The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere — Page 10
Only with the passing of the years and the increase of wealth and influence, the ease and luxury invited by these, and the consequent corruption so induced, with the insatiable longing ever for more wealth and greater influence, did the poison of greed and grasping power enter the system to work its insidious way into every part, slowly transforming the beneficent institution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries into an incubus weighing upon all the activities of the people in the nineteenth, an unyielding bar to the development of the country, a hideous anachronism in these modern times.
Erst mit dem Lauf der Jahre und dem Anwachsen von Reichtum und Einfluss, der dadurch eingeladenen Bequemlichkeit und des Luxus und der daraus folgenden Korruption, verbunden mit dem unstillbaren Verlangen nach immer mehr Reichtum und größerem Einfluss, drang das Gift der Gier und der nach Macht greifenden Habsucht in das System ein, um sich auf heimtückische Weise in jeden Teil einzuschleichen und dabei die wohltuende Institution des sechzehnten und siebzehnten Jahrhunderts langsam in einen Alpdruck zu verwandeln, der auf allen Tätigkeiten des Volkes im neunzehnten Jahrhundert lastete, ein unnachgiebiges Hindernis für die Entwicklung des Landes, ein grässlicher Anachronismus in diesen modernen Zeiten.
It must be remembered also that Spain, in the years following her brilliant conquests of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, lost strength and vigor through the corruption at home induced by the unearned wealth that flowed into the mother country from the colonies, and by the draining away of her best blood.
Es muss auch daran erinnert werden, dass Spanien in den Jahren nach seinen glänzenden Eroberungen des fünfzehnten und sechzehnten Jahrhunderts Stärke und Vitalität durch die im Inland entstandene Korruption verlor, die durch den unverdient in das Mutterland aus den Kolonien fließenden Reichtum hervorgerufen wurde, sowie durch den Verlust seines besten Blutes.
Nor did her sons ever develop that economic spirit which is the permanent foundation of all empire, but they let the wealth of the Indies flow through their country, principally to London and Amsterdam, there to form in more practical hands the basis of the British and Dutch colonial empires.
Auch entwickelten seine Söhne niemals jenen wirtschaftlichen Geist, der das dauerhafte Fundament jedes Imperiums ist, sondern sie ließen den Reichtum der Indischen Länder durch ihr Land fließen, hauptsächlich nach London und Amsterdam, wo er in praktischeren Händen die Grundlage der britischen und niederländischen Kolonialreiche bildete.
The priest and the soldier were supreme, so her best sons took up either the cross or the sword to maintain her dominion in the distant colonies, a movement which, long continued, spelled for her a form of national suicide.
Der Priester und der Soldat waren allmächtig, so dass ihre besten Söhne entweder das Kreuz oder das Schwert ergriffen, um ihre Herrschaft in den fernen Kolonien aufrechtzuerhalten, eine Bewegung, die, lange fortgesetzt, für sie eine Form des nationalen Selbstmords bedeutete.
Vocabulary
- Erst
- Only, first; marks temporal or sequential beginning
- mit
- With; indicates accompaniment or association
- dem
- The; dative article for masculine or neuter nouns
- Lauf
- Course, run; passage or progression of time
- der
- The; definite article for feminine or plural nouns
- Jahre
- Years; plural of Jahr, unit of time
- und
- And; basic conjunction joining words or clauses
- Anwachsen
- Growth, increase; process of becoming larger or stronger
- von
- Of, from; indicates possession or origin
- Reichtum
- Wealth, riches; abundance of money or valuable possessions
- Einfluss
- Influence, effect; power to affect someone's actions
- dadurch
- Thereby, through that; indicates causation or means
- Bequemlichkeit
- Convenience, comfort; state of physical or material ease
- des
- Of the; genitive article for masculine or neuter
- Luxus
- Luxury; expensive and non-essential goods or living
- daraus
- From that, therefrom; indicates consequence or result
- folgenden
- Following, resulting; coming after in sequence or consequence
- Korruption
- Corruption; moral decay or dishonest conduct in office
- verbunden
- Connected, associated; joined or linked together
- Verlangen
- Desire, longing; strong wish or craving for something
- nach
- After, for; indicates direction, time, or object of desire
- immer
- Always, ever; at all times or repeatedly
- mehr
- More; greater quantity or additional amount of something
- größerem
- Greater, larger; dative comparative form of groß
- drang
- Urged, pressed; past tense of drängen, to push
- das
- The, that; neuter definite article or demonstrative
- Gift
- Poison, venom; toxic substance harmful to living beings
- Gier
- Greed, avarice; intense and selfish desire for wealth
- Macht
- Power, strength; ability to control or influence others
- greifenden
- Grasping, seizing; present participle of greifen, to grasp
- in
- In, into; indicates location, direction, or state
- System
- System, method; organized set of principles or procedures
- ein
- A, an; indefinite article for singular masculine nouns
- um
- Around, about; indicates purpose or direction
- sich
- Himself, herself, itself; reflexive pronoun for third person
- auf
- On, onto; indicates position or direction upward
- Weise
- Way, manner; method or mode of doing something
- jeden
- Every, each; refers to all individual members separately
- Teil
- Part, portion; section or component of a whole
- dabei
- In doing so, thereby; while doing that action
- die
- The; definite article for feminine or plural nouns
- Institution
- Institution; established organization or system serving society
- sechzehnten
- Sixteenth; ordinal number form, sixteenth in sequence
- siebzehnten
- Seventeenth; ordinal number form, seventeenth in sequence
- Jahrhunderts
- Century's; genitive form of Jahrhundert, one hundred years
- langsam
- Slowly, slowly; at a reduced pace or speed
- einen
- A, an; accusative form of indefinite article ein
- zu
- To; indicates direction, purpose, or infinitive marker
- verwandeln
- Transform, change; convert from one form to another
- allen
- All; dative or accusative plural of all
- Tätigkeiten
- Activities, occupations; plural of Tätigkeit, actions or work
- Volkes
- People's, folk's; genitive of Volk, nation or people
- im
- In the; contraction of in and dem
- neunzehnten
- Nineteenth; ordinal number form, nineteenth in sequence
- Jahrhundert
- Century; period of one hundred years
- Hindernis
- Obstacle, impediment; something blocking progress or movement
- für
- For; indicates purpose, beneficiary, or direction
- Entwicklung
- Development, evolution; process of gradual growth or change
- Landes
- Country's, land's; genitive of Land, nation or region
- diesen
- These, this; accusative form of dieser, demonstrative adjective
- modernen
- Modern; of or belonging to present time period
- Zeiten
- Times, periods; plural of Zeit, passage of duration
- Es
- It; neuter personal pronoun, third person singular
- muss
- Must, has to; expresses necessity or obligation
- auch
- Also, too; expresses addition or agreement
- daran
- On it, about it; indicates reference to mentioned thing
- erinnert
- Reminds, recalls; past participle of erinnern
- werden
- Become, be; auxiliary verb for passive voice construction
- dass
- That; subordinating conjunction introducing dependent clause
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