Just received the book on this today, although I had ventured into it online but found such difference in the translations.
Of course I realize that there is no purpose to taking these readings and applying them to oneself personally, as they are meant rather to help one personally to understand human nature and mankind as a whole, but I found some immediate relevancy to exactly my own situation when I opened the mail today, just from the Introduction by Richard H. Green:
(…) but its general popularity and its pervasive influence in later literature derive from its humane consideration of profound human problems which have confronted all men everywhere. The apparent power and success of injustice, fraud, and senseless cruelty against the apparent weakness and failure of reason and virtue is a dismaying part of the common experience of mankind. (Consolation, p. vii)
When a family member has forgotten how to divide by three, seizes the lion’s share and wants to use estate funds for personal benefit, and to see lawyers and judges who are not outraged by blatant disregard for legal documents and a sense of fairness, and facing a probate court hearing next week, maybe Boethius will help me to understand it all.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology