# The Seven Madmen, The Astrologer's Speech

Los siete locos · Roberto Arlt · Part Two

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/arlt/discurso-del-astrologo. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/arlt/discurso-del-astrologo.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/arlt/<line id>.m4a.


El Astrólogo continuó: –Al principio, ese pensamiento me pareció una de las tantas estupideces que abundan en sus divagaciones... Sin embargo, terminé por preguntarme involuntariamente por qué el dinero puede convertir en dios a un hombre, y de pronto me di cuenta que usted había descubierto una verdad esencial.  
The Astrologer went on: –At first, that thought seemed to me one of the many stupidities that abound in your ramblings... And yet, I ended up involuntarily asking myself why money can turn a man into a god, and all at once I realized that you had discovered an essential truth.
> «terminar por» + infinitive: «Terminar por» + an infinitive means 'to end up (doing something)': «terminé por preguntarme» = 'I ended up asking myself'. The pronominal «preguntarse» literally means 'to ask oneself', i.e. 'to wonder'.
¿Y sabe cómo comprobé que usted tenía razón?  
And do you know how I confirmed that you were right?
> «tener razón»: «Tener razón» = 'to be right' (literally 'to have reason'). Spanish uses «tener» for many states English takes with 'to be': «tener hambre» (to be hungry), «tener miedo» (to be afraid).
Pues pensando que Henry Ford con su fortuna podía comprar la suficiente cantidad de explosivo como para hacer saltar en pedazos un planeta como la luna.  
Why, by thinking that Henry Ford with his fortune could buy enough explosive to blow a planet like the moon to pieces.
Su postulado se justificaba.  
His premise held up.

–Ciertamente –rezongó Barsut, halagado en su fuero interno.  
–Quite so –grumbled Barsut, flattered in his heart of hearts.
> «en su fuero interno»: «El fuero interno» is one's inner conscience or private self; «en su fuero interno» = 'in his heart of hearts', 'deep down'. «Fuero» originally meant a body of law or jurisdiction — here it is the inner 'court' of the self.

–Entonces me di cuenta que toda la antigüedad clásica, que los escritores de todos los tiempos, salvo usted que había escrito esta verdad sin saber explotarla, no habían concebido jamás que hombres como Ford, Rockefeller o Morgan fueran capaces de destruir la luna... tuvieran ese poder... poder que, como le digo, las mitologías sólo pudieron atribuir a un dios creador.  
–Then I realized that all of classical antiquity, that the writers of every age, except you, who had written this truth without knowing how to exploit it, had never conceived that men like Ford, Rockefeller or Morgan might be capable of destroying the moon... that they might have that power... a power which, as I tell you, the mythologies could only ascribe to a creator god.
> Imperfect subjunctive after «concebir que»: «No habían concebido jamás que... fueran capaces» uses the imperfect subjunctive «fueran» ('they might be'). A verb of conceiving/believing in the negative triggers the subjunctive for the embedded clause; «tuvieran» right after is the same mood.
Y usted, implícitamente, sentaba de hecho un principio: el comienzo del reinado del superhombre.  
And you, implicitly, were in fact laying down a principle: the beginning of the reign of the superman.

Barsut volvió la cabeza para examinar el Astrólogo.  
Barsut turned his head to study the Astrologer.
> Preterite of «volver»: «Volvió» is the preterite of «volver» — a single completed past action, 'he turned'. «Volver la cabeza» = 'to turn one's head'. (Don't confuse «volver» 'to turn/return' with «volverse» 'to become'.)
Erdosain comprendió que éste hablaba seriamente.  
Erdosain understood that the latter was speaking in earnest.
> «éste» = 'the latter': With an accent, «éste/ése/aquél» were demonstrative pronouns. «Éste» ('this one') often means 'the latter' — the most recently mentioned person. Here it points to the Astrologer, the last man named.

–Ahora bien, cuando llegué a la conclusión de que Morgan, Rockefeller y Ford eran por el poder que les confería el dinero algo así como dioses, me di cuenta que la revolución social sería imposible sobre la tierra porque un Rockefeller o un Morgan podían destruir con un solo gesto una raza, como usted en su jardín un nido de hormigas.  
–Now then, when I came to the conclusion that Morgan, Rockefeller and Ford were, by the power that money conferred on them, something like gods, I realized that social revolution would be impossible on earth, because a Rockefeller or a Morgan could destroy a race with a single gesture, as you would an ant's nest in your garden.
> The conditional «sería»: «Sería» is the conditional of «ser» — 'would be'. It reports a consequence projected from the speaker's reasoning: 'revolution would be impossible'. The conditional often expresses such hypothetical outcomes.

–Siempre que tuvieran el coraje de hacerlo.  
–Provided they had the courage to do it.
> «siempre que» + subjunctive: «Siempre que» here means 'provided that / as long as', and it requires the subjunctive: «tuvieran» (imperfect subjunctive of «tener»). It sets a condition on the previous statement — 'only if they had the courage'.

–¿El coraje?  
–Courage?
Yo me pregunté si era posible que un dios renunciara a sus poderes... Me pregunté si un rey del cobre o del petróleo llegaría a dejarse despojar de sus flotas, de sus montañas, de su oro y de sus pozos, y me di cuenta que para privarse de ese fabuloso mundo había que tener la espiritualidad de un Buda o de un Cristo... y que ellos, los dioses que disponían de todas las fuerzas, no permitirían jamás su exacción.  
I asked myself whether it was possible for a god to renounce his powers... I asked myself whether a copper or oil king would let himself be stripped of his fleets, his mountains, his gold and his wells, and I realized that to give up that fabulous world one would have to have the spirituality of a Buddha or a Christ... and that they, the gods who had command of every force, would never permit their own dispossession.
> Subjunctive vs. conditional in reported wondering: After «si era posible que» the verb goes to the imperfect subjunctive «renunciara» ('a god might renounce'). In the next indirect question «si... llegaría a dejarse despojar», «llegaría» is the conditional — 'whether he would let himself be stripped'. Note «dejarse despojar» = 'to let oneself be stripped'.
En consecuencia, tendría que acontecer algo enorme.  
Consequently, something enormous would have to happen.

–No lo veo... Yo escribí ese pensamiento guiado por otros móviles.  
–I don't see it... I wrote that thought guided by other motives.

–Interesa poco.  
–That matters little.
Lo enorme es esto: La humanidad, las multitudes de las enormes tierras han perdido la religión.  
The enormous thing is this: Humanity, the multitudes of the vast lands, have lost religion.
No me refiero a la católica.  
I don't mean the Catholic one.
Me refiero a todo credo teológico.  
I mean every theological creed.
Entonces los hombres van a decir: «¿Para qué queremos la vida?...» Nadie tendrá interés en conservar una existencia de carácter mecánico, porque la ciencia ha cercenado toda fe.  
Then men are going to say: "What do we want life for?..." No one will have any interest in preserving an existence of a mechanical character, because science has cut away all faith.
> «ir a» + infinitive (the periphrastic future): «Van a decir» = 'they are going to say'. «Ir a» + infinitive is the everyday way of expressing the near or projected future, much like English 'going to' — often preferred over the plain future tense in speech.
Y en el momento que se produzca tal fenómeno, reaparecerá sobre la tierra una peste incurable... la peste del suicidio... ¿Se imagina usted un mundo de gentes furiosas, de cráneo seco, moviéndose en los subterráneos de las gigantescas ciudades y aullando a las paredes de cemento armado: «¿Qué han hecho de nuestro dios?...» ¿Y las muchachitas y las escolares organizando sociedades secretas para dedicarse al sport del suicidio?  
And the moment such a phenomenon occurs, an incurable plague will reappear on earth... the plague of suicide... Can you picture a world of furious people, dry-skulled, moving through the underground tunnels of the gigantic cities and howling at the reinforced-concrete walls: "What have they done with our god?..." And the little girls and the schoolgirls forming secret societies to take up the sport of suicide?
> Subjunctive after «en el momento que»: A time clause pointing to the future takes the subjunctive: «en el momento que se produzca» = 'the moment it occurs'. Because the event hasn't happened yet, Spanish uses the present subjunctive «se produzca», not the indicative.
¿Y los hombres negándose a engendrar hijos que el iluso Berthelot creía que se alimentarían con pastillas sintéticas?...  
And men refusing to father children that the deluded Berthelot believed would feed themselves on synthetic pills?...

–Es mucho suponer –dijo Erdosain.  
–That's a lot to assume –said Erdosain.

El Astrólogo se volvió hacia él, asombrado.  
The Astrologer turned toward him, astonished.
Le había olvidado.  
He had forgotten him.
> The pluperfect «había olvidado»: «Había olvidado» is the pluperfect (had + past participle): 'he had forgotten'. It marks an action completed before another past moment — the Astrologer had already forgotten Erdosain by the time he turned to him.

–Claro, no sucederá mientras los hombres no reparen en qué se funda su desdicha.  
–Of course, it won't happen as long as men don't notice what their wretchedness is founded on.
> «mientras» + subjunctive: «Mientras» meaning 'as long as' takes the subjunctive when the situation is unrealized: «mientras los hombres no reparen» = 'as long as men don't notice'. «Reparar en» = 'to notice / take note of'.
Eso es lo que ha pasado en realidad con los movimientos revolucionarios de carácter económico.  
That is what has really happened with the revolutionary movements of an economic character.

El judaísmo acercó sus narices al Debe y al Haber del mundo y dijo: «La felicidad está en quiebra porque el hombre carece de dinero para subvenir a sus necesidades...» Cuando debió decir que: «La felicidad está en quiebra porque el hombre carece de dioses y de fe».  
Judaism brought its nose up to the Debit and the Credit of the world and said: "Happiness is bankrupt because man lacks money to provide for his needs..." When it should have said: "Happiness is bankrupt because man lacks gods and faith".
> «deber» in the preterite = 'should have': «Cuando debió decir» = 'when it should have said'. «Deber» + infinitive expresses obligation; in the preterite it points to an obligation that was not met — a missed 'should have'. «Subvenir a» = 'to provide for / meet (needs)'.

–¡Pero usted se contradice!  
–But you contradict yourself!
Antes dijo que... –objetó Erdosain.  
A moment ago you said that... –Erdosain objected.

–Cállese, ¿qué sabe?...  
–Be quiet, what do you know?...
> Formal imperative «cállese»: «Cállese» is the «usted» (formal) command of the pronominal verb «callarse», 'to be quiet / shut up'. The pronoun «-se» attaches to the affirmative command. The Astrologer addresses Erdosain formally even while snapping at him.
Y pensando, llegué a la conclusión de que ésa era la enfermedad metafísica y terrible de todo hombre.  
And as I thought it over, I came to the conclusion that this was the metaphysical and terrible disease of every man.
La felicidad de la humanidad sólo puede apoyarse en la mentira metafísica... Privándole de esa mentira recae en las ilusiones de carácter económico..., y entonces me acordé que los únicos que podían devolverle a la humanidad el paraíso perdido eran los dioses de carne y hueso: Rockefeller, Morgan, Ford... y concebí un proyecto que puede aparecer fantástico a una mente mediocre... Vi que el callejón sin salida de la realidad social tenía una única salida... y era volver para atrás.  
Humanity's happiness can only rest on the metaphysical lie... Deprive it of that lie and it falls back into illusions of an economic character..., and then I remembered that the only ones who could give humanity back its lost paradise were the gods of flesh and blood: Rockefeller, Morgan, Ford... and I conceived a project that may seem fantastic to a mediocre mind... I saw that the dead end of social reality had a single way out... and it was to go back.
> Gerund used as a condition: «Privándole de esa mentira recae...» — the gerund «privándole» ('depriving it') here carries a conditional sense: 'if you deprive it... it falls back'. The gerund can compress an 'if/when' clause. «Recaer en» = 'to relapse / fall back into'.

Barsut, cruzándose de brazos, se había sentado a la orilla de la mesa.  
Barsut, crossing his arms, had sat down on the edge of the table.

Sus pupilas verdes estaban tiesas en el Astrólogo, que, con el guardapolvo abotonado hasta la garganta y el pelo revuelto, pues se había quitado el sombrero, caminaba de un extremo a otro de la cochera, apartando con la punta de un botín los tallos de pasto seco que sembraban el suelo.  
His green pupils were fixed on the Astrologer, who, with his smock buttoned up to the throat and his hair disheveled, for he had taken off his hat, was pacing from one end of the carriage shed to the other, pushing aside with the toe of a boot the stalks of dry grass that strewed the floor.
> «cochera»: A «cochera» is a coach house, carriage shed, or garage — the building where a carriage or car is kept. In the novel the conspirators meet in this disused shed.
Erdosain, apoyado de espaldas contra un poste, observaba el semblante de Barsut, que lentamente se iba impregnando de atención irónica, casi malévola, como si las palabras que decía el Astrólogo sólo befa merecieran.  
Erdosain, leaning back against a post, was watching Barsut's face, which was slowly steeping itself in an ironic, almost malevolent attentiveness, as if the words the Astrologer spoke deserved only mockery.
> «ir» + gerund (gradual progression): «Se iba impregnando» = 'was slowly steeping/becoming saturated'. «Ir» + gerund (here in the imperfect, «iba impregnando») stresses a gradual, ongoing development — the face filling little by little with irony.
Este, como si se escuchara a sí mismo, caminaba, se detenía, a instantes se mesaba el cabello.  
He, as if listening to himself, would walk, would stop, now and then he would tug at his hair.
> Imperfect for repeated habit: The string of imperfects «caminaba», «se detenía», «se mesaba» describes repeated, habitual actions in the past — 'he would walk, would stop, would tug at his hair'. The imperfect is the tense of ongoing or recurring past behavior.
Dijo:  
He said:

–Sí, llegará un momento en que la humanidad escéptica, enloquecida por los placeres, blasfema de impotencia, se pondrá tan furiosa que será necesario matarla como a un perro rabioso...  
–Yes, a moment will come when skeptical humanity, driven mad by pleasures, blasphemous out of impotence, will grow so furious that it will be necessary to kill it like a rabid dog...
> Personal «a» before «un perro»: «Matarla como a un perro rabioso» — the «a» before «un perro» is the 'personal a', used before a direct object treated as animate. Even a dog gets the marker here; it underlines killing it as one kills a living thing.

–¿Qué es lo que dice?...  
–What is it you're saying?...

–Será la poda del árbol humano... una vendimia que sólo ellos, los millonarios, con la ciencia a su servicio, podrán realizar.  
–It will be the pruning of the human tree... a vintage that only they, the millionaires, with science at their service, will be able to carry out.
> «vendimia»: «Vendimia» is the grape harvest — the gathering and pressing of grapes. Paired with «la poda» (the pruning), it casts the mass killing as agricultural labor on the 'human tree': a chilling metaphor.
Los dioses, asqueados de la realidad, perdida toda ilusión en la ciencia como factor de felicidad, rodeados de esclavos tigres, provocarán cataclismos espantosos, distribuirán las pestes fulminantes... Durante algunos decenios el trabajo de los superhombres y de sus servidores se concretará a destruir al hombre de mil formas, hasta agotar el mundo casi... y sólo un resto, un pequeño resto será aislado en algún islote, sobre el que se asentarán las bases de una nueva sociedad.  
The gods, sickened by reality, all illusion in science as a factor of happiness lost, surrounded by tiger-slaves, will provoke ghastly cataclysms, will spread the lightning plagues... For a few decades the work of the supermen and their servants will narrow down to destroying man in a thousand ways, until the world is almost exhausted... and only a remnant, a small remnant, will be set apart on some islet, on which the foundations of a new society will be laid.

Barsut se había puesto de pie.  
Barsut had risen to his feet.
Con el entrecejo fiero, y las manos metidas en los bolsillos del pantalón, se encogió de hombros, preguntando:  
With his brow set fierce, and his hands thrust into his trouser pockets, he shrugged his shoulders, asking:
> Gerund of accompanying action: «Se encogió de hombros, preguntando» — the gerund «preguntando» ('asking') marks an action simultaneous with the main verb: he shrugged while asking. «Encogerse de hombros» = 'to shrug one's shoulders' (pronominal).

–¿Pero es posible que usted crea en la realidad de esos disparates?  
–But is it possible that you believe in the reality of this nonsense?
> Subjunctive after «es posible que»: «Es posible que usted crea» = 'is it possible that you believe'. Expressions of possibility take the subjunctive «crea» (present subjunctive of «creer»), because what follows is not asserted as fact but raised as a possibility.

–No, no son disparates, porque yo los cometería aunque fuera para divertirme.  
–No, it isn't nonsense, because I would commit it even just to amuse myself.
> «aunque» + subjunctive = 'even if': «Aunque fuera para divertirme» = 'even if (it were) just to amuse myself'. «Aunque» with the imperfect subjunctive «fuera» expresses a hypothetical concession — 'even supposing it were only for fun'.
Y continuó:  
And he went on:

–Desdichados hay que creer en ellos..., y eso es suficiente... Pero he aquí mi idea: esa sociedad se compondrá de dos castas, en las que habrá un intervalo... mejor dicho, una diferencia intelectual de treinta siglos.  
–The wretched have to believe in it..., and that is enough... But here is my idea: that society will be made up of two castes, between which there will be a gap... or rather, an intellectual difference of thirty centuries.
> «componerse de» (pronominal): «Se compondrá de dos castas» = 'will be made up of two castes'. The pronominal «componerse de» = 'to be composed of / consist of'. The «se» makes the verb intransitive — the society 'composes itself' of these parts.
La mayoría vivirá mantenida escrupulosamente en la más absoluta ignorancia, circundada de milagros apócrifos, y por lo tanto mucho más interesantes que los milagros históricos, y la minoría será la depositaría absoluta de la ciencia y del poder.  
The majority will live kept scrupulously in the most absolute ignorance, ringed about with apocryphal miracles, and therefore far more interesting than the historical miracles, and the minority will be the absolute custodian of science and power.
De esa forma queda garantizada la felicidad de la mayoría, pues el hombre de esta casta tendrá relación con el mundo divino, en el cual hoy no cree.  
In this way the happiness of the majority is guaranteed, since the man of this caste will have a relationship with the divine world, in which today he does not believe.
La minoría administrará los placeres y los milagros para el rebaño, y la edad de oro, edad en la que los ángeles merodeaban por los caminos del crepúsculo y los dioses se dejaron ver en los claros de luna, será un hecho.  
The minority will administer the pleasures and the miracles for the herd, and the golden age, the age in which the angels prowled the roads of dusk and the gods let themselves be seen in the moonlit clearings, will be a fact.

–Pero eso es monstruoso en sí.  
–But that is monstrous in itself.
Eso no puede ser.  
That cannot be.

–¿Por qué?  
–Why?
Yo sé que no puede ser, pero hay que proceder como si fuera factible.  
I know it cannot be, but one must proceed as if it were feasible.
> «como si» + imperfect subjunctive: «Como si fuera factible» = 'as if it were feasible'. «Como si» ('as if') always takes the past (imperfect or pluperfect) subjunctive, regardless of the main tense, to mark a counterfactual comparison.

–Esa desproporción... la ciencia...  
–That disproportion... science...

–¡Qué ciencia ni ciencia!  
–Science, my eye!
> «¡Qué X ni X!» dismissive idiom: «¡Qué ciencia ni ciencia!» is a fixed dismissive construction, «¡Qué X ni qué X!» — roughly 'Science, nothing!' or 'Science my eye!'. It scornfully waves away the word the other person just used.
¿Acaso usted sabe para qué sirve la ciencia?  
Do you by any chance know what science is good for?
¿Usted no se burla en su pensamiento de los sabios y los llama «infatuados de los perecedero»?  
Don't you, in your own thinking, mock the learned and call them "those puffed up over perishable things"?
> Pronominal «burlarse de»: «Burlarse de» = 'to make fun of / mock'. It is pronominal and takes «de» before its object: «se burla de los sabios» = 'he mocks the wise men'. The plain «burlar» (to deceive/dodge) means something different.

–Veo que usted se ha leído esas pavadas.  
–I see you've read that drivel.

–Claro.  
–Of course.
No hay que contradecir porque sí a la gente.  
One must not contradict people just for the sake of it.
Y la desproporción monstruosa que usted advierte en mi sociedad existe actualmente en nuestra sociedad, pero a la inversa.  
And the monstrous disproportion that you notice in my society exists right now in our own society, but in reverse.
Nuestros conocimientos, quiero decir nuestras mentiras metafísicas, están en pañales, mientras que nuestra ciencia es un gigante... y el hombre, criatura doliente, soporta en él este desequilibrio espantoso... De un lado lo sabe todo... del otro lo ignora todo.  
Our knowledge, I mean our metaphysical lies, is in swaddling clothes, while our science is a giant... and man, a suffering creature, bears this dreadful imbalance within himself... On one side he knows everything... on the other he is ignorant of everything.
> «estar en pañales»: «Estar en pañales» literally is 'to be in diapers/swaddling clothes'; idiomatically 'to be in its infancy / in a very primitive state'. Here our metaphysical knowledge is still infantile next to the giant of science.
En mi sociedad la mentira metafísica, el conocimiento práctico de un dios maravilloso será el fin..., el todo que rellenará la ciencia de las cosas, inútil para la felicidad interior, será en nuestras manos un medio de dominio, nada más.  
In my society the metaphysical lie, the practical knowledge of a marvelous god, will be the end..., the whole that fills out the science of things, useless for inner happiness; in our hands it will be a means of domination, nothing more.
Y no discutamos esto, porque es superfluo.  
And let's not argue this, because it's superfluous.
> Negative «nosotros» command: «No discutamos esto» = 'let's not argue this'. The «nosotros» imperative ('let's...') uses the present subjunctive form «discutamos»; in the negative the «no» simply precedes it. It's a hortative — the speaker including himself.
Se ha inventado casi todo pero no ha inventado el hombre una máxima de gobierno que supere a los principios de un Cristo, un Buda.  
Almost everything has been invented, but man has not invented a maxim of government that surpasses the principles of a Christ, a Buddha.
No.  
No.
Naturalmente, no le discutiré el derecho al escepticismo, pero el escepticismo es un lujo de minoría... Al resto le serviremos la felicidad bien cocinada y la humanidad engullirá gozosamente la divina bazofia.  
Naturally, I won't dispute your right to skepticism, but skepticism is a luxury of the minority... To the rest we'll serve happiness nicely cooked, and humanity will gulp down the divine swill with delight.

–¿Le parece a usted posible?  
–Does it seem possible to you?

El Astrólogo se detuvo un momento.  
The Astrologer stopped for a moment.
Ahora hacía girar el anillo de acero con la piedra violeta, se lo quitó del dedo para observar su interior; luego, acercándose a Barsut, pero con un gesto de extrañeza, como el de un hombre cuya imaginación está distante de la realidad, repuso:  
Now he was turning the steel ring with the violet stone, he slipped it off his finger to look inside it; then, drawing closer to Barsut, but with a gesture of strangeness, like that of a man whose imagination is far from reality, he replied:
> Preterite «repuso» (to reply): «Repuso» is the irregular preterite of «reponer» here in its sense 'to reply / retort' (as a verb of speech). The same form also means 'he replaced/restored' from «reponer»; context — a line of dialogue — fixes it as 'he answered'.

–Sí, todo lo que imagina la mente del hombre puede ser realizado dentro de los tiempos.  
–Yes, everything the mind of man imagines can be realized in time.
¿No ha impuesto ya Mussolini la enseñanza religiosa en Italia?  
Has not Mussolini already imposed religious instruction in Italy?
Le cito esto como una prueba de la eficacia del bastón en la espalda de los pueblos.  
I cite this to you as proof of the effectiveness of the stick on the people's back.
La cuestión es apoderarse del alma de una generación... El resto se hace solo.  
The thing is to seize hold of the soul of a generation... The rest takes care of itself.
> «hacerse solo» = 'to take care of itself': «El resto se hace solo» = 'the rest does itself / takes care of itself'. The pronominal «hacerse» with «solo» expresses that something happens on its own, without further effort.

–¿Y la idea?  
–And the idea?

–Aquí llegamos... Mi idea es organizar una sociedad secreta, que no tan sólo propague mis ideas, sino que sea una escuela de futuros reyes de hombres.  
–Here we arrive... My idea is to organize a secret society that will not merely spread my ideas, but be a school for future kings of men.
> Subjunctive in a purpose/relative clause: After «una sociedad secreta que...» both verbs go to the subjunctive — «propague» and «sea» — because the society is desired/hypothetical, not yet real. «No tan sólo... sino que...» = 'not only... but rather...'.
Ya sé que usted me dirá que han existido numerosas sociedades secretas... y es cierto..., todas desaparecieron porque carecían de bases sólidas, es decir, que se apoyaban en un sentimiento en una idealidad política o religiosa, con exclusión de toda realidad inmediata.  
I know you'll tell me that numerous secret societies have existed... and that's true..., they all vanished because they lacked solid foundations, that is, they rested on a sentiment, on a political or religious ideal, to the exclusion of all immediate reality.
En cambio, nuestra sociedad se basará en un principio más sólido y moderno: el industrialismo, es decir, que la logia tendrá un elemento de fantasía, si así se quiere llamar a todo lo que le he dicho, y otro elemento positivo: la industria, que dará como consecuencia el oro.  
Ours, on the other hand, will be based on a more solid and modern principle: industrialism; that is, the lodge will have an element of fantasy, if that's what one wants to call everything I've told you, and another, positive element: industry, which will yield gold as its result.
> «la logia»: «La logia» is a lodge — the chapter or meeting-house of a secret or fraternal order (as in a Masonic lodge). The Astrologer borrows the term for his conspiratorial society.

El tono de su voz se hizo más bronco.  
The tone of his voice grew hoarser.
Una ráfaga de ferocidad ponía cierta desviación de astigmatismo en su mirada.  
A gust of ferocity put a kind of astigmatic skew into his gaze.
Movió la greñuda cabeza a diestra y siniestra, como si le punzara el cerebro la agudeza de una emoción extraordinaria, apoyó las manos en los riñones y reanudando el ir y venir, repitió:  
He moved his shaggy head right and left, as if the keenness of an extraordinary emotion were stabbing his brain, propped his hands on the small of his back and, taking up the pacing again, repeated:
> «como si» + imperfect subjunctive: «Como si le punzara el cerebro» = 'as if it were stabbing his brain'. Again «como si» forces the imperfect subjunctive «punzara» to mark a comparison that is only figurative.

–¡Ah! el oro... el oro... ¿Sabe cómo lo llamaban los antiguos germanos al oro?  
–Ah! gold... gold... Do you know what the ancient Germans used to call gold?
El oro rojo... el oro... ¿Se da cuenta usted?  
Red gold... gold... Do you realize?
> «darse cuenta (de)»: «Darse cuenta (de)» = 'to realize / become aware (of)'. «¿Se da cuenta?» = 'Do you realize?'. It's pronominal; don't confuse it with «dar cuenta de» (to give an account of).
No abra la boca.  
Don't open your mouth.
Satanás.  
Satan.
Dése cuenta, jamás, jamás ninguna sociedad secreta trató de efectuar una tal amalgama.  
Realize it: never, never did any secret society try to bring off such an amalgam.
El dinero será la soldadura y el lastre que le concederá a las ideas el peso y la violencia necesarias para arrastrar a los hombres.  
Money will be the solder and the ballast that lends ideas the weight and the violence needed to drag men along.
Nos dirigiremos en especial a las juventudes, porque son más estúpidas y entusiastas.  
We will address ourselves especially to the young, because they are more stupid and enthusiastic.
Les prometeremos el imperio del mundo y del amor... Les prometeremos todo... ¿me comprende usted?... y les daremos uniformes vistosos, túnicas esplendentes... capacetes con plumajes de variados colores... pedrerías... grados de iniciación con nombres hermosos y jerarquías... Y allá en la montaña levantaremos el templo de cartón... Eso será para imprimir una cinta... No.  
We will promise them the empire of the world and of love... We will promise them everything... do you understand me?... and we will give them showy uniforms, resplendent tunics... helmets with plumes of varied colors... gemstones... grades of initiation with beautiful names and hierarchies... And up there in the mountains we will raise the cardboard temple... That will be in order to print a film reel... No.
> The indirect object «les»: «Les prometeremos el imperio» — «les» is the indirect-object pronoun, 'to them': 'we will promise them the empire'. With «prometer» the thing promised is the direct object and the person is marked by «le/les».
Cuando hayamos triunfado levantaremos el templo de las siete puertas de oro...  
Once we have triumphed we will raise the temple of the seven golden gates...
> «cuando» + present perfect subjunctive: «Cuando hayamos triunfado» = 'once we have triumphed'. A future time clause with «cuando» takes the subjunctive; here «hayamos triunfado» is the present perfect subjunctive (pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo), marking an action to be completed before the main verb.

Tendrá columnas de mármol rosado y los caminos para llegar a él estarán enarenados con granos de cobre.  
It will have columns of pink marble, and the paths leading to it will be sanded with grains of copper.
En torno construiremos jardines... y allá irá la humanidad a adorar el dios vivo que hemos inventado.  
Around it we will build gardens... and there humanity will go to worship the living god we have invented.

–Pero el dinero..., el dinero para hacer todo eso..., los millones...  
–But the money..., the money to do all that..., the millions...

A medida que el Astrólogo hablaba, el entusiasmo de éste se contagiaba a Erdosain.  
As the Astrologer spoke, his enthusiasm spread to Erdosain.
> «a medida que» = 'as / in proportion as': «A medida que el Astrólogo hablaba» = 'as the Astrologer spoke'. «A medida que» introduces two developments unfolding together — 'the more... the more', 'as one thing happened, so did another'.
Se había olvidado de Barsut, aunque éste se encontraba frente a él.  
He had forgotten about Barsut, even though the latter stood facing him.
Sin poderlo evitar, evocaba una tierra de posible renovación.  
Unable to help it, he was conjuring up a land of possible renewal.
> «sin poder» + infinitive: «Sin poderlo evitar» = 'without being able to avoid it', i.e. 'unable to help it'. «Sin» + infinitive forms a negative adverbial; the object pronoun «lo» attaches to the infinitive «poder...evitar».
La humanidad viviría en perpetua fiesta de simplicidad, ramilletes de estroncio tachonarían la noche de cascadas de estrellas rojas, un ángel de alas verdosas soslayaría la cresta de una nube, y bajo las botánicas arcadas de los bosques se deslizarían hombres y mujeres, envueltos en túnicas blancas, y limpio el corazón de la inmundicia que a él lo apestaba.  
Humanity would live in a perpetual festival of simplicity, sprays of strontium would stud the night with cascades of red stars, an angel with greenish wings would skirt the crest of a cloud, and beneath the botanical arches of the woods men and women would glide along, wrapped in white tunics, their hearts clean of the filth that sickened him.
> Conditional for an imagined vision: The chain of conditionals — «viviría», «tachonarían», «soslayaría», «se deslizarían» — renders Erdosain's daydream: 'humanity would live... would stud... would glide'. The conditional paints a hypothetical, projected scene.
Cerró los ojos, y el semblante de Elsa se deslizó por su memoria, mas no despertó ningún eco, porque la voz del Astrólogo llenaba la cochera de esta réplica salvaje:  
He closed his eyes, and Elsa's face slid through his memory, but it woke no echo, because the Astrologer's voice filled the carriage shed with this savage retort:

–¿Así que le interesa de dónde sacaremos los millones?  
–So you're interested in where we'll get the millions from?
Es fácil.  
It's easy.
Organizaremos prostíbulos.  
We'll set up brothels.
El Rufián Melancólico será el Gran Patriarca Prostibulario... todos los miembros de la logia tendrán interés en las empresas... Explotaremos la usura... la mujer, el niño, el obrero, los campos y los locos.  
The Melancholy Pimp will be the Grand Brothel Patriarch... all the members of the lodge will have a stake in the enterprises... We'll exploit usury... woman, child, worker, the fields and the madmen.
> «el Rufián Melancólico»: «Rufián» means 'pimp / procurer' (and by extension 'scoundrel'). 'El Rufián Melancólico' is a recurring character in the novel; here the title-case name marks him as a fixed figure of the conspiracy.
En la montaña... será en el Campo Chileno... colocaremos lavaderos de oro, la extracción de metales se efectuará por electricidad.  
In the mountains... it will be in the Campo Chileno... we'll set up gold-washing works; the extraction of metals will be carried out by electricity.
Erdosain ya calculó una turbina de 500 caballos.  
Erdosain has already calculated a 500-horsepower turbine.
Prepararemos el ácido nítrico reduciendo el nitrógeno de la atmósfera con el procedimiento del arco voltaico en torbellino y tendremos hierro, cobre y aluminio mediante las fuerzas hidroeléctricas.  
We'll prepare nitric acid by reducing the nitrogen of the atmosphere with the whirling voltaic-arc process, and we'll have iron, copper and aluminum by means of hydroelectric power.
¿Se da cuenta?  
Do you realize?
Llevaremos engañados a los obreros, y a los que no quieran trabajar en las minas los mataremos a latigazos.  
We'll lead the workers off deceived, and the ones who won't work in the mines we'll kill with the lash.
> Subjunctive in the relative «los que no quieran»: «A los que no quieran trabajar» = 'those who won't (be willing to) work'. The relative clause takes the subjunctive «quieran» because it refers to an indefinite, hypothetical group rather than specific known people.
¿No sucede eso hoy en el Gran Chaco, en los yerbales y en las explotaciones de caucho, café y estaño?  
Doesn't that happen today in the Gran Chaco, in the yerba plantations and in the rubber, coffee and tin operations?
> «yerbales»: «Yerbales» (also «yerbal») are plantations of yerba mate, the herb used for Argentina's traditional infusion. Arlt invokes them as notorious sites of brutal forced labor in the region.
Cercaremos nuestras posesiones de cables electrizados y compraremos con una pera de agua a todos los polizontes y comisarios del Sur.  
We'll fence our holdings with electrified cables, and with a pear of water we'll buy off every cop and police chief of the South.
El caso es empezar, ya ha llegado el Buscador de Oro.  
The thing is to begin; the Gold-Seeker has already arrived.
Encontró placeres en el Campo Chileno, vagando con una prostituta llamada la Máscara.  
He found pleasures in the Campo Chileno, wandering with a prostitute called the Mask.
Hay que empezar.  
We must begin.
Para la comedia del dios elegiremos un adolescente... Mejor será criar un niño de excepcional belleza, y se le educará de él por todas partes, pero con misterio, y la imaginación de la gente multiplicará su prestigio.  
For the comedy of the god we'll choose an adolescent... Better to raise a child of exceptional beauty, and he'll be educated about him everywhere, but with mystery, and people's imagination will multiply his prestige.

¿Se imagina usted lo que dirán los papanatas de Buenos Aires cuando se propague la murmuración de que allá en las montañas del Chubut, en un templo inaccesible de oro y de mármol, habita un dios adolescente... un fantástico efebo que hace milagros?  
Can you imagine what the simpletons of Buenos Aires will say when the rumor spreads that up there in the mountains of Chubut, in an inaccessible temple of gold and marble, dwells an adolescent god... a fantastic ephebe who works miracles?
> «papanatas»: «Papanatas» is an invariable noun (same in singular and plural) meaning 'simpleton, gullible fool, sucker'. The Astrologer counts on exactly such credulity to make his miracles work.

–¡Sabe que sus disparates son interesantes!  
–You know, your nonsense is interesting!

–¿Disparates?  
–Nonsense?
¿No se creyó en la existencia del plesiosauro que descubrió un inglés borracho, el único habitante del Neuquén a quien la policía no deja usar revólver por su espantosa puntería?...  
Wasn't there belief in the existence of the plesiosaur that a drunken Englishman discovered, the only inhabitant of Neuquén whom the police won't let carry a revolver because of his frightful aim?...
> Impersonal «se» with the preterite: «¿No se creyó en la existencia...?» uses impersonal «se» — 'wasn't it believed / didn't people believe'. The «se» plus a third-person verb expresses a generalized subject ('one / people / they') without naming who.
¿No creyó la gente de Buenos Aires en los poderes sobrenaturales de un charlatán brasileño que se comprometía a curar milagrosamente la parálisis de Orfilia Rico?  
Didn't the people of Buenos Aires believe in the supernatural powers of a Brazilian charlatan who undertook to miraculously cure Orfilia Rico's paralysis?
Aquél sí que era un espectáculo grotesco y sin pizca de imaginación.  
Now that really was a grotesque spectacle without a shred of imagination.
E innumerables badulaques lloraban a moco tendido cuando el embrollón enarboló el brazo de la enferma, que todavía está tullido, lo cual prueba que los hombres de ésta y de todas las generaciones tienen absoluta necesidad de creer en algo.  
And countless boobies wept their eyes out when the swindler hoisted up the arm of the sick woman, which is still crippled — which proves that the men of this and of all generations have an absolute need to believe in something.
> «llorar a moco tendido»: «Llorar a moco tendido» is a colloquial idiom: to cry one's eyes out, to sob uncontrollably (literally 'to cry with snot streaming'). «Badulaques» = fools/good-for-nothings.
Con la ayuda de algún periódico, créame, haremos milagros.  
With the help of some newspaper, believe me, we'll work miracles.
Hay varios diarios que rabian por venderse o explotar un asunto sensacional.  
There are several papers itching to sell out or to milk a sensational affair.
Y nosotros les daremos a todos los sedientos de maravillas un dios magnífico, adornado de relatos que podemos copiar de la Biblia... Una idea se me ocurre: anunciaremos que el mocito es el Mesías pronosticado por los judíos... Hay que pensarlo... Sacaremos fotografías del dios de la selva...  
And to all those thirsting for marvels we'll give a magnificent god, adorned with tales we can copy from the Bible... An idea occurs to me: we'll announce that the lad is the Messiah foretold by the Jews... It has to be thought over... We'll take photographs of the god of the jungle...

