The Complete Poems of C.P. Cavafy. Daniel Mendelsohn
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Название: The Complete Poems of C.P. Cavafy
Автор: Daniel Mendelsohn
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Поэзия
isbn: 9780007523382
isbn:
the sister of him who had temperately and sweetly lived—
the exceedingly scholarly Antiochus, king
of Commagene—she wanted an epitaph for him.
And the Ephesian sophist Callistratus—who sojourned
often in the principality of Commagene,
and who in the royal household had been
so pleasantly and frequently received—
wrote it, at the suggestion of Syrian courtiers,
and sent it to her aged ladyship.
“May the renown of Antiochus the benevolent king
be meetly extolled, O Commagenians.
He was the provident captain of the land.
The life he lived was just, and wise, and gallant.
The life he lived, still more, was that finest thing: Hellenic—
mankind holds no quality more precious:
among the gods alone does anything surpass it.”
[1923?; 1923]
Theater of Sidon (400 A.D.)
A respectable citizen’s son— above all else, a beauteous
youth who belongs to the theatre, agreeable in so many ways:
I now and then compose, in the language of the Greeks,
exceedingly daring verses, which I circulate
very secretly, of course— gods! they mustn’t be seen
by those who prate about morals, those who wear gray clothes—
verses about a pleasure that is select, that moves
toward a barren love of which the world disapproves.
[1923?; 1923]
Julian in Nicomedia
Foolhardy doings, full of risks.
The encomia for the ideals of the Greeks.
The white magic and the visits to the pagans’
temples. The raptures over the ancient gods.
The frequent conversations with Chrysanthius.
The theories of the (quite clever) philosopher Maximus.
And look at the result. It’s obvious that Gallus
is very anxious. Constantius is suspicious.
Ah, his advisors weren’t wary in the least.
This story’s gone too far, Mardonius says,
and it’s got to stop at once, all this furore.—
Julian is going back, a Lector once more,
to the church at Nicomedia,
where, loudly and with considerable
piety, he reads the holy Scriptures,
and at his Christian reverence the people wonder.
[1892?; 1924?; 1924]
Before Time Could Alter Them
They were very pained when they parted company.
They themselves didn’t want it; it was just the way things were.
The need to make a living was forcing one of them
to go far away— New York or Canada.
Certainly their love wasn’t the same as before;
the attraction had been gradually diminished,
its attraction had been very much diminished.
But still, that they should part— that they didn’t want.
It was just the way things were.— Or perhaps it was that Fate
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