Boethii Consolatio Philosophiae

[thesaurus]

I've been reading the Consolatio off and on for a long time now, and I have to say it's one of the harder texts I'm familiar with. I don't know if Boethius is just representative of late Imperial Latin or what, but both the prose and especially the metrical parts throw a lot of curve balls.

Considera namque an per ea quibus se homines adepturos beatitudinem putant ad destinatum finem ualeant peruenire. 3 Si enim uel pecunia uel honores ceteraque tale quid afferunt cui nihil bonorum abesse uideatur, nos quoque fateamur fieri aliquos horum adeptione felices. 4 Quodsi neque id ualent efficere quod promittunt bonisque pluribus carent, nonne liquido falsa in eis beatitudinis species deprehenditur?

Does anyone know what "liquido" is doing in here? It completely eludes me. Does anyone have experience with Boethius they could share? I'd love to get more into him.

See this page for an excellent and annotated hypertext version of the whole book: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/boethius/jkok/3p3_t.htm

[thesaurus]

Also:

Metrum 2
1 Quantas rerum flectat habenas
2 natura potens, quibus immensum
3 legibus orbem prouida seruet
4 stringatque ligans inresoluto
5 singula nexu, placet arguto
6 fidibus lentis promere cantu.
7 Quamuis Poeni pulchra leones
8 uincula gestent manibusque datas
9 captent escas metuantque trucem
10 soliti uerbera ferre magistrum,
11 si cruor horrida tinxerit ora,
12 resides olim redeunt animi
13 fremituque graui meminere sui,
14 laxant nodis colla solutis
15 primusque lacer dente cruento
16 domitor rabidas imbuit iras.
17 Quae canit altis garrula ramis
18 ales caueae clauditur antro;
19 huic licet inlita pocula melle
20 largasque dapes dulci studio
21 ludens hominum cura ministret,
22 si tamen arto saliens texto
23 nemorum gratas uiderit umbras,
24 sparsas pedibus proterit escas,
25 siluas tantum maesta requirit,
26 siluas dulci uoce susurrat.
27 Ualidis quondam uiribus acta
28 pronum flectit uirga cacumen;
29 hanc si curuans dextra remisit,
30 recto spectat uertice caelum.
31 Cadit Hesperias Phoebus in undas,
32 sed secreto tramite rursus
33 currum solitos uertit ad ortus.
34 Repetunt proprios quaeque recursus
35 redituque suo singula gaudent
36 nec manet ulli traditus ordo
37 nisi quod fini iunxerit ortum
38 stabilemque sui fecerit orbem.

I really like this metrum, but I'm a little lost on this part. Is it like this? "Which bird, chattering in the high branches, is enclosed in the recess of a cage; although the playful attention of humans serves it cups smeared with honey and lavish meals with sweet devotion..."

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Liquido is an adverb there. Does that answer your question? By the way, I love that book!

[thesaurus]

Liquido is an adverb there. Does that answer your question? By the way, I love that book!

Thanks, I had no idea that was an adverb.

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17 Quae canit altis garrula ramis
18 ales caueae clauditur antro;
19 huic licet inlita pocula melle
20 largasque dapes dulci studio
21 ludens hominum cura ministret,

Ales, quae garrula canit altis ramis, clauditur caueae antro;
licet hominum ludens cura huic ministret pocula inlita melle largasque dapes dulci studio

So it is

The bird, which chattering sings etc.

You got the rest.