Podemos imprimir una cinta cinematográfica con el templo de cartón en el fondo del bosque, el dios conversando con el espíritu de la Tierra.  
We can print a film strip with the cardboard temple in the depths of the forest, the god conversing with the spirit of the Earth.

–¿Pero usted es un cínico o un loco?  
–But are you a cynic or a madman?

Erdosain lo miró malhumorado a Barsut.  
Erdosain looked at Barsut in a foul mood.
> Redundant object pronoun: «Lo miró malhumorado a Barsut» doubles the object: the pronoun «lo» and the full noun «a Barsut» both name the same person. This redundant pronoun is very common in River Plate Spanish (and emphatic generally).
¿Era posible que fuera tan imbécil e insensible a la belleza que adornaba los proyectos del Astrólogo?  
Was it possible he was so imbecilic and insensible to the beauty that adorned the Astrologer's projects?
Y pensó: «Esta mala bestia le envidia su magnífica locura al otro.  
And he thought: "This nasty brute envies the other man his magnificent madness.
Esa es la verdad.  
That's the truth.
No quedará otro remedio que matarlo».  
There'll be no other remedy but to kill him".
> «no quedar otro remedio que»: «No quedará otro remedio que matarlo» = 'there will be no choice / no other option but to kill him'. The fixed phrase «no quedar más/otro remedio que» + infinitive means 'to have no choice but to'.

–Las dos cosas, y elegiremos un término medio entre Krisnamurti y Rodolfo Valentino... pero más místico, una criatura que tenga un rostro extraño simbolizando el sufrimiento del mundo.  
–Both things, and we'll choose a middle ground between Krishnamurti and Rudolph Valentino... but more mystical, a creature with a strange face symbolizing the suffering of the world.
Nuestras cintas se exhibirán en los barrios pobres, en el arrabal.  
Our films will be shown in the poor neighborhoods, in the slums.
¿Se imagina usted la impresión que causará al populacho el espectáculo del dios pálido resucitando a un muerto, el de los lavaderos de oro con un arcángel como Gabriel custodiando las barcas de metal y prostitutas deliciosamente ataviadas dispuestas a ser las esposas del primer desdichado que llegue?  
Can you imagine the impression it will make on the rabble — the spectacle of the pale god raising a dead man, the one of the gold-washing works with an archangel like Gabriel guarding the metal boats and prostitutes deliciously arrayed, ready to be the wives of the first wretch who comes along?
Van a sobrar solicitantes para ir a explotar la ciudad del Rey del Mundo y a gozar de los placeres del amor libre... De entre esa ralea elegiremos los más incultos... y allá abajo les doblaremos bien el espinazo a palos, haciéndolos trabajar veinte horas en los lavaderos.  
There'll be more than enough applicants to go exploit the city of the King of the World and to enjoy the pleasures of free love... From among that rabble we'll choose the most uncultured... and down there we'll bend their backs good and proper with beatings, making them work twenty hours in the washing works.
> «sobrar» = 'to be more than enough': «Van a sobrar solicitantes» = 'there are going to be applicants to spare / more than enough applicants'. «Sobrar» means 'to be left over / be in excess', so 'applicants will be in surplus'.

–Yo lo creía a usted obrerista.  
–I took you for a workers' man.

–Cuando converse con un proletario seré rojo.  
–When I'm talking with a proletarian I'll be red.
> «cuando» + present subjunctive (future): «Cuando converse con un proletario» = 'whenever I talk with a proletarian'. Pointing to an unspecified future occasion, «cuando» takes the present subjunctive «converse», not the indicative.
Ahora converso con usted, y a usted le digo: Mi sociedad está inspirada en aquella que a principios del siglo noveno organizó un bandido persa llamado Abdala–Aben–Maimum.  
Right now I'm talking with you, and to you I say: My society is inspired by the one that, at the beginning of the ninth century, a Persian bandit named Abdala-Aben-Maimum organized.
Naturalmente, sin el aspecto industrial que yo filtro en la mía, y que forzosamente garantía su éxito.  
Without, naturally, the industrial aspect that I filter into mine, and that inevitably guarantees its success.
Maimum quiso fusionar a los librepensadores, aristócratas y creyentes de dos razas tan distintas como la persa y la árabe, en una secta en la que implantó diversos grados de iniciación y misterios.  
Maimum wanted to fuse the freethinkers, aristocrats and believers of two races as distinct as the Persian and the Arab into a sect in which he set up various grades of initiation and mysteries.
Mentían descaradamente a todo el mundo.  
They lied shamelessly to everyone.
A los judíos les prometían la llegada del Mesías, a los cristianos la del Paracleto, a los musulmanes la del Madhi... de tal manera que una turba de gente de las más distintas opiniones, situación social y creencias trabajaban en pro de una obra cuyo verdadero fin era conocido por muy pocos.  
To the Jews they promised the coming of the Messiah, to the Christians that of the Paraclete, to the Muslims that of the Mahdi... in such a way that a mob of people of the most varied opinions, social position and beliefs labored on behalf of a work whose true end was known to very few.
De esta manera Maimum esperaba llegar a dominar por completo el mundo musulmán.  
In this way Maimum hoped to come to dominate the Muslim world completely.
Excuso decirle que los directores del movimiento eran unos cínicos estupendos, que no creían absolutamente en nada.  
I need hardly tell you that the leaders of the movement were stupendous cynics, who believed in absolutely nothing.
> «excusar decir»: «Excuso decirle» = 'I need hardly tell you / it goes without saying'. Here «excusar» + infinitive means there's no need to state something because it's obvious. «Le» is the formal 'you'.
Nosotros les imitaremos.  
We'll imitate them.
Seremos bolcheviques, católicos, fascistas, ateos, militaristas, en diversos grados de iniciación.  
We'll be Bolsheviks, Catholics, fascists, atheists, militarists, in various grades of initiation.

–Usted es el rufián más descarado que he conocido... Si tuviera éxito...  
–You are the most brazen scoundrel I have ever known... If you were to succeed...
> «si» + imperfect subjunctive (open conditional): «Si tuviera éxito...» = 'if you were to succeed...'. A «si» clause with the imperfect subjunctive «tuviera» sets up a hypothetical condition; Barsut leaves the consequence unspoken. «Tener éxito» = 'to be successful'.

Barsut experimentaba un singular placer en insultarlo al Astrólogo.  
Barsut took a singular pleasure in insulting the Astrologer.
Y es que no quería reconocer que era inferior al otro.  
And the fact was that he refused to admit that he was inferior to the other man.
Además, había algo que le humillaba profundamente, parecerá mentira, pero le indignaba pensar que Erdosain fuera amigo y gozara de la intimidad de hombre semejante.  
Besides, there was something that humiliated him profoundly — it will seem incredible, but it galled him to think that Erdosain was the friend, and enjoyed the intimacy, of such a man.
Y se decía:  
And he said to himself:

«¿Cómo es posible que este imbécil haya llegado a ser amigo de tal hombre?» Y por ese motivo sentía que en su interior no había mala razón que no contradijera las palabras del Astrólogo.  
"How is it possible that this imbecile has come to be the friend of such a man?" And for that reason he felt that within himself there was no bad reason that did not contradict the Astrologer's words.
> Subjunctive after «es posible que»: «¿Cómo es posible que... haya llegado a ser amigo?» = 'how is it possible that he has come to be a friend?'. «Es posible que» triggers the subjunctive — here the present perfect subjunctive «haya llegado». «Llegar a ser» = 'to come to be / end up being'.

–Lo tendremos, ya que está el cebo del oro.  
–We'll have it, since the bait of gold is there.
Los resultados de nuestra organización se verán por los balances que arrojen los negocios que emprendamos.  
The results of our organization will be seen in the balance sheets the businesses we undertake turn out.
Los prostíbulos serán una fuente de dinero.  
The brothels will be a source of money.

Erdosain ha ideado un aparato que permitirá controlar diariamente el número de visitas que reciba cada pupila.  
Erdosain has devised a device that will make it possible to monitor daily the number of visits each girl receives.
> «pupila»: «Pupila» literally means 'pupil (of the eye)' or 'female ward', but here, in the brothel context, it is the period euphemism for a prostitute on the house's books.
Esto sin contar con las donaciones, una nueva industria que pensamos explotar: la rosa de cobre, que ha inventado Erdosain.  
This is not counting the donations, a new industry we intend to exploit: the copper rose, which Erdosain has invented.
Ahora usted se puede explicar por qué lo hemos secuestrado.  
Now you can explain to yourself why we've kidnapped you.

–¿Qué hacemos con la explicación si estoy preso?  
–What do we do with the explanation if I'm a prisoner?

En aquel instante, Erdosain se observó a sí mismo de lo singular que resultaba el hecho de que Barsut en ningún momento le amenazara al Astrólogo con represalias para el momento en que se encontrara libre, lo que le hizo decirse: «Hay que andar con cuidado con este Judas, es capaz de vendernos, no por su plata, sino por envidia».  
At that instant, Erdosain remarked to himself how singular it was that Barsut at no point threatened the Astrologer with reprisals for the moment when he should find himself free, which made him say to himself: "One has to be careful with this Judas; he's capable of selling us out, not for his money, but out of envy".
> Imperfect subjunctive in a future-in-the-past clause: «Para el momento en que se encontrara libre» = 'for the moment when he should find himself free'. The time clause is projected from a past viewpoint and as yet unrealized, so it takes the imperfect subjunctive «se encontrara».
El Astrólogo continuó:  
The Astrologer went on:

–Su dinero nos servirá para instalar un lenocinio, organizar el pequeño contingente y comprar y herramientas, instalación de radiotelegrafía y otros elementos para el lavadero de oro.  
–Your money will serve us to set up a bawdy house, organize the small contingent, and buy and tools, an installation of radiotelegraphy and other elements for the gold-washing works.
> «lenocinio»: «Lenocinio» is a formal/legal word for a brothel or, more abstractly, the procuring of prostitution. Its bookish register contrasts with the cruder «prostíbulo» used elsewhere.

–¿Y usted no admite que puede equivocarse?  
–And don't you admit that you might be mistaken?
> Pronominal «equivocarse»: «Equivocarse» = 'to be mistaken / make a mistake' (pronominal). «¿No admite que puede equivocarse?» = 'don't you admit you can be wrong?'. The plain «equivocar» (to mistake one thing for another) is rarely used without the «se».

–Sí... ya lo he pensado, pero procedo como si estuviera en lo cierto.  
–Yes... I've already thought of that, but I proceed as if I were in the right.
Además, una sociedad secreta es como una enorme caldera.  
Besides, a secret society is like an enormous boiler.
El vapor que produce puede mover una grúa como un ventilador...  
The steam it produces can drive a crane as it would a fan...

–¿Y usted no admite que puede equivocarse?  
–And don't you admit that you might be mistaken?

–Sí... ya lo he pensado, pero procedo como si estuviera en lo cierto.  
–Yes... I've already thought of that, but I proceed as if I were in the right.
Además, una sociedad secreta es como una enorme caldera.  
Besides, a secret society is like an enormous boiler.
El vapor que produce puede mover una grúa como un ventilador...  
The steam it produces can drive a crane as it would a fan...

–¿Y usted qué es lo que quiere mover?  
–And what is it you want to move?

