Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy 4.14

Then I answered: “I confess that I think it is justly said that vicious men keep only the outward bodily form of their humanity, and, in the attributes of their souls, are changed to beasts. But I would never have allowed them willingly the power to rage in the ruin of good men through their fierce and wicked intentions.”

“They have not that power,” said she, “as I will show you at a convenient time. But if this very power, which you believe is allowed to them, were taken from them, the punishment of vicious men would be to a great extent lightened. For, though some may scarcely believe it, evil men must be more unhappy when they carry out their ill desires than when they cannot fulfill them. For if it is pitiable to have wished bad things, it is more pitiable to have had the power to perform them, without which power the performance of this pitiable will would never have effect.

“Thus, when you see men with the will and the power to commit a crime, and you see them perform it, they must be the victims of a threefold misfortune, since each of those three things brings its own misery.”

“Yes,” I said, “I agree; but I do wish from my heart that they may speedily be rid of one of these misfortunes, being deprived of this power of doing evil.”

“They will be rid of it,” she said, “more speedily even than you wish perhaps, and sooner than they think they will be rid thereof. There is in the short course of life nothing that is so long coming that an immortal mind can think it has long to wait for it. Many a time are their high hopes and great plans for evil-doing cut short by a sudden and unlooked-for end. This indeed it is that sets a limit to their misery. For if wickedness makes a man miserable, the longer he is wicked, the more miserable must he be; and I should hold them most miserable of all, if not even death at last put an end to their evil-doing. If we have reached true conclusions concerning the unhappiness of depravity, the misery, which is said to be eternal, can have no limit.”

—from Book 4, Prose 4

Yes, men will not only act like beasts, but they will actually become beasts. It doesn’t even require times of war or famine to bring that out in us, because you can see it on any given day, in the most ordinary of circumstances.

I still have a horrifying memory of watching a colleague being fired from her job by our mighty boss. I was asked to sit there and observe the whole thing, since I was nominally in charge of her department. Her only crime was that the Dean’s wife had taken a strong personal dislike to her, and this meant that she would no longer be of any use to the fine institution.

“You see, we’re like a family here, but we can’t be a family when some people don’t do what they’re supposed to do. It’s nothing personal, but we won’t be renewing your contract.”

Of course it’s personal; as soon it involves the lives of people, it’s automatically personal. There are no families when love succumbs to preference.

She was disposable to others, to be dismissed at a moment’s notice, thanks to the pettiness of pride. Did no one remember that her husband had also just lost his job due to corporate “downsizing”? Did no one remember that her son was sick, and needed the health insurance she was now going to lose? Did no one remember that she had always done her work with diligence, conviction, and character? No, her need and merit were not in question; merely the satisfaction of vanity was in question.

My horror came not only from having to cringe my way through the whole sordid affair, acting as some sort of twisted witness, but from my own cowardice in not defending her more adamantly at the time. Was the Dean an animal? Yes, because he was consumed by hatred. Was I an animal? Yes, because I was consumed by fear.

And I deserved every little bit of guilt and shame that came to me from it, just as that pompous bigwig deserved to rot in hell right next to me. When a man can no longer follow the dictates of right conscience, he is no longer a man. He has lost his right to that title.

Boethius is beginning to understand that those who live with evil in their hearts are ultimately consumed by that evil. Yet he still worries that such people continue to do harm, as my boss did harm with his action, and as I did harm by my inaction. It concerns me when others get away with their dirty deeds, and it concerns me even more when I get away with my own dirty deeds.

But there we go again, caught up in our old habits. We look at the harm folks do, thinking only of how we are oppressed. We assume others get away with everything, forgetting that there is nothing for them to gain. Wicked men die in their own wickedness; now might we instead live in our own excellence?

Why do the vicious still have the ability to do what they do? How could a loving God possibly permit it? Because love includes within it justice, not as vengeance, but as giving to all people what is their due. God will give us exactly what we want. If I can remember that, I will no longer complain about anyone getting away with anything. If virtue is its own reward, and vice is its own punishment, then no further judgment is necessary.

Once again, I remind myself that I have known many nasty types, the liars, the cheaters, or the abusers, and for all the glory they may say they have won, I have never known a single one of them to be happy.

They are always anxious, grasping, and incomplete. The very fact that they always want more is proof that they are in need and in pain. It all goes beyond my personal observations, and goes to the fact that a man without virtue is like fish out of water.

“But aren’t you in need and pain as well?” Well yes, I most certainly am. And so I need to finally fix myself. The only pride I can find right now is in knowing that, and in knowing what I must finally do.

Why can’t we remove the evil in this world more quickly? Let me think of it a bit differently than I have before. Seen from a larger perspective, it all will pass quite soon, as all worldly things will pass.

Does the tyrant tell you that he will rule forever? Laugh and smile, because he will die shortly, even if he takes you out first. Does the oppressor think himself invincible? His power will fade, and his flesh will rot, because you will both end up in the exact same grave.

What will be the only difference? The dignity of how we live, while we still live, will be the only difference. Rest assured that if you choose to live with decency, with wisdom and with love, that will always be your own, and no one else can take it from you.

Will another hate you? Quite likely, but rest assured that he is already stewing in his own juices. He only wants to take something from you because he is so lacking within himself.

What he suffers for his crimes is already more than enough of a burden for him, just as the joy of your own character is already more than enough of a blessing for you.

Now imagine, just imagine, if the fruits of either evil or good were eternal. More of a bad thing would be the worst thing, and more a good thing would be the best thing.

Written in 11/2015