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... Quae canit altis garrula ramis Ales caueae clauditur antro : Huic licet inlita pocula melle Largasque dapes dulci studio Ludens hominum cura ministret, Si tamen arto saliens texto Nemorum gratas uiderit umbras, Sparsas pedibus proterit escas, Siluas tantum maesta requirit, Siluas dulci uoce susurrat. ... Repetunt proprios quaeque recursus Redituque suo singula gaudent : Nec manet ulli traditus ordo, Nisi quod fini iunxerit ortum Stabilemque sui fecerit orbem.
Note: the text above is taken from lines 17-21, 22-26, 34-38 of the original text.
Note: Boethius wrote his De consolatione philosophiae (On the Consolation of Philosophy) while in prison awaiting execution by the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. It is a dialog in alternating prose and verse between Boethius and a personification of Philosophy; this is the second verse passage of Book III, and is spoken by Philosophy.
Composition:
- Set to music by Jan Novák (1921 - 1984), "Avicula", lines 17-21, 22-26, 34-38, from Cantica latina, no. 21
Text Authorship:
- by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (c480 - 524), no title, appears in De consolatione philosophiae
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 38
Word count: 160
... The chattering bird that sings on high branches is shut up in the hollow of a birdcage; she may have cups smeared with honey and with sweet attention be served lavish meals by the playful care of men, yet if hopping about in her narrow cage she should see the pleasant shadows of the woods, she scatters her food and treads it underfoot; in her sadness she yearns only for the forest, and murmurs of the forest with her sweet voice. ... All things seek again their own return and each one rejoices in its returning: nor does there remain to any a given order save that which joins beginning to end and makes an enduring cycle of itself.
Note: the text above is taken from lines 17-21, 22-26, 34-38 of the original text.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf.
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (c480 - 524), no title, appears in De consolatione philosophiae
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2026-02-24
Line count: 38
Word count: 273