book i
. st. 113, p. 140.)
Þe fowel þat hyȝt voltor þat etiþ þe stomak or þe giser of ticius.
(_Chaucer’s Boethius_, p. 107.)
XI. THE MUTABILITY OF FORTUNE.
For if hire (Fortune’s) whiel stynte any thinge to torne Thanne cessed she Fortune anon to be.
(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, bk. i. st. 122, p. 142.)
If fortune bygan to dwelle stable. she cesed[e] þan to ben fortune.
(_Chaucer’s Boethius_, p. 32.)
(Compare stanzas 120, 121, p. 142, and stanza 136, p. 146, of ‘Troylus and Cryseyde’ with pp. 31, 33, 35, and p. 34 of Chaucer’s Boethius.)
At omnium mortalium stolidissime, si manere incipit, fors esse desistit.
(_Boethius_, lib. ii. prose 1.)
XII. WORLDLY SELYNESSE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Imedled is with many a bitternesse. Ful angwyshous than is, God woote, quod she, Condicion of veyn prosperité! For oyther joies comen nought yfeere, Or elles no wight hath hem alwey here.
(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, bk. iii. st. 110, p. 258.)
Þe swetnesse of mannes welefulnesse is yspranid wiþ many[e] bitternesses.
(_Chaucer’s Boethius_, p. 42.)
--ful anguissous þing is þe condicioun of mans goodes. For eyþer it comeþ al to-gidre to a wyȝt. or ellys it lasteþ not perpetuely.
(_Ib._ p. 41.)
Quam multis amaritudinibus humanæ felicitatis dulcedo respersa est!
(_Boethius_, lib. ii. prose 4.)
Anxia enim res est humanorum conditio bonorum, et quæ vel nunquam tota proveniat, vel nunquam perpetua subsistat.
(_Ib._)
O, brotel wele of mannes joie unstable! With what wight so thow be, or how thow pleye, Oither he woot that thow joie art muable, Or woot it nought, it mot ben on of tweyen: Now if he woot it not, how may he seyen That he hath veray joie and selynesse, That is of ignoraunce ay in distresse?
Now if he woote that joie is transitorie, As every joie of worldly thynge mot fle, Thanne every tyme he that hath in memorie, The drede of lesyng maketh hym that he May in no parfyte selynesse be: And if to lese his joie, he sette not a myte, Than semeth it, that joie is worth ful lite.
(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, bk. iii. st. 111, 112, vol. iv. p. 258.)
(1) What man þat þis toumblyng welefulnesse leediþ, eiþer he woot þat [it] is chaungeable. or ellis he woot it nat. And yif he woot it not. what blisful fortune may þer be in þe blyndenesse of ignoraunce.
(2) And yif he woot þat it is chaungeable. he mot alwey ben adrad þat he ne lese þat þing. þat he ne douteþ nat but þat he may leesen it. . . . . . For whiche þe continuel drede þat he haþ ne suffriþ hym nat to ben weleful. Or ellys yif he leese it he wene[þ] to be dispised and forleten hit. Certis eke þat is a ful lytel goode þat is born wiþ euene hert[e] whan it is loost.
(_Chaucer’s Boethius_, pp. 43, 44.)
(1) Quem caduca ista felicitas vehit, vel scit eam, vel nescit esse mutabilem. Si nescit, quænam beata sors esse potest ignorantiæ in cæcitate?
(2) Si scit, metuat necesse est, ne amittat, quod amitti posse non dubitat; quare continuus timor non sinit esse felicem. An vel si amiserit, negligendum putat? Sic quoque perexile bonum est, quod æquo animo feratur amissum.
(_Boethius_, lib. ii. prose 4.)
XIII. FORTUNE.
----Fortune That semeth trewest when she wol bigyle, . . . . . . . . . . . . . And, when a wight is from hire whiel ithrowe, Than laugheth she, and maketh hym the mowe.
(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, bk. iii. st. 254, vol. iv. p. 299.)
She (Fortune) vseþ ful flatryng familarité wiþ hem þat she enforceþ to bygyle.
(_Chaucer’s Boethius_, p. 30.)
. . . . . . . She lauȝeþ and scorneþ þe wepyng of hem þe whiche she haþ maked wepe wiþ hir free wille . . . . Yif þat a wyȝt is seyn weleful and ouerþrowe in an houre.
(_Ib._ p. 33.)
In book v ., stanza 260, vol. v. p. 75, Chaucer describes how the soul of Hector, after his death, ascended ‘up to the holughnesse of the seventhe spere.’ In so doing he seems to have had before him met. 1,