O fortuna,
velut luna
statu variabilis
semper crescis
aut decrescis
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curet
ludo mentis sciem,
egestatem,
potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.
Sors immanis
et inanis.
Rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
obumbrata
et velata
michi 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 omnis plangite!
In English:
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 string man,
everyone weep with me!