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From The Consolation of Philosophy, Book III, Chapter IX
O qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernas,
terrarum caelique sator, qui tempus ab aeuo
ire iubes stabilisque manens das cuncta moueri,
quem non externae pepulerunt fingere causae
materiae fluitantis opus uerum insita summi
forma boni liuore carens, tu cuncta superno
ducis ab exemplo, pulchrum pulcherrimus ipse
mundum mente gerens similique in imagine formans
perfectasque iubens perfectum absoluere partes.
Tu numeris elementa ligas, ut frigora flammis,
arida conueniant liquidis, ne purior ignis
euolet aut mersas deducant pondera terras.
Tu triplicis mediam naturae cuncta mouentem
conectens animam per consona membra resoluis;
quae cum secta duos motum glomerauit in orbes,
in semet reditura meat mentemque profundam
circuit et simili conuertit imagine caelum.
Tu causis animas paribus uitasque minores
prouehis et leuibus sublimes curribus aptans
in caelum terramque seris, quas lege benigna
ad te conuersas reduci facis igne reuerti.
Da, pater, augustam menti conscendere sedem,
da fontem lustrare boni, da luce reperta
in te conspicuos animi defigere uisus.
Dissice terrenae nebulas et pondera molis
atque tuo splendore mica; tu namque serenum,
tu requies tranquilla piis, te cernere finis,
principium, uector, dux, semita, terminus idem.
O thou who dost by everlasting reason rule,
Creator of the planets and the sky, who time
From timelessnesss dost bring, unchanging Mover,
No cause drove Thee to mould unstable matter, but
The form benign of highest good within Thee set.
All things Thou bringest forth from Thy high archetype:
Thou, height of beauty, in Thy mind the beauteous world
Dost bear, and in that ideal likeness shaping it,
Dost order perfect parts a perfect whole to frame.
The elements by harmony Thou dost constrain,
That hot to cold and wet to dry are equal made,
The fire grow not too light, or earth too fraught with weight.
The bridge of threefold nature mad’st Thou soul, which spreads
Through nature’s limbs harmonious and all things moves.
The soul once cut, in circles two its motion joins
Goes round and to itself returns encircling mind,
And turns in pattern similar the firmament.
From causes like Thou bringst forth souls and lesser lives,
Which from above in chariots swift Thou dost disperse
Through sky and earth, and by Thy law benign they turn
And back to Thee they come through fire that brings them home.
Grant, Father, that our minds Thy august seat may scan
Grant us the sight of true good’s source, and grant us light
That we may fix on Thee our mind’s unblinded eye.
Disperse the clouds of earthly matter’s cloying weight;
Shine out in all Thy glory; for Thou art rest and peace
To those who worship Thee; to see Thee is our end,
Who art our source and maker, lord and path and goal.
Source
Latin text from https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/boethius/jkok/3m9_t.htm. Translation by Victor Watts from Boethius (1999), The Conslation of Philosophy, transl. Victor Watts (London, Penguin Books), 66-7.