; and he that is evil, a slave
tho he be king. Nor is he slave to one man, but that which is worst of
all, unto as many masters as he affects vices; according to the
Scriptures, speaking thus hereof: "Of whatsoever a man is overcome, to
that he is in bondage."

ANICIUS BOETHIUS

Born in Rome about 475, died about 524; consul in 510 and
magister officiorum in the court of Theodoric the Goth; put
to death by Theodoric without trial on the charge of treason
and magic; his famous work "De Consolatione Philosophiae"
probably written while in prison in Pavia; parts of that
work translated by Alfred the Great and Chaucer; secured
much influence for the works of Aristotle by his
translations and commentaries.

THE HIGHEST HAPPINESS[2]

When Wisdom had sung this lay he ceased the song and was silent a
while. Then he began to think deeply in his mind's thought, and spoke
thus: Every mortal man troubles himself with various and manifold
anxieties, and yet all desire, through various paths, to come to one
end; that is, they desire, by different means, to arrive at one
happiness; that is, to know God! He is the beginning and the end of
every good, and He is the highest happiness.

[Footnote 2: From "The Consolations of Philosophy." The translation of
Alfred the Great, modernized. Boethius is not usually classed as a
Roman author, altho Gibbon said of him that he was "the last Roman
whom Cato or Cicero could have recognized as his countryman." Chaucer
made a translation of Boethius, which was printed by Caxton. John
Walton made a version in 1410, which was printed at a monastery in
1525. Another early version made by George Coluile was published in
1556. Several others appeared in the sixteenth century.]

Then said the Mind: This, methinks, must be the highest good, so that
man should need no other good, nor moreover be solicitous beyond
that--since he possesses that which is the roof of all other goods;
for it includes all other goods, and has all of them within it. It
would not be the highest good if any good were external to it, because
it would then have to desire some good which itself had not.

Then answered Reason, and said: It is very evident that this is the
highest happiness, for it is both the roof and floor of all good. What
is that, then, but the best happiness, which gathers the other
felicities all within it, and includes, and holds them within it; and
to