Bodleian quatrain nr. 31

Bodenstedt 1881 - V.1
Urewig vorgezeichnet ist der Dinge Kern;
Der Griffel bleibt dem Guten wie dem Bösen fern;
Was Gott als Schicksal vorbestimmt, muß sich vollenden,
Mag, wie er will, der eitle Mensch sich drehn und wenden.

Cadell 1899 - 11
Long, long ago, man's fate was graven clear,
The pen left nought unwrit of joy or woe;
Since from eternity God ruled it so
Then senseless are our grief and striving here.

Christensen 1927 - 91
From of old the scheme of all that must be has existed.
The pen of destiny has written good and evil without ceasing.
He has appointed in predestination all that must come.
We distress and bestir ourselves, but all to no avail.

FitzGerald 1859 - 53
With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead,
And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:
Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.

Garner 1898 - 79
Whatever is, by Fate was erst designed,
The Maker now his labor has resigned,
And all our striving can avail us naught,
Fot all our acts were long ago defined.

Grolleau 1902 - 31
Dès le commencement fut écrit ce qui sera;
Infatigablement la Plume écrit, sans souci du bien ni du mal.
Le Premier Jour, Elle a marqué tout ce qui sera...
Notre douleur et nos efforts sont vains.

Heron-Allen 1898 - 31
From the beginning was written what shall be;
unhaltingly the Pen writes, and is heedless of good and bad;
on the First Day He appointed everything that must be —
our grief and our efforts are vain.

De Marthold 1910 - 31
Dès le commencement fut écrit l'avenir,
La Plume inscrivit tout, bien et mal, sans finir,
Le Premier Jour marquant ce que serait le monde...
Efforts vains et malheurs qu'on ne peut prévenir.

McCarthy 1889 - 86
ALL THINGS THAT BE WERE LONG
SINCE MARKED UPON THE TABLET OF
CREATION. HEAVEN'S PENCIL HAS
NAUGHT TO DO WITH GOOD OR EVIL.
GOD SET ON FATE ITS NECESSARY
SEAL; AND ALL OUR EFFORTS ARE
BUT A VAIN STRIVING.

Nicolas 1867 - 31
Les choses existantes étaient déjà marquées sur la tablette de la création. Le pinceau (de l'univers) est sans cesse absent du bien et du mal. Dieu a imprimé au destin ce qui devait y être imprimé; les efforts que nous faisons s'en vont donc en pure perte.

Payne 1898 - 191
Whatever betides on the Tablet of Destiny writ is;
Of good and of evil thenceforward the Pen Divine quit is:
In Fate foreordained whatsoever behoveth It 'stablished:
Our stress and our strife and our thought-taking vain every whit is.

Von der Porten 1927 - 31
Am Urbeginn verzeichnete den Gang des Lebens
Die Feder - unbeirrt und achtlos unsres Strebens;
Am ersten Tag bestimmte Er der Welt Geschehen,
Und unser Leiden, unser Trachten ist vergebens.

Roe 1906 - 21
Ere yet the dawn of Azal shed its light
O'er dreary chaos and the realms of night,
The Pen, unmoved by good and evil, wrote;
Nor grief can change, nor endless toil rewrite.

Rosen 1928 - 53
Before now there have been signs of what is to come,
The pen never rests from good or evil.
Destiny has given you all that is to be,
Our worries and our endeavours are in vain.

Talbot 1908 - 31
For He, to whom all future things are known,
E'en as He made thee wrote thy record down;
And what His pen hath written, good or ill,
No strife may alter, and no grief atone.

Thompson 1906 - 69
Fate's marks upon the tablet still remain
As first, the Pen unmoved by bliss or bane;
In fate whate'er must be it did ordain,
To grieve or to resist is all in vain.

Tirtha 1941 - VI.16
His tablet bears the future but concealed,
His pen is calm if good or bad we yield.
The powers gave us proper share at first,
With grief or strife no less nor more we wield.

Whinfield 1883 - 35
'Twas writ at first, whatever was to be,
By pen, unheeding bliss or misery.
Yea, writ upon the tablet once for all.
To murmur or resist is vanity.

• GRAVES 1968 - 37
• HEDAYAT 1934 - 26
• MAHFUZ 1939 - 69
• SAIDI 1991 - 129
• WHINFIELD 1882 - 20