BOETHIUS 1 5
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nd on the steadfast, and on the singly-existing God ; andhe governs all creatures as he at the beginning had, andstill has determined. As on the axle-tree of a wagon the wheel turns, and theaxle-tree stands still, and nevertheless supports all thewagon, and regulates all its progress — the wheel turnsround, and the nave, being nearest to the axle-tree, goesmuch more firmly and more securely than the fellies do— sothe axle-tree may be the highest good which we call God,and the best men go nearest to God, as the nave goes near-est to the axle-tree ; and the middle class of men as thespokes. For of every spoke, one end is fixed in the nave, andthe other in the felly. So is it with respect to the middleclass of men. One while he meditates in his mind concern-ing this earthly life, another while concerning the heavenly :as if he should look with one eye to the heavens, and withthe other to the earth. As the spokes stick, one end in thefelly, and the other in the nave, and the spoke is midward,equally near to both, though one end be fixed in the nave,and the other in the felly; so are the middle class of men inthe middle of the spokes, and the better near to the nave,and the most numerous class nearest to the fellies. They arenevertheless fixed in the nave, and the nave on the axle-tree. But the fellies depend on the spokes, though theywholly roll upon the earth. So do the most numerous classof men depend on the middle class, and the middle class onthe best, and the best on God. Though the most numerousclass turn all their love toward this world, they are not ableto dwell there, nor do they come to anything, if they are notin some measure fastened to God, any more than the felliesof the wheel can make any progress if they are not fastenedto the spokes, and the spokes to the axle-tree. The felliesare farthest from the axle-tree, therefore they go the mostroughly. The nave goes nearest the axle-tree, therefore itgoes the most securely. So do the best men. As they placetheir love nearer to God, and more despise these earthlythings, so are they more free from care, and are less anxioushow fortune may vary, or what it may bring. Provided thenave be always thus secure, the fellies may rest on what theywill. And yet the nave is in some measure separated from i6 KING ALFRED'S the axle-tree. As thou mayest perceive that the wagon ismuch longer secure, which is less separated from the axle-tree ; so, of all men, those are most untroubled, with the diffi-culties either of this present life, or of that to come, who arefixed in God ; but as they are farther separated from God, soare they more troubled and afflicted both in mind and inbody. Such is what we call fate. . . . . . . With respect to the divine providence ; as argumentand reasoning is, compared with the intellect, and such thewheel is, compared with the axle-tree. For the axle-treeregulates all the wagon. In like manner does the divineprovidence. It moves the sky and the stars, and makes theearth immovable, and regulates the four elements, that is,water, and earth, and fire, and air. These it tempers andforms, and sometimes again changes their appearance, andbrings them to another form, and afterward renews them :and nourishes every production, and again hides and pre-serves it when it is grown old and withered, and again dis-covers and renews it whensoever he wills. Some philoso-phers however say, that fate rules both the felicities andthe infelicities of every man. But I say, as all Christianmen say, that the divine predestination rules over him, notfate. And I know that it decrees everything very rightly;though to unwise men it does not appear so. They thinkthat everything which fulfils their desire, is God. It is nowonder, for they are blinded by the darkness of their sins.But the divine providence understands everything veryrightly, though it seems to us, through our folly, that itgoes wrongly; because we cannot perfectly understand it.He, however, ordains all very rightly, though to us it some-times does not appear so. Then said I: But whence came the word chance? Thensaid he: My beloved Aristotle has explained it in the bookcalled Physica. Then said I: How has he explained it?Then said he : Men said formerly, when anything happenedto them unexpectedly, that it happened by chance : as if anyone should dig the earth, and find there a hoard of gold, andthen say, that it had happened by chance. I know, however,that if the digger had not dug the earth, or man had notbefore hid the gold there, then he would not have found it.
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