–Una montaña de carne inerte.  
–A mountain of inert flesh.
Nosotros los pocos queremos, necesitamos los espléndidos poderes de la tierra.  
We, the few, want, we need, the splendid powers of the earth.
Dichosos de nosotros si con nuestras atrocidades podemos aterrorizar a los débiles e inflamar a los fuertes.  
Lucky for us if with our atrocities we can terrorize the weak and inflame the strong.
> «¡dichoso de...!» exclamation: «Dichosos de nosotros si...» = 'lucky us if...'. The pattern «¡dichoso/pobre/ay de + pronoun!» expresses a wish or judgment about someone's fortune — here 'how fortunate we'd be if...'. «Dichoso» = happy, fortunate, blessed.
Y para ello es necesario crearse la fuerza, revolucionar las conciencias, exaltar la barbarie.  
And for that, force must be created, consciences must be revolutionized, barbarism must be exalted.
> Impersonal «es necesario» + infinitive: «Es necesario crearse la fuerza, revolucionar..., exaltar...» — «es necesario» + infinitive is an impersonal obligation: 'it is necessary to...'. The chain of infinitives keeps the demand general, with no named subject.
Ese agente de fuerza misteriosa y enorme que suscitará todo eso será la sociedad.  
That agent of mysterious and enormous force which will stir all this up will be the society.

Instauraremos los autos de fe, quemaremos vivos en las plazas a los que no crean en Dios.  
We will establish the autos-da-fé; we will burn alive in the public squares those who do not believe in God.
> Subjunctive in a relative clause: «crean» is the present subjunctive of «creer» ('to believe'). After «los que» ('those who') referring to a hypothetical, not-yet-identified group, Spanish uses the subjunctive: 'those who may not believe', anyone who turns out not to believe.
¿Cómo es posible que la gente no se haya dado cuenta de la extraordinaria belleza que hay en ese acto... en el de quemar vivo a un nombre?  
How is it possible that people have not realized the extraordinary beauty there is in that act... in burning a man alive?
> Subjunctive after «es posible que»: «haya dado» is the present perfect subjunctive. The impersonal expression «es posible que» ('it is possible that') triggers the subjunctive in its clause. «darse cuenta de» is a pronominal idiom meaning 'to realize / become aware of'.
> «nombre» for «hombre»: Here «nombre» ('name') stands in for «hombre» ('man') — almost certainly a period typo or printer's slip preserved in the public-domain text. The sense, mirrored by «quemar vivo» elsewhere in the speech, is 'burning a man alive'.
Y por no creer en Dios, ¿se da cuenta usted?, por no creer en Dios.  
And for not believing in God — do you realize? — for not believing in God.
> «por» + infinitive = cause: «por» plus an infinitive states the reason or cause: «por no creer en Dios» = 'for not believing in God', 'because of not believing in God'. The negative «no» sits between «por» and the infinitive.
Es necesario, compréndame, es absolutamente necesario que una religión sombría y enorme vuelva a inflamar el corazón de la humanidad.  
It is necessary — understand me — it is absolutely necessary that a dark and enormous religion should once again inflame the heart of humanity.
> «volver a» + infinitive: «volver a» plus an infinitive means 'to do something again': «vuelva a inflamar» = 'inflame once more'. Here «vuelva» is present subjunctive because of «es necesario que» ('it is necessary that'), which forces the subjunctive.
Que todos caigan de rodillas al paso de un santo, y que la oración del más ínfimo sacerdote encienda un milagro en el cielo de la tarde.  
That everyone fall to their knees as a saint passes, and that the prayer of the lowliest priest kindle a miracle in the evening sky.
> «Que» + subjunctive as a wish: A clause opening with «que» plus the subjunctive («caigan», «encienda») expresses a wish or command without a main verb: 'May everyone fall...', 'Let the prayer kindle...'. It carries forward the longing of «es necesario que» from the previous sentence.
¡Ah, si usted supiera cuántas veces lo he pensado!  
Ah, if you only knew how many times I have thought of it!
> Imperfect subjunctive in «si» clauses: «supiera» is the imperfect (past) subjunctive of «saber». After «si» ('if') it frames a hypothetical or counter-to-fact condition: 'if you knew', 'if you only knew' — the listener does not, in fact, know.
Y lo que me alienta es saber que la civilización y la miseria del siglo han desequilibrado a muchos hombres.  
And what heartens me is knowing that the civilization and the misery of the age have unbalanced many men.
> «lo que» = 'what / that which': The neuter «lo que» introduces a nominalized clause, 'the thing that / what': «lo que me alienta» = 'what heartens me'. It lets a whole idea serve as the subject of the sentence.
Estos locoides que no encuentran rumbos en la sociedad son fuerzas perdidas.  
These half-mad types, who find no direction in society, are wasted forces.
> «locoides»: Arlt coins «locoides» from «loco» ('mad') plus the suffix «-oide» ('-oid', resembling): 'the loco-like', the half-mad, the almost-crazed. It names the marginal misfits the Astrologer plans to recruit.
En el más ignominioso café de barrio, entre dos simples y un cínico va a encontrar usted tres genios.  
In the most disreputable neighborhood café, among two simpletons and a cynic, you will find three geniuses.
> «ir a» + infinitive = future: «ir a» plus an infinitive forms the near future, like English 'going to': «va a encontrar usted» = 'you are going to find', 'you will find'. The subject «usted» here follows the verb for rhetorical emphasis.
Estos genios no trabajan, no hacen nada...  
These geniuses do not work, they do nothing...
Convengo con usted en que son genios de hojalata...  
I grant you that they are tin-plate geniuses...
> «hojalata»: «hojalata» is 'tinplate', cheap stamped tin. «genios de hojalata» = 'tin-plate geniuses' — a sneer at men who only look brilliant, the way tin only looks like silver. «Convengo en que» means 'I agree / grant that'.
Pero esa hojalata es una energía que bien utilizada puede ser la base de un movimiento nuevo y poderoso.  
But that tin is an energy which, well used, can be the basis of a new and powerful movement.
Y éste es el elemento que yo quiero emplear.  
And this is the element I want to employ.

–¿Manager de locos?...  
"A manager of madmen?..."

–Esa es la frase.  
"That is the phrase."
Quiero ser manager de locos, de los innumerables genios apócrifos, de los desequilibrados que no tienen entrada en los centros espiritistas y bolcheviques...  
I want to be a manager of madmen, of the countless bogus geniuses, of the unbalanced who have no admittance to the spiritualist and Bolshevik circles...
> «apócrifo»: «apócrifo» means 'apocryphal, spurious, false-attributed'. «genios apócrifos» = 'bogus geniuses' — men passing themselves off as great minds without being so.
Estos imbéciles... y yo se lo digo porque tengo experiencia... bien engañados..., lo suficiente recalentados, son capaces de ejecutar actos que le pondrían a usted la piel de gallina.  
These imbeciles... and I tell you this because I have experience... well deceived..., sufficiently fired up, are capable of carrying out acts that would give you gooseflesh.
> «poner la piel de gallina»: «piel de gallina» literally 'hen's skin' is the Spanish image for 'goosebumps / gooseflesh'. «pondrían a usted la piel de gallina» = 'would give you goosebumps'. The verb «pondrían» is conditional ('would put').
Literatos de mostrador.  
Counter-top literary men.
> «de mostrador»: «mostrador» is the counter or bar of a shop or café. «literatos de mostrador» = 'counter literary men', writers who only hold forth leaning on a café bar. The phrase opens a list of comic small-time pretenders.
Inventores de barrio, profetas de parroquia, políticos de café y filósofos de centros recreativos serán la carne de cañón de nuestra sociedad.  
Backstreet inventors, parish prophets, café politicians, and clubhouse philosophers will be the cannon fodder of our society.
> «carne de cañón»: «carne de cañón» literally 'cannon meat' is the standard Spanish idiom for 'cannon fodder' — expendable troops thrown into the line. «serán» is the simple future of «ser»: 'they will be'.

Erdosain sonreía.  
Erdosain was smiling.
> Imperfect for ongoing action: «sonreía» is the imperfect of «sonreír». The imperfect paints an action in progress with no defined end: 'he was smiling', a steady backdrop while the dialogue unfolds, rather than a single completed act.
Luego, sin mirar al encadenado, dijo:  
Then, without looking at the chained man, he said:
> «encadenado»: «encadenado» is the past participle of «encadenar» ('to chain up') used as a noun: 'the chained one'. It refers to Barsut, whom the conspirators are holding prisoner.

–Usted no conoce la inaguantable insolencia de los fronterizos del genio...  
"You do not know the unbearable insolence of the borderline cases of genius..."
> «fronterizo»: «fronterizo» means 'belonging to the frontier / border'. «los fronterizos del genio» = 'those on the borderline of genius', men who hover at the edge of brilliance without ever crossing into it. A recurring label in this chapter.

–Sí, mientras no se los comprende, ¿no es verdad.  
"Yes, as long as one does not understand them, isn't that so."
> «mientras» = 'as long as / while': «mientras» here means 'as long as'. «se los comprende» uses the impersonal «se» ('one understands them / they are understood'). Note the source ends the question with a period before the name — a quirk preserved from the original printing.
Barsut?  
Barsut?"

–No me interesa.  
"It doesn't interest me."
> «interesar» like «gustar»: «interesar» works like «gustar»: the thing of interest is the grammatical subject and the person is an indirect object. «No me interesa» = literally 'it does not interest me', i.e. 'I'm not interested'.

–Es que a usted debe interesarle porque va a ser de los nuestros.  
"The thing is, it ought to interest you, because you are going to be one of us."
> «Es que...»: «Es que» opens an explanation or justification: 'the thing is...', 'it's just that...'. «ser de los nuestros» = 'to be one of ours / one of us', to belong to the group.
Yo opino esto.  
I think this.
Si a un fronterizo se le discute que no es un genio, toda la insolencia y la grosería de este incomprendido se levanta injuriosa ante usted.  
If you argue to one of these borderline cases that he is not a genius, all the insolence and coarseness of this misunderstood man rises up, insulting, against you.
> Impersonal «se» + indirect object: «se le discute» combines the impersonal «se» ('one / you argue') with the indirect object «le» ('to him'): 'if it is argued to him', 'if one argues to him'. It keeps the agent vague while focusing on the borderline genius.
Pero elogie sistemáticamente a un monstruo del amor propio, y ese mismo sujeto que lo hubiera asesinado a la menor contradicción se convierte en su lacayo.  
But praise a monster of self-love systematically, and that very fellow who would have murdered you at the slightest contradiction turns into your lackey.
> Imperative «elogie»: «elogie» is the «usted» command form of «elogiar» ('to praise'). Spanish forms the formal imperative from the present subjunctive. «que lo hubiera asesinado» uses the pluperfect subjunctive for a hypothetical: 'who would have murdered you'.
> «amor propio»: «amor propio» ('self-love') means 'pride, self-regard, ego'. «un monstruo del amor propio» = 'a monster of ego'. «lacayo» is a 'lackey, footman, servile follower'.
Lo que debe saber es suministrarles una mentira suficientemente dosificada.  
What you must know how to do is supply them with a lie measured out in the right dose.
> «dosificar»: «dosificar» means 'to dose, to measure out in doses'; «suficientemente dosificada» = 'sufficiently / properly dosed'. The Astrologer treats deception like medicine — given in the exact amount that works.
Inventor o poeta, será su criado.  
Inventor or poet, he will be your servant.

–¿Usted también se cree genio? –estalló iracundo Barsut.  
"Do you too think yourself a genius?" Barsut burst out furiously.
> «estallar» / «iracundo»: «estalló» is the preterite of «estallar» ('to burst, explode'); used of speech it means 'burst out'. «iracundo» is a literary adjective for 'wrathful, irate', describing the manner of Barsut's outburst.

