This is (part of) the famous last line in Madách's Tragedy of Man. I hereby declare a competition for the best translation of this line. Below is my modest translation of a finishing segment of the play. Do help out with suggestions, especially the bits in square brackets where I was confused.
ADAM
My Lord! terrible visions do trouble me,
And I know not which of it is real.
Do tell, do tell, what fate awaits me:
Is this tight-bound existence all there is,
Whose strife filters my soul,
Like wine, which, on clearing
You pour on dusty ground?
Or have you ordained this noble spirit for something higher?
Will my race move forward,
Ennobled, approaching your throne,
Or, while running the mill, will it tire to death,
Unable to break the circle it treads?
Is there reward for the noble heart
Whose martyrdom the petty masses do mock?
Enlighten me, and I will bear any fate;
I can but win, since this uncertainty
Is hell itself.
THE LORD
Ask no more
Of the secret that, with good intentions
Providence has covered from your keen eyes.
If you could see that your soul's stay
Is but temporary, beyond which waits eternity:
Suffering would no longer be a virtue.
If you could see, your soul would be drunk up by dust:
What would spur you, by great ideals,
To leave the delights of passing hours?
While now, with the mist of your future sparkling through
If you are struck down by the weight of temporary existence
The feeling of eternity will lift you up
And if its pride would take hold of you
The span of your being will hold you back
And greatness, virtue, will be restored.
LUCIFER (laughing)
Truly, wherever you step, your path will be glorious,
And greatness and virtue will be your guide,
These two words, which can only take form,
If superstition, prejudice and
Ignorance are standing guard.
Why did I ever have high hopes for Man
Who from mud and sunshine formed
Is small on knowledge, but big on blindness.
ADAM
Don't mock me Lucifer, you of all people:
I saw the clear creation of your knowledge
It was very cold for this heart of mine.
But oh! my Lord. Who will uphold me,
And keep me on the right path?
You took away your guiding hand
When I tasted the fruit of knowledge.
THE LORD
Your arms are strong, and your heart is exalted
The space, which calls you to work, is infinite.
If you pay attention, a chorus sings to you
Without pause, to warn and elevate you,
Just follow it. And if your busy life
Should mute the heavenly chorus
Then this fragile woman's cleaner soul,
Standing further from the dirt of interests,
Will hear it, and through her veins
Will become song and poetry.
By these two means, ever by your side
In times of plenty and in times of want,
She will be to you [?] a reassuring, smiling genius.
And, you, Lucifer, you too, a ring in my
Universe – keep working:
Your cold knowledge and futile rejection
Will enliven and bring to the source [or to the boil?]
And hold Man back, if only for a minute.
But let your eternal punishment be to see continuously:
That what you wish to pervert
Will always have a pure, new seed.
CHOIR OF ANGELS
To choose freely between sin and virtue
What a great ideal
And to know all the while
That above us stands as shield
God's great mercy.
Act boldly, then, and grieve not
If the masses are ungrateful,
Since self-esteem is not the only goal
Of those who do great things,
The shame of doing otherwise
Debases the coward
But exalts the few.
But, on the majesty of your road
Do not be blinded by the idea
That what you do to glorify God
Is really your doing,
As if He were dependent on you,
The tool of his execution.
No, you win His ornaments, if
He lets you act in His place.
EVE
Oh, I understand this song, thanks be to my God!
ADAM
I can also fathom something, and will follow it.
But that end! If only I could forget!
THE LORD
I told you, Man: fight and trust with trust!
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