Liber I I
Carmina qui quondam studio florente peregi,Flebilis heu maestos cogor inire modos.Ecce mihi lacerae dictant scribenda CamenaeEt ueris elegi fletibus ora rigant.Has saltem nullus potuit peruincere terror,Ne nostrum comites prosequerentur iter.Gloria felicis olim uiridisque iuuentaeSolantur maesti nunc mea fata senis.Venit enim properata malis inopina senectusEt dolor aetatem iussit inesse suam.Intempestiui funduntur uertice caniEt tremit effeto corpore laxa cutis.Mors hominum felix quae se nec dulcibus annisInserit et maestis saepe uocata uenit.Eheu quam surda miseros auertitur aureEt flentes oculos claudere saeua negat.Dum leuibus male fida bonis fortuna faueret,Paene caput tristis merserat hora meum.Nunc quia fallacem mutauit nubila uultum,Protrahit ingratas impia uita moras.Quid me felicem totiens iactastis amici?Qui cecidit, stabili non erat ille gradu.
Words in this poem
- quondam a.
- Having been formerly; former; sometime. [L., formerly.]
- studio n.
- The working room of an artist. [It. studio, properly, study. See Study.]
- nostrum n.
- A medicine, the ingredients of which are kept secret for the purpose of restricting the profits of sale to the inventor or proprietor; a quack medicine. [Neut. sing. of L. noster ours, fr. nos we. See Us.]
- iter n.
- A passage; esp., the passage between the third and fourth ventricles in the brain; the aqueduct of Sylvius. [L. See Eyre.]
- dolor n.
- Pain; grief; distress; anguish. [OE. dolor, dolur, dolour, F. douleur, L. dolor, fr. dolere. See 1st Dole.]
- caput n.
- The head; also, a knoblike protuberance or capitulum. [L., the head.]
- quid n.
- A portion suitable to be chewed; a cud; as, a quid of tobacco. [See Cud.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Liber I I is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy, Project Gutenberg ebook #13316; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Boethius, Liber I I, in The Consolation of Philosophy (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13316, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/boethius-consolation/liber-i-i.html, id L23702.
Form and metre
Liber I I is 22 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in trochaic hexameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 --A---AB---B---------- peregi · modos · camenaeA · rigant · terror · iter · iuuentaeA · senisB · senectus · suam · cani · cutisB · annis · uenit · aure · negat · faueret · meum · uultum · moras · amici · gradu
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Carmina qui quondam studio florente peregi, | 14 | ····/˘/˘······ |
| Flebilis heu maestos cogor inire modos. | 12 | ············ |
| Ecce mihi lacerae dictant scribenda Camenae | 12 | ············ |
| Et ueris elegi fletibus ora rigant. | 13 | ·········/˘·· |
| Has saltem nullus potuit peruincere terror, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Ne nostrum comites prosequerentur iter. | 12 | ·/˘·······/˘ |
| Gloria felicis olim uiridisque iuuentae | 12 | /˘˘········· |
| Solantur maesti nunc mea fata senis. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Venit enim properata malis inopina senectus | 17 | ········/˘······· |
| Et dolor aetatem iussit inesse suam. | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/· |
| Intempestiui funduntur uertice cani | 11 | ··········· |
| Et tremit effeto corpore laxa cutis. | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Mors hominum felix quae se nec dulcibus annis | 15 | ····/˘··/····/˘ |
| Inserit et maestis saepe uocata uenit. | 12 | ············ |
| Eheu quam surda miseros auertitur aure | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| Et flentes oculos claudere saeua negat. | 10 | ·········· |
| Dum leuibus male fida bonis fortuna faueret, | 13 | ······/˘˘/˘·· |
| Paene caput tristis merserat hora meum. | 12 | ·˘/·····/˘/˘ |
| Nunc quia fallacem mutauit nubila uultum, | 12 | ············ |
| Protrahit ingratas impia uita moras. | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Quid me felicem totiens iactastis amici? | 13 | ············· |
| Qui cecidit, stabili non erat ille gradu. | 13 | ············· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.