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Said Myrtias (a young Syrian studying
in Alexandria, when together reigned
augustus Constans and Constantius
augustus; in part pagan, and in part
conforming to the opinions after Christ):
“For me, strengthened by theory and study,
no cowardly terrors shall my passions have.
My body I will give to hedonism,
to the enjoyments dreamt of in my dreams,
to the most daring amorous desires,
to all the lustful impulse of my blood, —
having no fear: for should it be my will,
(and, strengthened as I cannot fail to be
by theory and study, I shall have will), —
at fateful moments I shall find my spirit,
as I have found it in the past, ascetic.”
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Translated by John Cavafy
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(Poems by C. P. Cavafy. Translated, from the Greek, by J. C. Cavafy. Ikaros, 2003)
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- Original Greek Poem
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- Translation by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard
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- Translation by George Valassopoulo
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