–Yo también me creo genio...  
"I too think myself a genius..."
> Pronominal «creerse»: «creerse» (with a reflexive pronoun) means 'to consider / believe oneself to be': «me creo genio» = 'I think myself a genius'. It adds a shade of presumption that plain «creer» lacks.
Claro que lo creo... pero cinco minutos y una sola vez al día..., aunque poco me interesa serlo o no.  
Of course I believe it... but for five minutes and only once a day..., though it interests me little whether I am one or not.
> Neuter «lo» as predicate: The «lo» in «serlo» stands in for the predicate «genio»: 'to be it (a genius) or not'. Spanish uses the neuter «lo» to refer back to an adjective or noun already named, where English just says 'one' or repeats nothing.
Las frases importan poco a los predestinados a realizar.  
Phrases matter little to those predestined to act.
Son los fronterizos del genio los que engordan con palabras inútiles.  
It is the borderline cases of genius who grow fat on useless words.
> Cleft sentence «ser... el que»: The structure «Son los fronterizos... los que engordan» is a cleft sentence used for emphasis: 'It is the borderline cases... who grow fat'. Spanish brackets the highlighted element between «ser» and «los que» ('the ones who').
Yo me he planteado este problema que nada tiene que ver con mis condiciones intelectuales.  
I have posed myself this problem, which has nothing to do with my intellectual capacities.
> «tener que ver con»: «tener que ver con» means 'to have to do with, to be connected to'. «nada tiene que ver con» = 'has nothing to do with'. «plantearse» (pronominal) is 'to pose / raise (a problem) to oneself'.
¿Puede hacerse felices a los hombres?  
Can men be made happy?
> Impersonal «se» as passive: «¿Puede hacerse felices a los hombres?» uses the impersonal/passive «se»: 'can men be made happy?'. The «a» before «los hombres» is the personal «a», marking a human direct object.
Y empiezo por acercarme a los desgraciados, darles por objetivo de sus actividades una mentira que los haga felices inflando su vanidad..., y estos pobres diablos que abandonados a sí mismos no hubieran pasado de incomprendidos, serán el precioso material con que produciremos la potencia... el vapor...  
And I begin by drawing near to the wretched, by giving them, as the aim of their activities, a lie that makes them happy by inflating their vanity..., and these poor devils who, left to themselves, would have gone no further than being misunderstood, will be the precious material with which we will produce the power... the steam...
> «empezar por» + infinitive: «empezar por» plus an infinitive means 'to begin by (doing)': «empiezo por acercarme» = 'I begin by drawing near'. «que los haga felices» uses the subjunctive «haga» because the lie is purposeful/desired, not factual.
> «no pasar de»: «no pasar de» means 'to get no further than, to amount to no more than'. «no hubieran pasado de incomprendidos» = 'would have gone no further than being misunderstood'. «hubieran pasado» is pluperfect subjunctive in a counter-to-fact statement.

–Usted se va por las ramas.  
"You are going off on tangents."
> «irse por las ramas»: «irse por las ramas» literally 'to go off into the branches' is the Spanish idiom for 'to beat about the bush, to digress, to go off on tangents'. Barsut is complaining that the Astrologer keeps avoiding the real question.
Yo le pregunto qué fin personal persigue usted al querer organizar la sociedad.  
I am asking you what personal aim you pursue in wanting to organize the society.
> «al» + infinitive: «al» plus an infinitive means 'on / in (doing)': «al querer organizar» = 'in wanting to organize'. It compresses a clause of circumstance into two words. «fin» here means 'aim, end, purpose'.

–Su pregunta es estúpida.  
"Your question is stupid."
¿Para qué inventó Einstein su teoría?  
What did Einstein invent his theory for?
> «¿Para qué?» vs «¿Por qué?»: «¿Para qué?» asks 'for what purpose? / to what end?', whereas «¿Por qué?» asks 'for what reason / why?'. «inventó» is the preterite of «inventar» — a single completed act in the past.
Bien puede el mundo pasarse sin la teoría de Einstein.  
The world can well do without Einstein's theory.
> «pasarse sin»: «pasar(se) sin» means 'to do / get by without'. «puede pasarse sin» = 'can do without'. The adverb «bien» before «puede» intensifies it: 'can perfectly well do without'.
¿Sé yo acaso si soy un instrumento de las fuerzas superiores, en las que no creo una palabra?  
Do I even know whether I am an instrument of the higher forces, in which I do not believe a word?
> «acaso» in questions: In a question «acaso» adds a rhetorical, doubting tone: '(do I) even / perhaps (know)...?', expecting the answer 'no'. «si soy» uses «si» meaning 'whether', introducing an indirect yes/no question.
Yo no sé nada.  
I know nothing.
El mundo es misterioso.  
The world is mysterious.
Posiblemente yo no sea nada más que el sirviente, el criado que prepara una hermosa casa en la que ha de venir a morir el Elegido, el Santo.  
Possibly I am nothing more than the servant, the manservant who prepares a beautiful house in which the Chosen One, the Saint, must come to die.
> Subjunctive after «posiblemente»: Adverbs of possibility like «posiblemente» can take the subjunctive to mark genuine uncertainty: «no sea» = 'I may not be / I am perhaps not'. «ha de venir» («haber de» + infinitive) expresses obligation or destiny: 'is to come / must come'.

Barsut sonrió imperceptiblemente.  
Barsut smiled imperceptibly.
> Preterite «sonrió»: «sonrió» is the preterite of «sonreír» — a single, completed action: 'he smiled'. Contrast the earlier «sonreía» (imperfect, 'was smiling') used of Erdosain for a continuous state.
Aquel hombre hablando del Elegido con su oreja arrepollada, su melena hirsuta y delantal de carpintero le causaba una impresión irónica, indefinible.  
That man speaking of the Chosen One, with his cauliflower ear, his bristling mane, and his carpenter's apron, made on him an ironic, indefinable impression.
> «arrepollada» / «hirsuta»: «arrepollada» (from «repollo», 'cabbage') describes an ear swollen and folded like a cabbage — a 'cauliflower ear'. «hirsuta» means 'bristly, shaggy'. The two details fix the Astrologer's coarse, theatrical look.
¿Hasta qué punto fingía aquel bribón?  
To what point was that rascal pretending?
> «bribón» / «fingía»: «bribón» is 'rogue, rascal, scoundrel'. «fingía» is the imperfect of «fingir» ('to pretend, feign'), here for an ongoing question: 'was he pretending?'. «hasta qué punto» = 'to what extent / point'.
Y lo curioso es que no podía irritarse contra él, lo dominaba del hombre una sensación imprecisa, lo que le decía no era inesperado, sino que hasta parecía haber escuchado aquellas frases, con el mismo tono de voz, en otra circunstancia distante, como perdida en el gris paisaje de un sueño.  
And the curious thing was that he could not feel irritated against him; something vague about the man overcame him; what he said was not unexpected — rather, he even seemed to have heard those phrases, in the same tone of voice, in another, distant circumstance, as if lost in the gray landscape of a dream.
> «no... sino que»: «no era inesperado, sino que parecía...» uses the correction structure «no... sino» ('not... but rather'). The «que» appears because what follows is a full clause: 'not unexpected, but rather he seemed...'.
> «del hombre» = 'about the man': Here «del hombre» modifies «una sensación»: 'a vague sensation about / coming from the man overcame him'. The word order is inverted for literary effect, placing the verb «dominaba» before its subject «una sensación».

La voz del Astrólogo se hizo menos imperiosa.  
The Astrologer's voice grew less imperious.
> «hacerse» = 'to become': «hacerse» (pronominal) expresses a change of state achieved gradually or through effort: «se hizo menos imperiosa» = 'became less imperious'. «hizo» is the preterite of «hacer».

–Créame, siempre ocurre así en los tiempos de inquietud y desorientación.  
"Believe me, it always happens this way in times of unrest and disorientation."
> Imperative «créame»: «créame» is the «usted» imperative of «creer» with the object pronoun «me» attached: 'believe me'. Object pronouns attach to the end of affirmative commands, and a written accent keeps the original stress.
Algunos pocos se anticipan con un presentimiento de que algo formidable debe ocurrir...  
A select few anticipate it with a presentiment that something formidable is about to happen...
> «presentimiento»: «presentimiento» is a 'foreboding, premonition, presentiment' — a felt sense that something is coming. «anticiparse» (pronominal) means 'to get ahead, act in advance'.
Esos intuitivos, yo formo parte de ese gremio de expectantes, se creen en el deber de excitar la conciencia de la sociedad..., de hacer algo aunque ese algo sean disparates.  
Those intuitive ones — I belong to that guild of the expectant — believe themselves duty-bound to rouse the conscience of society..., to do something even if that something is nonsense.
> Subjunctive after «aunque»: «aunque» ('even if / even though') takes the subjunctive «sean» when the outcome is hypothetical or conceded rather than asserted as fact: 'even if that something should be nonsense'. «disparates» = 'nonsense, follies'.
> «gremio»: «gremio» originally a 'guild' of tradesmen, here means a 'fraternity / brotherhood' of like-minded people: «ese gremio de expectantes» = 'that guild of the expectant', those who wait for the great event.
Mi algo en esta circunstancia es la sociedad secreta.  
My something, in this circumstance, is the secret society.
¡Gran Dios!  
Great God!
¿Sabe acaso el hombre la consecuencia de sus actos?  
Does man even know the consequence of his acts?
> Rhetorical «acaso»: «acaso» in a question signals a rhetorical, doubting tone implying the answer 'no': '(does man) even / really (know)?'. «el hombre» is used generically here for 'man / mankind'.
Cuando pienso que voy a poner en movimiento un mundo de títeres..., títeres que se multiplicarán, me estremezco, hasta llego a pensar que lo que puede ocurrir es tan ajeno a mi voluntad como lo serían a la voluntad del dueño de una usina las bestialidades que ejecutara en el tablero un electricista que se hubiera vuelto repentinamente loco, Y a pesar de ellos siento la imperiosa necesidad de poner en marcha esto, de reunir en un solo manojo la disforme potencia de cien psicologías distintas, de armonizarlas mediante el egoísmo, la vanidad, los deseos y las ilusiones, teniendo como base la mentira y como realidad el oro..., el oro rojo...  
When I think that I am going to set in motion a world of puppets..., puppets that will multiply, I shudder; I even come to think that what may happen is as alien to my will as, to the will of the owner of a power plant, would be the savageries carried out at the switchboard by an electrician who had suddenly gone mad. And in spite of them I feel the urgent need to set this going, to gather into a single bundle the misshapen power of a hundred different psychologies, to harmonize them by means of selfishness, vanity, desires, and illusions, having the lie as a base and gold as a reality..., red gold...
> Comparison «tan... como»: «tan ajeno a mi voluntad como lo serían... las bestialidades» is a comparison of equality, 'as alien to my will as the savageries would be'. «serían» (conditional) and «ejecutara» / «hubiera vuelto» (past subjunctives) build a layered hypothetical of madness at a power plant.
> «usina» (River Plate): «usina» is the River Plate word for a 'power plant / generating station' (from French «usine», factory), common in Argentine usage where Spain would say «central eléctrica». «un solo manojo» = 'a single bundle / handful'.

–Usted está en lo cierto...  
"You are right..."
> «estar en lo cierto»: «estar en lo cierto» is a fixed phrase meaning 'to be right, to be correct'. Literally 'to be in the certain (thing)', it stresses correctness about a fact rather than moral rightness.
Usted va a triunfar.  
You are going to triumph.

–Bueno, ¿qué es ahora lo que espera de mí? –replicó Barsut.  
"Well, what is it that you now expect of me?" Barsut replied.
> «lo que» + «esperar de»: «lo que espera de mí» = 'what you expect of me'; «lo que» nominalizes the clause ('the thing that'). «esperar de alguien» means 'to expect from / of someone'. «replicó» is the preterite of «replicar» ('to reply, retort').

–Ya le dije antes.  
"I already told you before."
> «ya» = 'already': «ya» here means 'already': «ya le dije» = 'I already told you'. «dije» is the irregular preterite of «decir» ('to say, tell'). «le» is the indirect object, 'to you' (formal).
Que nos firme el cheque por diecisiete mil pesos.  
That you sign us the check for seventeen thousand pesos.
> «Que» + subjunctive as command: «Que nos firme el cheque» is an indirect command: 'that you sign us the check', i.e. 'you are to sign'. «firme» is present subjunctive of «firmar» («usted»), continuing the sense of «le dije que...» ('I told you to...').
A usted le quedarán tres mil.  
You will be left with three thousand.
> «quedar» like «gustar»: «quedar» here works like «gustar»: the money is the subject and the person an indirect object. «A usted le quedarán tres mil» = literally 'three thousand will remain to you', i.e. 'you will be left with three thousand'.
Con eso puede irse al diablo.  
With that you can go to the devil.
> «irse al diablo»: «irse al diablo» literally 'to go to the devil' means 'to clear off, get lost, go to hell'. Said to Barsut, it dismisses him once he has the money — 'and good riddance'.
El resto se lo pagaremos en cuotas mensuales con lo que rindan los prostíbulos y los lavaderos.  
The rest we will pay you in monthly installments out of what the brothels and the laundries bring in.
> Subjunctive «rindan»: «rindan» is present subjunctive of «rendir» ('to yield, bring in'). After «lo que» pointing to an unknown future amount, Spanish uses the subjunctive: 'with whatever the brothels and laundries may bring in'. «lavaderos» = 'laundries, washhouses'.

