Cuti asked:

Boethius in 'The Consolation of Philosophy', Book IV, Prose I, wrote: "...the good are always powerful
and the evil always weak and futile, that vice never goes unpunished nor virtue unrewarded, that the
good prosper and the evil suffer misfortune..." Who has the power, reward, and prosperity -- the good
or the wicked?

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There is no necessary connection - in this world - between 'the good' and power, nor indeed between
'the evil' and power. Nor is virtue always rewarded or vice always punished.

I fancy Boethius knew this.

There are two responses to this challenge to virtue:

1. The Christian response: In the world to come, all injustices will be put right. The virtuous will be
   rewarded and the evil punished.

2. The philosophical response: Socrates said, 'It is worse to do wrong than to suffer it.' He meant,
   better for your soul. This view comes closer to Buddhist philosophy. Virtue gives you inner 'strength'.
   The vicious are inwardly 'weak'.

My main objection to response 1. is not that the existence of a 'world to come' is doubtful, but rather
that it reduces moral virtue to prudent self-interest. I prefer response 2. although I am not altogether
happy with the Socratic doctrine of the 'unity of the virtues' which it implies. According to Socrates, it
is impossible for an evil man to possess the virtue of courage. That is a difficult claim to defend.

- So what does one say when one looks around at a world where 'the evil' rejoice in their material
rewards and prosperity? I say let them have it. The good should by all means do their utmost to
pursue power, otherwise evil stands unopposed. It is my sincere belief, however, that the good have
a better life.

Geoffrey Klempner