Book 5, Chapter 1 | The Consolation of Philosophy

Chapter Summary

Boethius asks Philosophy whether chance exists. She demurs at first, lest this matter weary him so he cannot complete his journey back to his spiritual home. Then she defines chance not as an outcome without a cause, but as an unintended and unplanned outcome of combined events—unplanned humanly speaking, since all things happen as Providence has planned.

About The Consolation of Philosophy

Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue.

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