–¿Y saldré de aquí?  
"And will I get out of here?"
> Irregular future «saldré»: «saldré» is the future of «salir» ('to leave, go out'), one of the irregular futures with an inserted «-d-» (salir → saldré, like tener → tendré). It means 'I will get out / leave'.

–En cuanto cobremos el cheque.  
"As soon as we cash the check."
> «en cuanto» + subjunctive: «en cuanto» ('as soon as') takes the subjunctive «cobremos» for an action still in the future: 'as soon as we cash it'. «cobrar» means 'to cash, collect, charge (money)'.

–¿Y cómo me prueba usted de que ésas son sus verdades?  
"And how do you prove to me that those are your truths?"

–Ciertas cosas no se prueban...  
"Certain things are not proved..."
> Passive «se»: «no se prueban» uses the passive/impersonal «se»: 'are not proved / one does not prove'. The verb agrees with the plural subject «cosas». «probar» means 'to prove' (also 'to taste, try').
Pero ya que usted me pide una prueba, le diré: Si usted se niega a firmarme el cheque lo haré torturar por el Hombre que vio a la Partera, y después que me haya firmado el cheque lo mataré...  
But since you ask me for proof, I will tell you: If you refuse to sign me the check, I will have you tortured by the Man Who Saw the Midwife, and after you have signed me the check I will kill you...
> Causative «hacer» + infinitive: «hacer» plus an infinitive is causative: «lo haré torturar» = 'I will have him tortured / make him be tortured'. «por el Hombre...» names the agent. «negarse a» (pronominal) means 'to refuse to'.

Barsut levantó sus ojos descoloridos, y ahora su rostro con barba de tres días parecía envuelto en una neblina de cobre.  
Barsut raised his colorless eyes, and now his face, with its three-day beard, seemed wrapped in a copper-colored mist.
> «barba de tres días»: «barba de tres días» literally 'three-day beard' is the everyday phrase for stubble, an unshaven face. «descoloridos» = 'colorless, faded, pallid'; «neblina» = 'mist, haze'.
¡Matarlo!  
To kill him!
La palabra no le causó ninguna impresión.  
The word made no impression on him.
En ese momento carecía de sentido para él.  
At that moment it was meaningless to him.
> «carecer de»: «carecer de» means 'to lack, to be without'. «carecía de sentido» = 'lacked meaning, was meaningless'. «carecía» is the imperfect, describing an ongoing state at that moment.
Además, la vida le importaba tan poco...  
Besides, life mattered so little to him...
Hacía mucho tiempo que aguardaba una catástrofe; ésta se había producido, y en vez de sentirse acosado por el terror encontraba en el interior de si mismo una indiferencia cínica que se encogía de hombros ante cualquier destino.  
He had been awaiting a catastrophe for a long time; it had now occurred, and instead of feeling besieged by terror he found within himself a cynical indifference that shrugged its shoulders at any fate whatever.
> «hacía... que» + imperfect: «Hacía mucho tiempo que aguardaba» = 'he had been awaiting for a long time'. The pattern «hacía + time + que + imperfect» expresses a past action still ongoing at the reference point — English uses the past perfect continuous.
> «encogerse de hombros»: «encogerse de hombros» means 'to shrug one's shoulders'. The pronominal verb is used reflexively; «se encogía» (imperfect) here personifies the indifference itself as shrugging at any fate.
El Astrólogo continuó:  
The Astrologer continued:

–Mas no quisiera llegar a eso...  
"But I should not like to come to that..."
> «mas» and softening «quisiera»: «mas» (no accent) is a literary equivalent of «pero», 'but'. «quisiera», the imperfect subjunctive of «querer», is a courteous, softened way to say 'I would like / I should like'.
Lo que yo quisiera es contar con su ayuda personal... que usted se interesara en nuestros proyectos.  
What I should like is to count on your personal help... for you to take an interest in our projects.
> «contar con»: «contar con» means 'to count on, rely on, have the support of'. «se interesara» is the imperfect subjunctive of «interesarse» ('to take an interest'), governed by the wish «quisiera... que».
Créame, nosotros estamos viviendo en una época terrible.  
Believe me, we are living in a terrible age.
Aquel que encuentre la mentira que necesita la multitud será el Rey del Mundo.  
He who finds the lie the multitude needs will be the King of the World.
> Subjunctive after «aquel que»: «Aquel que encuentre» = 'he who finds / whoever finds'. The subjunctive «encuentre» marks an as-yet-unidentified person: anyone who turns out to find the lie. «será» is the simple future, 'will be'.
Todos los hombres viven angustiados...  
All men live in anguish...
> «angustiado» / «angustia»: «angustiado» means 'anguished, distressed, full of dread'. The noun «angustia» ('anguish, dread') is one of the keynotes of Arlt's novel — the existential affliction binding all his characters.
El catolicismo no satisface a nadie, el budismo no se presta para nuestro temperamento estragado por el deseo de gozar.  
Catholicism satisfies no one; Buddhism is not suited to our temperament, ravaged by the desire for pleasure.
> «prestarse para / a»: «prestarse a / para» means 'to lend itself to, to be suited to'. «no se presta para nuestro temperamento» = 'is not suited to our temperament'. «estragado» = 'ruined, spoiled, ravaged'; «gozar» = 'to enjoy, take pleasure'.
Quizá hablemos de Lucifer y de la Estrella de la Tarde.  
Perhaps we will speak of Lucifer and the Evening Star.
> Subjunctive after «quizá»: «quizá» ('perhaps') often takes the subjunctive «hablemos» to stress real uncertainty: 'perhaps we may speak'. «la Estrella de la Tarde» ('the Evening Star', Venus) is here linked to Lucifer, the 'light-bringer'.
Usted le agregará a nuestro sueños toda la poesía que ellos necesitan, y nos dirigiremos a los jóvenes...  
You will add to our dreams all the poetry they need, and we will address ourselves to the young...
> «dirigirse a»: «dirigirse a» (pronominal) means 'to address / direct oneself to (an audience)'. «nos dirigiremos a los jóvenes» = 'we will address ourselves to the young'. Note «nuestro sueños» in the source lacks the plural «-s» on «nuestro» — a slip kept from the original.
¡Oh!, es muy grande esto... muy grande...  
Oh!, this is very great... very great...

El Astrólogo se dejó caer sobre el cajón.  
The Astrologer let himself drop onto the crate.
> «dejarse caer»: «dejarse caer» literally 'to let oneself fall' means 'to drop / flop / sink down'. «se dejó caer sobre el cajón» = 'he let himself drop onto the crate'. «cajón» here is a large box or packing crate.
Estaba extenuado.  
He was exhausted.
> «extenuado»: «extenuado» means 'exhausted, worn out, drained'. «Estaba extenuado» uses the imperfect of «estar» for a continuous state: 'he was exhausted'.
Enjugóse el sudor de la frente con un pañuelo a cuadros como el de los labriegos, y los tres permanecieron un instante en silencio.  
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a checkered handkerchief like those of farmhands, and the three of them remained an instant in silence.
> Enclitic pronoun «Enjugóse»: «Enjugóse» is «se enjugó» with the pronoun attached to the end of the verb — a literary word order once common at the start of a sentence. «enjugarse» = 'to wipe/dry oneself'; «labriegos» = 'farmhands, peasants'.

De pronto Barsut dijo:  
Suddenly Barsut said:
> «de pronto»: «de pronto» is a fixed adverbial phrase meaning 'suddenly, all at once'. It often marks an abrupt turn in the action or in a character's resolve.

–Sí, tiene usted razón, esto es muy grande.  
"Yes, you are right, this is very great."
> «tener razón»: «tener razón» literally 'to have reason' is the standard way to say 'to be right': «tiene usted razón» = 'you are right'. Spanish 'has' the rightness rather than 'being' right.
Suélteme, que le firmaré el cheque.  
Let me go, and I will sign you the check.
> Imperative «suélteme»: «suélteme» is the «usted» command of «soltar» ('to release, let go'), with «me» attached and a written accent preserving the stress. The stem changes o→ue: soltar → suelte. The «que» after it means 'and / for', introducing the promise.

Había pensado que todas las palabras del Astrólogo eran mentiras, y aquello casi le perdió.  
He had thought that all the Astrologer's words were lies, and that very thing almost ruined him.
> Pluperfect «había pensado»: «había pensado» is the pluperfect (past perfect): 'he had thought' — an action completed before another past moment. «le perdió» here means 'ruined / undid him'; «perder» can mean 'to be the undoing of' a person.

El Astrólogo se levantó caviloso:  
The Astrologer got up, brooding:
> «caviloso»: «caviloso» means 'pensive, brooding, given to anxious turning-over of thoughts' (from «cavilar», 'to ponder/brood'). It describes the Astrologer's manner as he rises.

–Perdón, yo le pondré a usted en libertad después que haya cobrado el cheque.  
"Pardon me, I will set you free after I have cashed the check."
> Subjunctive after «después que»: «después (de) que» referring to a future event takes the subjunctive «haya cobrado» (present perfect subjunctive): 'after I have cashed'. «poner en libertad» = 'to set free, release'.
Hoy es miércoles.  
Today is Wednesday.

Mañana a mediodía puede estar usted en libertad, pero nuestra casa sólo la podrá abandonar dentro de dos meses –dijo esto porque reparó que el otro no creía en sus proyectos–.  
Tomorrow at midday you can be free, but our house you will only be able to leave in two months' time" — he said this because he noticed that the other did not believe in his projects —.
> «reparar (en)»: «reparar en» means 'to notice, take note of'. «dentro de dos meses» = 'in two months', 'within two months' (looking forward). «podrá» is the future of «poder», 'will be able to'.
¿Para esta tarde no necesita algo?  
For this afternoon, do you need anything?

–No.  
"No."

–Buenos, hasta luego.  
"Well, see you later."
> «hasta luego»: «hasta luego» is the everyday parting 'see you later, so long'. The source reads «Buenos» (with an «-s») for the expected «Bueno» ('well / all right') — a slip kept from the original printing.

–Pero ¿se va así?...  
"But are you leaving just like that?..."
> «irse» = 'to leave / go away': «irse» (pronominal) means 'to go away, leave', stressing departure more than plain «ir». «¿se va así?» = 'are you going off like that?'. «así» = 'like this / like that, in that way'.
Quédese...  
Stay...
> Imperative «quédese»: «quédese» is the «usted» command of «quedarse» ('to stay, remain'), with «se» attached and a written accent keeping the stress. Affirmative commands always carry their pronouns at the end.

–No.  
"No."
Estoy cansado.  
I am tired.
Necesito dormir un rato.  
I need to sleep for a while.
> «un rato»: «un rato» means 'a while, a short time'. «dormir un rato» = 'to sleep for a while, to have a nap'. Don't confuse «rato» (a span of time) with «rato» mistaken for «rata» ('rat').
Esta noche vendré y charlaremos otro poco.  
Tonight I will come and we will chat a little more.
> Irregular future «vendré»: «vendré» is the irregular future of «venir» ('to come'), with the inserted «-d-» (venir → vendré). «charlaremos» = 'we will chat'; «otro poco» = 'a little more, a bit longer'.
¿Quiere cigarrillos?  
Do you want cigarettes?

–Bueno.  
"All right."
> «Bueno» as 'OK': Beyond 'good', «bueno» on its own is a common reply meaning 'all right, OK, fine' — here Barsut accepting the offer of cigarettes.

Salieron de la caballeriza.  
They went out of the stable.
> «caballeriza»: «caballeriza» is a 'stable, stall for horses' (from «caballo», 'horse'). It is where Barsut is being held captive on the Astrologer's property. «Salieron» is the preterite of «salir».

Barsut se recostó en su lecho de pasto seco, y encendiendo un cigarrillo lanzó algunas bocanadas de humo que en la oblicua de una aguja de sol destrenzaban sus maravillosos caracoles de azul acero.  
Barsut lay back on his bed of dry grass, and lighting a cigarette he let out a few puffs of smoke which, in the slant of a needle of sunlight, unbraided their marvelous coils of steel blue.
> «bocanada» / «destrenzar»: «bocanada» is a 'puff, mouthful' (of smoke or air). «destrenzar» means 'to unbraid, unplait' (from «trenza», 'braid'). «caracoles» here are spiral 'coils' of smoke — Arlt's image turns cigarette smoke into unwinding blue plaits.
> «pasto» (River Plate): «pasto» in River Plate Spanish is 'grass'; «lecho de pasto seco» = 'bed of dry grass'. «lecho» is a literary word for 'bed / couch'. «aguja de sol» literally 'needle of sun' is a thin shaft of sunlight.

