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Fortune plango vulnera stillantibus ocellis, quod sua mihi munera subtrahit rebellis. Verum est, quod legitur: fronte capillata, sed plerumque sequitur occasio calvata. In Fortune solio sederam elatus, prosperitatis vario flore coronatus; quicquid tamen florui felix et beatus, nunc a summo corrui gloria privatus. Fortune rota volvitur: descendo minoratus; alter in altum tollitur; nimis exaltatus rex sedet in vertice - caveat ruinam! Nam sub axe legimus: Hecubam reginam.
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "Fortune plango vulnera", 1935-6 [ chorus ], from Carmina Burana, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "I lament the wounds of Fortune", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Piango della sorte le offese (Coro)", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Saúl Botero Restrepo) , "Lloro las heridas de la Fortuna", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2011-04-24
Line count: 24
Word count: 66
I lament the wounds of Fortune with weeping eyes, because she rebelliously deprives me of her gifts. What we read is true: though there is hair on his brow, most often Opportunity has a bald head behind. On Fortune's throne high up I had sat, crowned with prosperity's variegated flowers; however much I flourished, happy and blessed, I have now fallen from the summit, deprived of glory. The wheel of Fortune turns: I descend, diminished; another is raised up; exalted too far, a king sits at the very top — let him beware of falling! For beneath the axle we read: Queen Hecuba.
Note for stanza 3, line 8: Hecuba, wife of King Priam and mother of Hector, lost everything when Troy fell. She was often invoked to illustrate the fickleness of fate.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf.
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300
This text was added to the website: 2026-09-13
Line count: 24
Word count: 104