Awaiting execution, a philosopher wrote that Fortune owes you nothing

Imprisoned on false charges of treason and awaiting his own execution in 524 AD, Boethius wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, imagining Lady Philosophy explaining that Fortune's wheel turns by nature, raising and dropping people at random; complaining that it turned against you misunderstands what it always was. The book became one of the most widely read works of the entire Middle Ages.

— Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy — 524 AD — public domain
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