Boethius The Consolation Of Philosophy: An Analysis

In Boethius’s work The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius uses the character Lady Philosophy to present the argument that justice is always served in that “the good are always rewarded and the wicked always punished” (81). I support that the argument is sound and valid through evaluation, then I continue by extrapolating Boethius’s reasoning to understand that although the nature of true reward is singular, the nature of punishment is diverse.
Boethius presents his claim on the nature of good, which is a crucial lead-in to his arguments on good and evil. He reasons that for there to be imperfect and lesser goods like fortune and fame, there must be an absolute perfect good which we compare the lesser goods to in order to deem them imperfect
The first and least severe punishment is mercy: the choice not to inflict external punishment upon a wrongdoer. This is most useful on those who still possess enough goodness to realize the evilness of their deed after being shown mercy. It is important to note that mercy is shown and not given; it is not a punishment administered by others but rather a virtuous act meant to bring out the reconciliatory nature of the good within a person. If mercy is effective, a sense of guilt arises in the individual. This guilt would be considered by Boethius to be “natural” because it guides the individual toward good which he says is the goal of all creation (68-69). The second type of redemptive punishment is more useful on the wicked who do not have enough goodness to see the wrong of their actions through mercy alone. This second type of redemptive punishment is atonement. The virtuous, motivated by their desire for good, determine an act of atonement for the wicked to perform with the hopes that the wicked will learn to follow the good also. A common example of this is when an individual who is guilty of a crime is sentenced to community service. The punishment is not given in order to keep the criminal from being happy, but rather to show them that virtuous acts like helping others can bring about happiness and good. Atonement is like mercy in that it turns a wicked individual back toward the natural pursuit of good. Because these punishments ultimately lead the wicked toward good, they are truly rewards stemming from goodness rather than true punishment stemming from