ee, he could have lived for ever, and by that food
have escaped death; and so by the fruits of the Garden he satisfied a
need.[77] And all know that in Christ the same need dwelt, but lying in
His own power and not laid upon Him. And this need was in Him before the
Resurrection, but after the Resurrection He became such that His human
body was changed as Adam's might have been but for the bands of
disobedience. Which state, moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
taught us to desire in our prayers, asking that His Will be done as in
heaven so on earth, and that His Kingdom come, and that He may deliver
us from evil. For all these things are sought in prayer by those members
of the human family who rightly believe and who are destined to undergo
that most blessed change of all.[78]

So much have I written to you concerning what I believe should be
believed. In which matter if I have said aught amiss, I am not so well
pleased with myself as to try to press my effusions in the face of wiser
judgment. For if there is no good thing in us there is nothing we should
fancy in our opinions. But if all things are good as coming from Him who
alone is good, that rather must be thought good which the Unchangeable
Good and Cause of all Good indites.

[76] This _respondendum_ has the true Thomist ring.

[77] Adam did not need to eat in order to live, but if he had not eaten
he would have suffered hunger, etc.

[78] The whole of this passage might be set in _Tr._ iv. without
altering the tone.

ANICII MANLII SEVERINI BOETHII

V.C. ET INL. EXCONS. ORD. EX MAG. OFF. PATRICII

PHILOSOPHIAE CONSOLATIONIS

LIBER I.

I.

Carmina qui quondam studio florente peregi,
Flebilis heu maestos cogor inire modos.
Ecce mihi lacerae dictant scribenda Camenae
Et ueris elegi fletibus ora rigant.
Has saltem nullus potuit peruincere terror, 5
Ne nostrum comites prosequerentur iter.
Gloria felicis olim uiridisque iuuentae
Solantur maesti nunc mea fata senis.
Venit enim properata malis inopina senectus
Et dolor aetatem iussit inesse suam. 10
Intempestiui funduntur uertice cani
Et tremit effeto corpore laxa cutis.
Mors hominum felix quae se nec dulcibus annis
Inserit et maestis saepe uocata uenit.
Eheu quam surda miseros auertitur aure 15
Et flentes oculos claudere