.--CH. VI.

The distinction of Fate and Providence. The apparent moral

confusion is due to our ignorance of the secret counsels of God's

providence. If we possessed the key, we should see how all things

are guided to good.--CH. VII. Thus all fortune is good fortune; for

it either rewards, disciplines, amends, or punishes, and so is

either useful or just.