Boethius on Man's Faulty Pursuit of Happiness

"Alas, how blind are men who stumble
along the wrong path!
They hope to find gold and jewels
hanging in trees.
They cast their nets wide and fish
on the mountaintops,
or they try to hunt for wild goats
out on the sea
Oh, they know where to dive for pearls
and where the murex dwells
the source of our precious purple dye.
They can find shellfish
but they cannot begin to locate the good
that looms high up
over the earth on which they tread
They are hopeless fools
in endless pursuit of money and fame.
When they have reached
their worthless goals they will come to know
how far they went wrong."

-Lady Philosophy in Boethius's The Consolation of Philosophy