I'm not quite sure how to approach the book yet, I'm not reading ahead so I'll just feel my way as I go. My impression, so far, is that we've not yet gotten into the ratiocinative (can't believe I'm using that word) portions of the book. It continues to seem to me much like ch.1, a lot of images presented in "poetic" fashion. Nonetheless, these images are very philosophical in nature and seem to be pregnant with meaning; Socrates called himself a midwife didn't he?; no doubt he could give birth to quite a lot from these passages!
I thought that this chapter was also easy to understand. In the poem, it is now Philosophia we hear, not B. She, too, describes B. as having found a new "position" in life. B. is described, again, as "sunk in steep depths below," "into the darkness," "prostrate" (religious significance?), and "downward." Again, this present condition is compared to the life enjoyed before, "Of old he roamed without restraint beneath the open sky," "plumbed," and "scrutinized."
To me, the significance of this "position" can be expressed by saying that there has been a rupture with "everyday life" that opens up the dreadful possibility that life may be seen from a new perspective, from within an abyss. Notice that Philosophia was not with him until this calamity and then, within it, she comes (back) to him. The position is, in a sense, a prerequisite to being open to receive her. And, when she comes, it is to heal. And I notice that B. bears responsibility for forsaking Philosophia; he cast her off, abandoned her. How does she find him? Stupefied. And, in classic philosophical expression, he has forgotten who he is. But all this can be remedied.
I guess all I can say is that I find this description of what is happening as true to life and valid. From a philosophical perspective, I think this is an accurate picture of how life proceeds. The literary figure that comes to my mind is Ivan Ilyich. Ivan found himself in very much the same situation. In fact, the stupefication has Ivan referring to "nothingness" as IT. He cannot even find, in his ordinary manner of speaking, words to describe this horrifying, dreadful, encounter with death. Of course, is not the personal encounter with death the ultimate expression of what Boethius is experiencing?