[C.P. Cavafy]. The Barbarians Arrive Today: Poems & Prose. Translated with an afterword by Evan Jones. Carcanet Classics. Manchester, UK: Carcanet Press, 2020. [14], 338 p.

ISBN 1784109940 pbk; 9781784109943 pbk

Includes: Note (p. 1)

Ancient Days:

“The Funeral of Sarpedon” (pp. 5-6); “Akhilleus’s Horses” (p. 7); “Priam’s Night March”* (pp. 8-9); “Trojans” (p. 10); “When the Sentry Saw the Light”* (p. 11); “The Intervention of the Gods”* (p. 12);  “Interruption” (p. 13); “Faithlessness” (pp. 14-15); “Second Odyssey”* (pp. 16-17); “Demaratos” (pp. 18-19); “Thermopylae” (p. 20).

Hellenistic Kings:

“Returning from Greece”* (pp. 23-24); “The Naval Battle”* (p. 25); “King Dimitrios” (p. 26); “The Lagid’s Hospitality”* (p. 27); “For Antiochus Epiphanes” (p. 28); “The Glory of the Ptolemies” (p. 29); “The Great Feast of Sosibios”* (p. 30); “In 200 B.C.” (pp. 31-32); “The Battle of Magnesia” (p. 33); “The Maker of Wine Bowls” (p. 34); “Attendants of Dionysus” (p. 35); “Orophernes” (pp. 36-37); “Of Dimitrios Sotir (162-150 B.C.)” (pp. 38-39): “The Grace of Alexander Valas” (p. 40); “Dareios” (pp. 41-42); “Marching towards Sinope” (p. 43); “Alexander Jannaeus and Alexandra” (p. 44); “Emissaries from Alexandria” (p. 45); “They Fought for the Akhaian League” (p. 46); “May the Almighty Gods” (pp. 47-48); “The Disappointment of Dimitrios the Seleucid” (pp. 49-50); “Aristovoulos” (pp. 51-52); “The Epitaph of Antiochus, King of Kommagene” (p. 53).

Romans:

“Theodotos” (p. 57); “The Ides of March” (p. 58); “Footsteps” (p. 59); “Nero’s End” (p. 60); “Unimpressed Audience Member”* (p. 61); “Alexandria 31 B.C.” (p. 62); “A Town in Asia Minor” (p. 63); “The End of Antony”* (p. 64): “The God Leaves Antony” (p. 65); “Caesarion” (pp. 66-67); “Alexandrian Kings” (pp. 68-69); “Enemies”* (p. 70); “The Tarantines Celebrate”** (p. 71); “Philhellene” (p. 72); “Horace in Athens”** (p. 73); “Poseidonians”* (p. 74); “Tyanian Sculptor” (p. 75); “The Statue of Endymion” (p. 76); “Herodes Attikos” (p. 77); “Death of the Emperor Tacitus”** (p. 78).

The Beginnings of Christianity:

“Reckless” (p. 81); “Apollonius of Tyana on Rhodes” (p. 82); “Julian at the Mysteries”* (pp. 83-84); “Simeon”* (pp. 85-86); “If He Is in Fact Dead” (pp. 87-88); “Julian, Contemplating the Neglect” (p. 89); “Kleitos’s Fever” (p. 90); “Priest at the Serapeum” (p. 91); “Julian in Nicomedia” (p. 92); “Myris, Alexandria 340 A.D.” (pp. 93-95); “Julian and the Antiochians” (p. 96); “Understood Nothing” (p. 97); “On the Outskirts of Antioch” (pp. 98-99); “From the School of the Celebrated Philosopher” (pp. 100-101); “A Great Procession of Priests and Laymen” (p. 102).

Byzantines:

“Refugees”* (p. 105); “A Byzantine Noble, Exiled, Writing Verses” (p. 106); “Anna Dalassene” (p. 107); “Anna Komnene” (p. 108); “Before Jerusalem”* (p. 109); “Manuel Komnenos” (p. 110); “The Triumph of John Kantakuzenus” (p. 111); “Of Coloured Glass” (p. 112); “Theofilos Palaiologos”* (p. 113); “Fallen”* (p. 114); “In Church” (p. 115).

