Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/70

 to the will of wicked men, and Thou wilt not check her.

'O my Lord, Thou that beholdest all that Thou hast made, look now in Thy loving kindness upon this miserable earth, and also upon all mankind, for that at this present it is all struggling with the waves of this world.'

While the Mind was thus uttering his plaint and singing this song, Philosophy (that is to say, Reason) watching him with a cheerful eye, in no wise cast down for his melancholy, and she said unto him, 'No sooner did I see thee lamenting thus and sorrowing than I perceived that thou hadst departed from thy native home--that is to say, from my teachings. Thou didst depart from it when thou didst forsake thy firm belief, and bethink thee that Fate ruled this world at her own pleasure, respectless of God's will or leave, or of the deeds of man. I knew that thou hadst departed therefrom, but how far I knew not, until thou thyself didst make all clear to me in thy song of sorrow. But though thou hast indeed wandered farther than ever, yet art thou not utterly banished from thine home, though far astray. No one else hath led thee into error; 'twas thyself alone, by thine own heedlessness;  nor would any man be led to expect this of thee if thou wouldst but remember thy birth and citizenship as the world goes,