From Medieval Art and Design, Dover Books

Nice image. The caption is unconvincing. One would not change social class from merchant to King to noble to Knight. One might go up & down within a social class, and have personal ups and downs, but there wasn't social mobility between social classes like that. A King might fall but he's not going to end up as a merchant. I think there must be a different message in the image.

I agree with you Debra.
Boethius is spoken to by Philosophy
Then she said: "Do you think that this world is run by accidental and irregular chance, or do you believe that somehow it is ruled by reason?"
"I could," said I, "by no means believe that what is so certain and predictable could be run by irregular chance; I know that God the Creator presides over His work; and the day will never come that I will abandon this judgment as untrue."

There is reason in God's plan for you to be where you are.

Does this then imply that the Wheel in that image does not turn?

I think it has been stopped by wise Prudence; Boethius's hands and eyes show his consideration of the question. Is the position of everyone accident, chance, or divine reason?

Ah ha. Sort of like the idea of being reincarnated into exactly the right position for your soul's next lesson.

Very different from the contemporary divinatory meaning.

X
.
..
What a Circe is Fortune
to turn us into beasts
and wheel us through our seasons
as Time upon us feasts.
...
....

Yesterday I re-read the 7th Canto of Dante's Divine Comedy and greatly enjoyed Virgil's beautiful description of Fortune.

[td][i]«Maestro mio», diss'io, «or mi dì anche: questa fortuna di che tu mi tocche, che è, che i ben del mondo ha sì tra branche?». E quelli a me: «Oh creature sciocche, quanta ignoranza è quella che v'offende! Or vo' che tu mia sentenza ne 'mbocche. Colui lo cui saver tutto trascende, fece li cieli e diè lor chi conduce sì ch'ogne parte ad ogne parte splende, distribuendo igualmente la luce. Similemente a li splendor mondani ordinò general ministra e duce che permutasse a tempo li ben vani di gente in gente e d'uno in altro sangue, oltre la difension d'i senni umani; per ch'una gente impera e l'altra langue, seguendo lo giudicio di costei, che è occulto come in erba l'angue. Vostro saver non ha contasto a lei: questa provede, giudica, e persegue suo regno come il loro li altri dèi. Le sue permutazion non hanno triegue; necessità la fa esser veloce; sì spesso vien chi vicenda consegue. Quest'è colei ch'è tanto posta in croce pur da color che le dovrien dar lode, dandole biasmo a torto e mala voce; ma ella s'è beata e ciò non ode: con l'altre prime creature lieta volve sua spera e beata si gode. [/i][/td][td]"Master," I asked of him, "now tell me too: this Fortune whom you've touched upon just now- what's she, who clutches so all the world's goods?" And he to me: "O unenlightened creatures, how deep-the ignorance that hampers you! I want you to digest my word on this. Who made the heavens and who gave them guides was He whose wisdom transcends everything; that every part may shine unto the other, He had the light apportioned equally; similarly, for wordly splendors, He ordained a general minister and guide to shift, from time to time, those empty goods from nation unto nation, clan to clan, in ways that human reason can't prevent; just so, one people rules, one languishes, obeying the decision she has given, which, like a serpent in the grass, is hidden. Your knowledge cannot stand against her force; for she foresees and judges and maintains her kingdom as the other gods do theirs. The changes that she brings are without respite: it is necessity that makes her swift; and for this reason, men change state so often. She is the one so frequently maligned even by those who should give praise to her- they blame her wrongfully with words of scorn. But she is blessed and does not hear these things; for with the other primal beings, happy, she turns her sphere and glories in her bliss.[/td]

Lovely. And it's good to see you, Marco.

Pen

Thanks very much Marco (and yes, it really is nice to see you!). I appreciate it especially because I've come to form an opinion of Fortune as a "negative" force, and align her with inconstancy in Giotto, for instance, and therefore as a "vice". This is a really different take on her, and it makes me question how sound my earlier assumptions are.

cheers,
robert