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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [C4v p40]

Subitae divitiae obliviosae.

Sudden riches bring forgetfulness.

Naked boy with two cornucopia wrapped round him with a pillar balanced on his head. Man in merchant clothes looking at him and begger sitting nearby.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Cłm nos divitiae erigunt superbae,
Et fortuna beat vel otiosos,
Obliviscimur impii Deorum,
Nec sors auiuvat indigos sodales.[1]
Arae thure vacant, foco & decenti,
Nec ventura animus videre caecus
Dignatur, tumidi aut maris procellas.
Securi nimium sed in profundam
Labuntur foveam, gravesque poenas.
Si fortuna igitur fovet secunda,
Illam discito temperare mente,
Ut prorsus dubiam, & rota volucrem:
Sic posthac leviłs feres novercam.

When we are raised up by proud wealth and fortune makes us happy, even though we’re lazy, we, impious, forget the gods, nor does fortune help our impoverished fellow men. The altars are empty of incense and the cheery fire; and the blind soul does not wish to see what is to come, nor the storms burgeoning out to sea. They are safe, too safe, but forthwith slide into a deep pit and grave punishments. If, therefore, fortune and success watch over you, learn to temper her with a cool head, for she is flighty and flies on a wheel, so you will henceforth bear her more easily whenever she turns against you [lit. when she is a step-mother].

Notes:

1.  A sodalis is a chum, a mate, a drinking-buddy.

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