The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy · Boethius
V.
Creator of the Sky, Who sittest on Thine eternal throne on high, Who dost quick motions cause In all the heavens, and givest stars their laws, That the pale Queen of Night, Sometimes receiving all her brother's light, Should shine in her full pride, And with her beams the lesser stars should hide; Sometimes she wants her grace, When the sun's rays are in less distant place; And Hesperus that flies, Driving the cold, before the night doth rise, And oft with sudden change Before the sun as Lucifer doth range.[97] Thou short the days dost make, When Winter from the trees the leaves doth take; Thou, when the fiery sun Doth Summer cause, makest the nights swiftly run. Thy might doth rule the year, As northern winds the leaves away do bear, So Zephyrus from west The plants in all their freshness doth revest; And Syrius burns that corn With which Arcturus did the earth adorn. None from Thy laws are free, Nor can forsake their place ordained by Thee. Thou to that certain end Governest all things; deniest Thou to intend The acts of men alone, Directing them in measure from Thy throne? For why should slippery chance Rule all things with such doubtful governance? Or why should punishments, Due to the guilty, light on innocents? But now the highest place Giveth to naughty manners greatest grace, And wicked people vex Good men, and tread unjustly on their necks; Virtue in darkness lurks, And righteous souls are charged with impious works, Deceits nor perjuries Disgrace not those who colour them with lies, For, when it doth them please To show their force, they to their will with ease The hearts of kings can steer, To whom so many crouch with trembling fear. O Thou that joinest with love All worldly things, look from Thy seat above On the earth's wretched state; We men, not the least work thou didst create, With fortune's blasts do shake; Thou careful ruler, these fierce tempests slake, And for the earth provide Those laws by which Thou heaven in peace dost guide." [97] Literally, "And that he who as Hesperus, in the early hours of the night, drives the cold stars before him, should change chariot (lit. his accustomed reins) and become Lucifer, growing pale in the first rays of the sun."
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