The Moral Confusion
The mystery of evil unpunished. Philosophy promises to make it plain and keep her full promise.
The Good Alone Have Power
The paradox: the good alone are powerful; the wicked are altogether powerless.
Reward and Punishment Are Built In
The righteous never lack their reward, nor the wicked their punishment — each is intrinsic.
The Deeper Wretchedness of the Wicked
The wicked are unhappier succeeding than failing; better punished than unpunished; the wrongdoer worse off than his victim.
The Appearance of Chance
Boethius still finds the distribution of fortunes random; Philosophy traces this to our ignorance of God's governance.
Providence and Fate
The key distinction: Providence is the divine plan in its unity; Fate is that plan unfolding in time. All is guided to good.
All Fortune Is Good
Therefore every fortune is good: it rewards, disciplines, amends, or punishes — and so is either useful or just.
The argument of Book IV, in brief
CH. I. The mystery of the seeming moral confusion. Philosophy engages to make this plain, and to fulfil her former promise to the full.—CH. II. Accordingly, (a) she first expounds the paradox that the good alone have power, the bad are altogether powerless.—CH. III. (b) The righteous never lack their reward, nor the wicked their punishment.—CH. IV. (c) The wicked are more unhappy when they accomplish their desires than when they fail to attain them. (d) Evil-doers are more fortunate when they expiate their crimes by suffering punishment than when they escape unpunished. (e) The wrong-doer is more wretched than he who suffers injury.—CH. V. Boethius still cannot understand why the distribution of happiness and misery to the righteous and the wicked seems the result of chance. Philosophy replies that this only seems so because we do not understand the principles of God's moral governance.—CH. VI. The distinction of Fate and Providence. The apparent moral confusion is due to our ignorance of the secret counsels of God's providence. If we possessed the key, we should see how all things are guided to good.—CH. VII. Thus all fortune is good fortune; for it either rewards, disciplines, amends, or punishes, and so is either useful or just.