Thursday, November 21, 2013

O Fortuna = The Sheeples Song

"O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem written early in the 13th century, part of the collection known as the Carmina Burana. It is a complaint about fate and Fortuna, a goddess in Roman mythology and the personification of luck.


My take on it is that it exemplifies people complaining about their lot in life. Those who would rather subject themselves by their own ignorant consent to the will of another and not stand up to take responsibility for themselves. The sheeple. Their self made hell on earth in reality. Hope and fate are words and ideas for slaves, not freemen.

Translation
O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
and waning;
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
as fancy takes it;
poverty
and power
it melts them like ice.

Fate – monstrous
and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
well-being is vain
and always fades to nothing,
shadowed
and veiled
you plague me too;
now through the game
I bring my bare back
to your villainy.

Fate is against me
in health
and virtue,
driven on
and weighted down,
always enslaved.
So at this hour
without delay
pluck the vibrating strings;
since Fate
strikes down the strong man,
everyone weep with me![3]



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