While Book II ends with an exhortation of "O how happy the human race would be, if that love that rules the heavens ruled also your souls!" (Poem 8, p. 35), Philosophy hints finally at my own hope that honor is sought in not titles nor wealth, but in self respect and care of fellow man.
"Fortune has separated your true friends from two-faced ones; when she left you, she took her followers with her and left you your own. Think how much you would have given for this knowledge when you were still on top and thought yourself fortunate. Now you complain of lost riches; but you have found your friends, and that is the most precious kind of wealth." (Book II, Prose 8, p. 34)
So at least there is a goodness, a value placed on self respect and virtue as seen in one by others. Philosophy is claiming to Boethius that while Fortune is temporary, corrupting, and not to be taken as a source of happiness, it’s dual nature of Misfortune does in fact have the saving grace of its lesson in understanding that nature, "often turns them around and forcibly leads them back to the true good."
I do not think she means to merely look back and appreciate the better times, but rather to understand that there is no stability to Fortune, and therefore time and effort would be wasted on it. Philosophy, in considering the soul and its transcendence over life, directs Boethius to concentrate instead on aspiration and satisfaction beyond the immediate. All well and good for Boethius, who is a believer.
For one thing that is vital to Philosophy’s theory is a belief in afterlife, and this is one thing she is sure of in her conversation with Boethius. For if one does not believe, then knowledge and whatever true happiness she claims is found in state of mind is as lost at graveside as is the wealth of material things and men’s false crowns.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology