There is no greater sorrow Than to be mindful of the happy time In misery.1
ATTRIBUTION:
Inferno. Canto v. Line 121.
Note 1. Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria. See Chaucer, page 5.
In omni adversitate fortunæ, infelicissimum genus est infortunii fuisse felicem (In every adversity of fortune, to have been happy is the most unhappy kind of misfortune).Boethius: De Consolatione Philosophiæ, liber ii.
This is truth the poet sings, That a sorrows crown of sorrow is remembering happier things. Tennyson: Locksley Hall, line 75. [back]