OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS THE COLLECTED POEMS c P CAVAFY was born in 1863 into a well-to-do Greek mercantile family in Alexandria, Egypt After his father's death and the beginning of the family's financial difficulties, the young Cavafy moved with his mother and brothers to England, where they spent the period 1872-7 in Liverpool and London Apart from three years in Constantinople from 1882 to 1885 he spent the rest of his life in Alexandria, where he worked, until his retirement in 1922, as a senior clerk in the Irrigation Department, living alone (after the departure of his brother Paul in 1908) in a relatively large apartment near the centre of the city He visited Greece on only four occasions He began publishing poetry in periodicals in 1886, but abandoned many of his early poems, and self-publication gradually became his prefcn'cd means of disseminating his work By the time of his death in 1933 his poetry was widely known-though the subject of much controversy-throughout the Greek-speaking world and beyond EVANGELOS SACHPEROGLOU was born in Piraeus in 1941 He has taught Economics and History at Athens College and Derce College in Athens, where he lives ANTHONY HIRST is a part-time Lecturer in Modern Greek at Queen's University Belfast He is the author of God and the Poetic Ego (2004), a study of the use and abuse of religious language in the work of three modern Greek poets, and of many critical articles on Cavafy and other Greek authors PETER MACKRIDGE is Emeritus Professor of Modern Greek at Oxford University His bookS include The Modern Greek Language (1985) and Dionysios Solomos (1989) He has co-authored two grammars of Modern Greek (1997 and 2004) and has published 'many articles on medieval and modern Greek literature OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS For over IDa years Oxford World's Classics have brought readers closer to the world's great literature Now with over 700 titles-from the 4, ooo-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century's greatest novels-the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T S Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS C.P.CAVAFY The Collected Poems Translated by EVANGELOSSACHPEROGLOU Greek Text Edited by ANTHONY HIRST With an Introduction by PETER MACKRIDGE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP Oxford UniversilY Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Km"llChi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Imly Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark "fOxf"1"d University Pre" in the UK and in ccmiin other countries Published in the United Stntes by Oxfim] University Press Inc., Nell' York Translation, note on translation, chrono1og-y, anu explanatory notes © Evangelos Sachperogloll 2007 Greek text, note ()n Greek text, select hibliogmphy © Anlhony Hirst 2007 Introduction © Peter Mackridge 2007 The moral rights of the authors have been a~scrted Database right Oxford Univel·sity Press (maker) Fir"! pobli~bed as an Oxford World's Classic" paperback 2007 All rights reserved No pal·t of this publication may be reproduced, storeu in a retl·ieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permis~ion in writing of Oxford University Press, or as cxpre.sly permitted by law, or under term, agTeed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization Enquiries concerning reproduction oul,ide the 'cope of the abovc should he sent t() the Rights Department, Oxforu Univcr~ity Press, at the address above You must not circulate lhis book in any othel· binding or cover and you must impose thc samc condition on any aequirer British Library Catalogoing in Publication Dam Data available Library ofCongrcss Cala10bThe god forsakes Antony 3S Theodotus 35 Monotony 37 Ithaca 37 As best you can 39 Trojans 41 King Demetrius 43 The glory of the Ptolemies 43 The retinue of Dionysus 45 The Battle of Magnesia 45 The displeasure of the Seleucid 47 Orophernes 49 Alexandrian kings 53 Philhellene 55 The footsteps 57 Herod Atticus S7 Sculptor ofTyana S9 Tomb of the grammarian Lysias 61 Tomb ofEurion 61 That is the Man 63 Perilous things 63 Manuel Comnenus 6S In church 65 Very seldom 67 Of the shop 67 Painted 69 Morning sea 69 Ionic 71 At the entrance of the cafe 71 One nig'ht 71 Come back 73 Far away 73 He vows 7S I went 75 Chandelier 75 ITOIHMATA (1916-1918)/POEMS (1916-1918) An' 'rES" EWtCl - 78 N6~ut\ 78 'Evw7noV 'rou ayaAp.a'roS" 'rou 'Ev01)!LtwvoS" 80 rrpEo"~Ets" an' 'r~v AAE~avOpEta 80 Apt0"'I"6~o1)AoS" 82 KatO"apfwv 84 'H owpfa 'rou NEPWVOS" 86 EiS" TO En/vElev 88 Since nine o'clock- 79 Perception 79 Before the statue of Endymion 81 Envoys from Alexandria 81 Aristoboulos 83 Caesarian 85 Nero's term 87 In the harbour town 89 CONTENTS "Eva~ SE6~ 'TWV 88 Mv~