Bearing in mind our likeness with the gods let us, for out own good, see ourselves as exiled deities in possession of life by virtue of an ancient authority coeval with Jove.

Proud masters over our own selves,
let's use existence like a villa the
gods have given us to forget the summer.

It's not worth our while to use in another,
more fretful manner our wavering existence,
a condemned stream of the somber river.

Like the calm, implacable Destiny
that reigns above the gods,
let's construct a voluntary fate above
ourselves,
so that when it oppresses us, it is we
who'll be our oppressors.
And when we enter the night,
we'll enter by our own two feet.