Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/187



M. It is even as thou sayest.

P. Therefore it is beyond doubt that the good have always power, while the wicked have none;  for the good seek goodness aright, and the evil seek it wrongly.

M. He that does not believe this to be true has no belief at all in truth.

Then said she, 'How thinkest thou? If two men are hastening to the same place, and have an equally great desire to get there, one of them having the use of his feet so as to be able to walk where he pleases, even as it would be natural for all men to be able, and the other being without the use of his feet and unable to walk, and yet longing to move on, and making shift to creep along the same path,--which of these two men thinkest thou the more able?'

M. There is no likeness;  he that walks is mightier than he that creeps, inasmuch as he can go where he wishes more easily than the other;  say what else thou wilt, every man knows this.

P. It is just the same with the good and the wicked;  each of them by his nature desires to reach the Highest Good. But the good man is able to go where he pleases, for he seeks it by the right way, whereas the wicked man may not go where he desires, for he seeks it amiss. But perhaps thou mayest not think so.

M. Nay, that, and naught else, is what I think concerning thine argument.

P. Very rightly thou dost conceive the matter, and