[English]

O Fortune,

just as the moon
Stands constantly changing,
always increasing

or decreasing;
Detestable life
now difficult

and then easy
Deceptive sharp mind;
poverty

power
it melts them like ice.


Fate-monstrous
and empty,
you whirling wheel,

stand malevolent,
well-being is vain
and always fades to nothing,

shadowed
and veiled
you plague me too;

now through the game,
my bare back
I bring to your villainy.


Fate, in health
and in virtue,

is now against me
driven on
and weighted down,

always enslaved.
So at this hour
without delay

pluck the vibrating string;
since through Fate
strikes down the strong,

everyone weep with me!

[Latin]


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
mihi 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!