DIANA GUBER

“IN OLDEN DAYS, IN GOLDEN TIMES” by Diana Guber is written in the style of elegiac lament poetry, expressing nostalgia for a lost goodness that can be found in the Golden Age of Ancient Greece identified with Arcadia —an idyllic pastoral landscape free of all pretension, and on a more profound level, it is created in remembrance of the highest human good that is at times forgotten. This poem of serious reflection is pondering twists of fate, mourning a loss of Fortune, and ultimately, offering moments of consolation. It is constructed with regard to “The Consolation of Philosophy” written by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480–524 CE), while he was imprisoned in Pavia in the early 520s CE.

“The last of the Romans and the first of the Scholastics,” as called by Italian humanist Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457), Boethius was born just after four years of the fall of Rome and its Western Empire, thus being uniquely positioned to make an indelible mark in the world that was disintegrating around him. Classically educated according to the finest Roman tradition, the noble-born Boethius ascended to political importance as consul of Rome in 510 under the Ostrogothic king, Theodoric the Great (454–526 CE). For most of his life, Boethius was remarkably fortunate, but towards the end of his life, he suffered a sudden reversal of Fortune, being accused of treason, imprisoned, brutally tortured and executed.

In prison, the Roman philosopher writes a prosemetric composition, that is, a combination of prose and poetry, “The Consolation of Philosophy,” as conversations with an allegorical female character —Lady Philosophy who points out to Boethius that he has “forgotten who he is for a moment,” when he, at first, engulfs himself in tears and wallows in despair. Away from the confusions and distractions of a material world, Boethius begins his philosophical journey by reflecting upon his life, contemplating the role of Fortune, examining the concepts of good and evil, and attempting to reconcile himself to his fate. He eventually finds consolation, when reminiscing about blissful days of pastoral simplicity and looking out of his prison window at the stars and admiring their “ancient peace.” As Scott Goins and Barbara H. Wyman write, “He [Boethius] was a gentle scholar, who from his cell, recalled gathering violets in a spring wood and thought of a little ‘tree-loving’ bird who was saddened when she caught a glimpse of her tree from within a cage.”

Do Boethius’s yearnings for simple, innocent contentment expressed over fifteen hundred years ago still have relevance today? To a certain degree, we all find ourselves in Boethius’s predicament, experiencing great loss and misfortune, and the questions Boethius raises are as relevant to modern life as they were to the times when the Goths sacked Rome. There are many disturbing parallels between the world of Boethius and that of ours. Boethius admonished on the dangers of happiness dependent on the gifts of Fortune, and yet, humans continue to fulfill their inner void with the false gods. The eternal truth of Western thought, which praises the highest good of every human individual, is therefore in greater danger of being lost or forgotten today than it was when the barbarians invaded the Roman Empire.

Ultimately, Boethius comes to the conclusion that an inner knowing of timeless truth that is beyond a set of laws and beliefs can lead towards the highest human good and cannot be taken away or does not vanish, even when one is being held in confinement. Throughout “The Consolation of Philosophy,” Boethius progresses from being a poet to becoming a philosopher, and Diana Guber’s “In Olden Days, In Golden Times” is echoing the journey that is imbued with feelings of intense sadness, grief, and disappointment, and yet, stippled with glimpses of joy and solace.—Diana Guber, “Disconsolate,” 2022. Copyright© Diana Guber 2022. All Rights Reserved. 🎶 🎶 🎶