saeua negat.
Dum leuibus male fida bonis fortuna faueret,
Paene caput tristis merserat hora meum.
Nunc quia fallacem mutauit nubila uultum,
Protrahit ingratas impia uita moras. 20
Quid me felicem totiens iactastis amici?
Qui cecidit, stabili non erat ille gradu.

THE FIRST BOOK OF BOETHIUS

CONTAINING HIS COMPLAINT AND MISERIES

I.

I that with youthful heat did verses write,
Must now my woes in doleful tunes indite.
My work is framed by Muses torn and rude,
And my sad cheeks are with true tears bedewed:
For these alone no terror could affray
From being partners of my weary way.
The art that was my young life's joy and glory
Becomes my solace now I'm old and sorry;
Sorrow has filched my youth from me, the thief!
My days are numbered not by time but Grief.[79]
Untimely hoary hairs cover my head,
And my loose skin quakes on my flesh half dead.
O happy death, that spareth sweetest years,
And comes in sorrow often called with tears.
Alas, how deaf is he to wretch's cries;
And loath he is to close up weeping eyes;
While trustless chance me with vain favours crowned,
That saddest hour my life had almost drowned:
Now she hath clouded her deceitful face,
My spiteful days prolong their weary race.
My friends, why did you count me fortunate?
He that is fallen, ne'er stood in settled state.

[79] Literally "For Old Age, unlooked for, sped by evils, has come, and
Grief has bidden her years lie on me."

I.

Haec dum mecum tacitus ipse reputarem querimoniamque lacrimabilem stili
officio signarem, adstitisse mihi supra uerticem uisa est mulier reuerendi
admodum uultus, oculis ardentibus et ultra communem hominum ualentiam
perspicacibus colore uiuido atque inexhausti uigoris, quamuis ita aeui
plena foret ut nullo modo nostrae crederetur aetatis, statura discretionis
ambiguae. Nam nunc quidem ad communem sese hominum mensuram cohibebat, nunc
uero pulsare caelum summi uerticis cacumine uidebatur; quae cum altius
caput extulisset, ipsum etiam caelum penetrabat respicientiumque hominum
frustrabatur intuitum. Vestes erant tenuissimis filis subtili artificio,
indissolubili materia perfectae quas, uti post eadem prodente cognoui, suis
manibus ipsa texuerat. Quarum speciem, ueluti fumosas imagines solet,
caligo quaedam neglectae uetustatis obduxerat. Harum in extrema margine
[Greek: PI] Graecum, in supremo