Boethius
Anicii Manlii Severini Boethiiv.c. et inl. excons. ord. patricii
Philosophiae Consolationis
Liber Secundus ExplicitIncipit Liber III
I
Iam cantum illa finiverat, cum me audiendi avidum stupentemque arrectis adhuc auribus carminis mulcedo defixerat. Itaque paulo post: “O,” inquam, “summum lassorum solamen animorum quam tu me 5 vel sententiarum pondere vel canendi etiam iucunditate refovisti! Adeo ut iam me post haec inparem fortunae ictibus esse non arbitrer. Itaque remedia quae paulo acriora esse dicebas, non modo non perhorresco, sed audiendi avidus vehementer efflagito.” 10 Tum illa: “Sensi,” inquit, “cum verba nostra tacitus attentusque rapiebas, eumque tuae mentis habitum vel exspectavi vel, quod est verius, ipsa perfeci. Talia sunt quippe quae restant, ut degustata quidem mordeant, interius autem recepta dulcescant. 15 Sed quod tu te audiendi cupidum dicis, quanto ardore flagrares, si quonam te ducere aggrediamur
Consolation III
Boethius
The Consolation of Philosophy
Book III
I
She had just finished singing, while the sweetness of her song held me with still attentive ears, struck silent, and eager to listen further. So after a little while I said: “O best of comforters of weary spirits, how well you have revived me with the weight of your arguments and also with the delights of your songs! So well that now I no longer think myself unequal to the blows of fortune. So now I am not only not terrified of those remedies you described as somewhat more bitter, but I do most strongly urge you to administer them, since I am eager to listen further.”
“I felt it was so,” she said in reply, “when you were so absorbed, silent and attentive, by what I was saying, and I expected—or, more truly, I brought about —your present state of mind. Those remedies that are left now are like those that sting on the tongue, but sweeten once taken within. But you say you are desirous to hear more: with what desire you would burn if you knew where I am going to lead you!”