Stories for Pleasure and Edification

Ha! then bold folly will

in vain to extinguish this sacred writing,
which love wrote for all eternity.
Independence
should not be the pride of our lives:
the Deity German: Gottheit; a common Enlightenment-era term for God that emphasizes the divine nature of the universe. gave us our being
for the welfare of humanity, our brothers.
The day of my birth
already gave my brother a right
to my days!
my existence assured him support,
my life is not my own —
You princes German: Fürsten; referring generally to any sovereign rulers or monarchs., do not boast of your crowns,
you bear but one more burden.
Does your duty not make it known
that man exists only for men?
O, if only the smallest spark
of the noblest of all flames
from the fire of love of the Eternal
could fall into the souls of all men
and awaken the extinguished embers
to action for the welfare of brothers!
Ah, let us feel the bliss
and the pleasure of being good! —

Thorheit (folly or foolishness)
Unabhängigkeit (independence)
Gottheit (the Deity or God)
Bruderwohl (the welfare of one's fellow man or brotherly wellbeing)
Fürsten (princes or sovereign rulers)
Liebesfeuer (the fire of love)