Boethius

He hopes to make it clear what's going on here.

It's withdrawal, not engagement, and at the highest level which is the personal.

It's the less he says, not the most, that has the most potential for the full expression which is the truth.

Reading is the only form of action that seems possible at the time when it's not possible to imagine a present that is both conscious and pain-free.

Everything written seems as if it was written in prison from the point of view of a man who's accepted that which is less than himself as a necessary passage, and who's clear that no degree of striving can break the bonds of the present condition.

In such a case, consolation might be provided by a woman speaking to the man and the man hearing in her voice that the condition might change sometime after his acceptance of it.