The Poetry of C. P. Cavafy
95
of Athyr," Manuel Comnenus," and are prefaced
by quotations from Philostratus or Lucian.
Two of these poems shall be quoted in full, to illustrate his method.[1] In the first he adopts the precise, almost mincing style of a chronicle to build up his effect. It is called "Alexandrian Kings" and deals with an episode of the reign of Cleopatra and Antony.
An Alexandrian crowd collected
to see the sons of Cleopatra,
Cæsarion and his little brothers
Alexander and Ptolemy, who for the first
time were brought to the Gymnasium,
there to be crowned as kings
amidst a splendid display of troops,
Alexander they named king
of Armenia, of Media, and of the Parthians.
Ptolemy they named king
of Cilicia, of Syria, and Phœnicia.
Cæsarion stood a little in front,
clad in silk the colour of roses,
with a bunch of hyacinths at his breast.
His belt was a double line of sapphires and amethysts,
his sandals were bound with white ribbons
embroidered with rosy pearls.
Him they acclaimed more than the small
Him they named "King of Kings!"
The Alexandrians knew perfectly well
that all this was words and empty pomp.
But the day was warm and exquisite,
the sky clear and blue,
the Gymnasium of Alexandria a triumph of art,
the courtiers' apparel magnificent,
Cæsarion full of grace and beauty
of the Lagidas
(son of Cleopatra, blood of the Lagidæ!),
- ↑ A third is on page 56.