FORTUNA IMPERATRIX MUNDI

O Fortuna,

velut Luna

statu variabilis,

semper crescis

aut decrescis;

vita detestabilis

nunc obdurat

et tunc curat

ludo mentis aciem,

egestatem,

potestatem

dissolvit ut glaciem.

Sors immanis

et inanis,

rota tu volubilis,

status malus,

vana salus

semper dissolubilis,

obumbrata

et velata

michi quoque niteris;

nunc per ludum

dorsum nudum

fero tui sceleris.

Sors salutis

et virtutis

michi nunc contraria

est affectus

et defectus

semper in angaria.

Hac in hora

sine mora

corde pulsum tangite;

quod per sortem

sternit fortem,

mecum omnes plangite!

Fortune!

Just like the moon

with changing stature,

always increasing

or decreasing.

Detestable life!

Now hardening

and then healing

the sharp edge of my mind with her games.

Extreme poverty,

total power:

she destroys them like brittle ice.

Chance, savage

and vain,

you are a turning wheel,

a wicked condition,

false health,

always destroyable,

shadowed

and shrouded,

so you are attacking me.

Now through your games,

my back stripped,

I bear your curse.

The chance of salvation

and of virtue

is now opposed to me.

There is deep emotion

and failure

always in tribulation.

In this hour

without delay

strike a pulse in your heart.

What through chance

fells the mighty,

everyone, with me, lament!

Fortunae plango vulnera

stillantibus ocellis,

quod sua michi munera

subtrahit rebellis.

Verum est, quod legitur

fronte capillata,

sed plerumque sequitur

Occasio calvata.

In Fortunae solio

sederam elatus,

prosperitatis vario

flore coronatus;

quicquid enim florui

felix et beatus,

nunc a summo corrui

gloria privatus.

Fortunae rota volvitur:

descendo minoratus;

alter in altum tollitur;

nimis exaltatus

rex sedet in vertice

caveat ruinam!

nam sub axe legimus

Hecubam reginam.

The wounds of Fortune I bewail

with weeping eyes,

because her own gifts from me

she takes away defiant.

It is true, what is read:

she has long hair at the onset,

But generally, upon departing,

Opportunity is bald.

On the throne of Fortune

I used to sit exalted,

with the vibrant flower

of prosperity crowned;

So by whomever I have flourished,

happy and blessed,

now from the highest point I have fallen,

deprived of glory.

Fortune’s wheel spins:

I descend diminished;

another is raised on high,

excessively exalted.

The king settles at the peak—

let him be beware ruin!

Under the axis we read:

Hecuba Queen.