Un Dit moral contre Fortune

The anonymous fifteenth-century French verse translation of Boethius's Consolatio Philosophiae, contained in a single known manuscript, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 25418, fols 1-74r, is a revised and abridged version of the major French translation, Le Roman de Fortune et de Felicité, edited by Béatrice Atherton as her doctoral thesis for the University of Queensland (1994). The title of the present critical edition is derived from the opening strophe of the reviser's Prologue: 'Pour le Tout Poissant honnourer - ... Contre Fortune ... - Dez dis Böece vueil conter - C'om dit de Consolacion', which indicates the Christian didactic purpose intended and expressed in moral lessons for living in this world. Consisting of books I-IV only of the Consolatio, the text lacks the complex philosophical issues of book V and throws into relief the dichotomy of Fortune and Felicity. Pruning of the mythological narratives, historical examples, and nature images by the reviser produced a somewhat lean abrégé of Boethius's thought, but with Christian emphasis. With prudent editing, the translation constitutes a coherent whole and is recognised as one of the thirteen distinct medieval French translations of the Consolatio Philosophiae.