Ahora que estaba solo su pensamiento se ordenaba cordialmente, y hasta se dijo:  
Now that he was alone, his thoughts arranged themselves agreeably, and he even said to himself:
> «decirse» = 'to say to oneself': «se dijo» uses the reflexive «se» as an indirect object: 'he said to himself'. «se ordenaba» is the pronominal «ordenarse» ('to arrange/order themselves'), imperfect for an unfolding process. «hasta» here means 'even'.

«¿Por qué no ayudarlo a «ése»?  
"Why not help that fellow?
> «¿Por qué no...?» + infinitive: «¿Por qué no...?» with a bare infinitive proposes an action: '«¿Por qué no ayudarlo?» = why not help him?'. The pronoun «lo» attaches to the infinitive. «ése» (in inner quotes, with dismissive force) = 'that one, that fellow'.
El proyecto que tiene de la colonia es interesante, y ahora me explico por qué ese bestia de Erdosain le tiene tanta admiración.  
The project he has for the colony is interesting, and now I understand why that brute Erdosain admires him so much.
> «ese bestia de Erdosain»: The pattern «ese/un + noun + de + name» is an insulting appositive: «ese bestia de Erdosain» = 'that brute (of an) Erdosain'. «me explico» (pronominal «explicarse») means 'I understand / can account for (to myself)'.
Cierto es que me habré quedado en la calle... quizá sí, quizá no... mas de una forma o de otra había que terminar».  
True, I will have been left out in the street... perhaps yes, perhaps no... but one way or another it had to end."
> «quedarse en la calle»: «quedarse en la calle» literally 'to be left in the street' means 'to be left destitute / with nothing'. «me habré quedado» is the future perfect, 'I will have ended up'. «había que terminar» («haber que» + infinitive) = 'it was necessary to end', 'it had to end'.
Y entrecerró los ojos para meditar en el futuro.  
And he half-closed his eyes to meditate on the future.
> «entrecerrar»: «entrecerrar» means 'to half-close, leave ajar' (the prefix «entre-» = 'half / partly'). «entrecerró los ojos» = 'he half-closed his eyes'. «meditar en» = 'to meditate / muse on'.

El Astrólogo, con la galera echada sobre los ojos, se volvió a Erdosain y dijo:  
The Astrologer, his top hat pulled down over his eyes, turned to Erdosain and said:
> «galera» (River Plate): In River Plate Spanish «galera» is a 'top hat / high silk hat'. «con la galera echada sobre los ojos» = 'with his top hat pulled down over his eyes'. «volverse a» (pronominal) = 'to turn to (someone)'.

–Barsut cree que nos ha engañado.  
"Barsut thinks he has tricked us."
> Present perfect «ha engañado»: «ha engañado» is the present perfect of «engañar» ('to deceive, trick'): 'he has tricked'. «nos» is the direct object, 'us'. The present perfect ties the past act to the present situation.
Mañana, después de cobrar el cheque, tendremos que ejecutarlo...  
Tomorrow, after cashing the check, we will have to execute him...
> «tener que» + infinitive: «tener que» plus an infinitive expresses obligation: «tendremos que ejecutarlo» = 'we will have to execute him'. «tendremos» is the irregular future of «tener». «ejecutar» here means 'to execute, put to death'.

–No, tendrá que ejecutarlo...  
"No, you will have to execute him..."
> «tendrá» — third person / «usted»: Erdosain throws the obligation back: «tendrá que ejecutarlo» = 'you (usted) will have to execute him', shifting from the Astrologer's inclusive «tendremos» ('we will have to'). The contrast «tendremos» / «tendrá» carries the moral push-and-pull of the scene.

–No tengo inconveniente... pero qué le vamos a hacer.  
"I have no objection... but what can we do about it."
> «qué le vamos a hacer»: «¿qué le vamos a hacer?» is a resigned set phrase, 'what can you do about it?', 'it can't be helped'. «no tengo inconveniente» = 'I have no objection, I don't mind'.
En libertad ese envidioso nos denunciaría inmediatamente.  
Free, that envious man would denounce us immediately.
> Conditional «denunciaría»: «denunciaría» is the conditional of «denunciar» ('to denounce, report to the authorities'): 'would denounce'. It states what would happen under the hypothesis 'if he were free'. «envidioso» = 'envious (one)'.
¡Y él cree que estamos locos!  
And he thinks we are mad!
Y efectivamente lo estaríamos si los dejáramos con vida.  
And indeed we would be, if we left them alive.
> Conditional sentence (type 2): «lo estaríamos si los dejáramos» pairs the conditional «estaríamos» ('we would be') with the imperfect subjunctive «dejáramos» ('if we left') — the standard 'if + past subjunctive, would' structure for a hypothesis. The neuter «lo» stands in for «locos».

Se detuvieron junto a la casa.  
They stopped beside the house.
> Preterite «se detuvieron»: «se detuvieron» is the preterite of «detenerse» ('to stop, halt'), conjugated like «tener» (detuvieron). The pronominal «se» makes it intransitive: 'they stopped (themselves)'.
Arriba unas nubes achocolatadas avanzaban rápidamente en lo celeste su dentellado relieve.  
Overhead, some chocolate-colored clouds rapidly advanced their jagged relief across the blue.
> «achocolatado» / «dentellado»: «achocolatado» means 'chocolate-colored' (from «chocolate»). «dentellado» = 'jagged, toothed' (from «diente», 'tooth'). «lo celeste» = 'the sky-blue (expanse)', the neuter «lo» turning the adjective into 'the blue'.

–¿Quién lo va a asesinar?  
"Who is going to murder him?"
> Pronoun placement with «ir a»: With «ir a» + infinitive the object pronoun can sit before the conjugated verb («lo va a asesinar») or attach to the infinitive («va a asesinarlo») — both mean 'is going to murder him'. «asesinar» = 'to murder, assassinate'.

–El Hombre que vio a la Partera.  
"The Man Who Saw the Midwife."

–Sabe que no es muy agradable morir con el verano en puerta...  
"You know, it's not very pleasant to die with summer at the door..."
> «en puerta»: «en puerta» means 'imminent, on the way, just around the corner'. «con el verano en puerta» = 'with summer at the door / about to begin'. In Buenos Aires summer comes in December — a grim seasonal irony for a man about to be killed.

–Así no más es...  
"That's just how it is..."
> «así no más» (River Plate): «así no más» is a River Plate colloquialism meaning 'just like that, just so'. «Así no más es» = 'that's just how it is', a fatalistic shrug at Barsut's coming death.

–¿Y el cheque?  
"And the check?"

–Lo cobrará usted.  
"You will cash it."
> Future «cobrará» + post-verb subject: «cobrará» is the future of «cobrar» ('to cash, collect'): 'will cash'. The subject «usted» follows the verb for emphasis, and «lo» (the check) leads the sentence: 'It is you who will cash it'.

–¿No tiene usted miedo que me escape?  
"Aren't you afraid I'll escape?"
> «tener miedo (de) que» + subjunctive: Expressions of fear like «tener miedo (de) que» take the subjunctive: «que me escape» = 'that I (might) escape'. «escaparse» is pronominal, 'to escape, slip away'. The «de» is often dropped in speech, as here.

–No, por el momento no.  
"No, for the moment no."

–¿Por qué?  
"Why?"

–Porque no.  
"Just because."
> «Porque no»: «Porque no» literally 'because no / because not' is a flat, conversation-ending answer, like English 'just because' — refusing to give a real reason.
Usted más que nadie necesita que la sociedad resulte para desaburrirse.  
You more than anyone need the society to work out, so as to be rid of your boredom.
> Subjunctive after «necesitar que»: «necesitar que» takes the subjunctive «resulte» ('that it turn out / work out'). «resultar» here means 'to succeed, work out'. «para desaburrirse» = 'in order to un-bore oneself' — «desaburrirse» reverses «aburrirse» ('to be bored') with the prefix «des-».
Si usted es mi cómplice, es precisamente por eso... por aburrimiento, por angustia.  
If you are my accomplice, it is precisely for that... out of boredom, out of anguish.
> Causal «por»: «por» before a noun states the motive: «por aburrimiento, por angustia» = 'out of boredom, out of anguish'. «cómplice» = 'accomplice'. «aburrimiento» and «angustia» are the twin afflictions Arlt assigns to nearly all his characters.

–Puede ser.  
"It may be."
> «Puede ser»: «puede ser» literally 'it can be' is a common way to say 'maybe, perhaps, possibly'. As a standalone reply it concedes a point without fully agreeing.
Mañana, ¿a qué hora nos veremos?  
Tomorrow, at what time will we see each other?
> Reciprocal «verse»: «nos veremos» uses the reciprocal «nos»: 'we will see each other / meet'. «veremos» is the future of «ver». «¿a qué hora?» = 'at what time?'.

–Este... a las nueve en la estación.  
"Um... at nine, at the station."
> «Este...» as a filler: «Este...» (often written «Esteee...») is a hesitation filler in River Plate speech, like English 'um... / uh...'. It marks the speaker stalling while he gathers his thoughts.
Yo le llevaré el cheque.  
I will bring you the check.
> «llevar» vs «traer»: «llevar» is 'to take / bring (to where the listener is or will be)', as opposed to «traer» ('to bring here'). «le llevaré el cheque» = 'I will bring/take you the check'. «llevaré» is the future of «llevar».
A propósito, ¿tiene cédula de identidad?  
By the way, do you have an identity card?
> «cédula de identidad» / «a propósito»: «cédula de identidad» is the official 'identity card / ID document'. «a propósito» as a phrase means 'by the way' (though «a propósito» can also mean 'on purpose'). It is needed at the bank to cash the check.

–Sí.  
"Yes."

–Entonces no hay nada que temer.  
"Then there is nothing to fear."
> «hay... que» + infinitive: «no hay nada que temer» = 'there is nothing to fear'. «hay + (noun) + que + infinitive» expresses what there is to be done: here «nada que temer», 'nothing to fear'. «temer» = 'to fear'.
¡Ah!  
Ah!
una cosa.  
one thing.
Le recomiendo que hable poco en la reunión y fríamente.  
I recommend that you speak little at the meeting, and coldly.
> Subjunctive after «recomendar que»: Verbs of advising like «recomendar que» take the subjunctive: «que hable poco» = 'that you speak little'. «hable» is present subjunctive of «hablar» («usted»). «fríamente» = 'coldly, coolly'.

–¿Están todos?  
"Is everyone here?"
> «estar» for presence: «estar» (not «ser») expresses location and presence: «¿Están todos?» = 'are they all (here)?', 'is everyone present?'. The verb agrees with «todos» ('everyone, all').

–Sí.  
"Yes."

–¿También el Buscador de Oro?  
"The Gold Seeker too?"

–Sí.  
"Yes."

Apartando los ramojos que les castigaban los rostros, avanzaron hacia la glorieta.  
Pushing aside the branches that lashed their faces, they advanced toward the arbor.
> «glorieta» / «ramojos»: «glorieta» is a garden 'arbor, bower, summerhouse'. «ramojos» (variant of «ramaje» / «ramojo») are 'branches, twigs, brushwood'. «castigaban» ('lashed, struck') is the imperfect, describing the branches whipping their faces as they pass.
Era éste un quiosco fabricado con alfajías, y en los rombos de madera prendían sus tallos verdes los crecimientos de una madreselva cargada de campánulas violetas y blancas.  
This was a little kiosk made of laths, and in the wooden lozenges the growths of a honeysuckle, laden with violet and white bell-flowers, fastened their green stems.
> «alfajías» / «madreselva»: «alfajía» (also «alfarjía») is a wooden 'lath, batten, strip'. «madreselva» is 'honeysuckle'; «campánulas» are bell-shaped flowers, 'bellflowers'. «rombos» = 'rhombuses, lozenges' — the diamond gaps in the lattice.
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Source text: public domain (Roberto Arlt, d. 1942). English translation: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC — original draft, pending editorial review. NOTE: this is a minimal seed excerpt to make the app target runnable; full verified content is authored through the content pipeline.