Philosophy tests Boethius’ mental state by certain questions, and discovers three chief causes of his soul’s sickness: (1) He has forgotten his own true nature; (2) he knows not the end towards which the whole universe tends; (3) he knows not the means by which the world is governed. Analysis: Stoic lessons to ward off the passions; Divine order and the Great Wheel; assessment of the literary structure of the whole Consolation of Philosophy.