Note 354 — FRANCESCA OF RIMINI.
Reading edition
[The sentiment is derived from Boethius: "In omni adversitate fortunæ infelicissimum genus est infortunii, fuisse felicem."—De Consolat. Philos. Lib. II. Prosa 4. The earlier commentators (e.g. Venturi and Biagioli), relying on a passage in the Convito (ii. 16), assume that the "teacher" (line 27) is the author of the sentence, but later authorities point out that "mio dottore" can only apply to Virgil (v. 70), who then and there in the world of shades was suffering the bitter experience of having "known better days." Compare—
"For of fortunes sharp adversitee The worst kinde of infortune is this, A man to have ben in prosperitee, And it remembren whan it passéd is."
Troilus and Criseyde, Bk. III. stanza ccxxxiii. lines 1-4.
"E perché rimembrare il ben perduto Fa più meschino lo stato presente."
Fortiguerra's Ricciardetto, Canto XI. stanza lxxxiii.
Compare, too—
"A sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things."
Tennyson's Locksley Hall.]