Passions:

“Hidden”* (p. 119); “Growth”* (p. 120); “Voices” (p. 121); “September 1903”* (p. 122); “December 1903”* (p. 123); “January 1904”* (p. 124); “Stairs”* (p. 125); “At the Theatre”* (p. 126); “Desires” (p. 127); “I Sought” (p. 128); “Return” (p. 129); “On the Possibility of Desire”* (p. 130); “This”* (p. 131); “Pleasure” (p. 132); “Chandelier” (p. 133); “Distance” (p. 134); “Their Beginning” (p. 135); “In the Entrance of the Café” (p. 136); “Vows” (p. 137); “One Night” (p. 138); “Where I Could Lie Down and Be Myself”* (p. 139); “Remember, Body” (p. 140); “In Front of the House” (p. 141); “To Rest” (p. 142); “The Bandage”* (p. 143); “Those to Come” (p. 144); “The Street” (p. 145); “In an Old Book —” (p. 146); “He Planned to Read” (p. 147); “He Asked about the Quality” (pp. 148-149); “Days of 1903” (p. 150); “The Window of the Tobacconist” (p. 151); “Bouquets”* (p. 152).

Fleeting Years:

“In the Evening” (p. 155); “Grey” (p. 156); “An Old Man” (p. 157); “The Souls of the Old Men” (p. 158); “Death of a General”* (p. 159); “Very Rarely” (p. 160); “Observation” (p. 161); “Sea of the Morning” (p. 162); “Half an Hour”* (p. 163); “At Nine ‑” (p. 164); “One Table Over” (p. 165); “Afternoon Sun” (p. 166); “From the Drawer”* (p. 167); “In Despair” (p. 168); “Before Time Had Its Way” (p. 169); “The Twenty-fifth Year of His Life” (p. 170); “The Mirror in the Hallway” (p. 171); “Candles” (p. 172); “From the Recipes of the Ancient Helleno-Syrian Alchemists” (p. 173).

Prisons:

“The City” (p. 177); “The Satrapy” (p. 178); “Windows” (p. 179); “Waiting for the Barbarians” (pp. 180-181); “Monotony” (p. 182); “Undone” (p. 183); “Terror” (Hidden) (p. 184); “Walls” (p. 185); “The Four Walls of My Room” (Hidden) (p. 186); “Hereafter, I Speak Only with the Shadows in Hades” (Hidden) (p. 187); “In an Old Greek Colony, 200 B.C.” (pp. 188-189); “In Sparta” (p. 190); “In the Taverns” (p. 191); “Prince of Western Libya” (p. 192); “On Italian Shores” (p. 193); “A Sophist Leaving Syria” (p. 194); “There Now, King of the Lakedaimonians” (p. 195); “Anyone Who Has Failed” (Hidden) (p. 196); “Anxiety” (Hidden) (p. 197); “Prayer” (p. 198); “27 June 1906, 2 P.M.” (Hidden) (p. 199); “House with Garden” (Hidden) (p. 200); “Che fece … il gran rifiuto” (p. 201).

Our Art:

“Ithaka” (pp. 205-206); “The First Step” (p. 207); “Journey” (p. 208); “The Melancholy of Iason Kleandrou, Poet in Kommagene, 595 A.D.” (p. 209); “That Man There” (p. 210); “The Shop” (p. 211); “Correspondence According to Baudelaire” (Hidden) (pp. 212-213); “May Not” (Hidden) (p. 214); “When They Excite” (p. 215); “As Best You Can” (p. 216); “Painting” (p. 217); “What Is About to Happen” (p. 218); “I Have Faced Beauty So Often” (p. 219); “I Have Brought to Art” (p. 220); “The Theatre of Sidon (400 A.D.)” (p. 221); “Young Men of Sidon (400 A.D.)” (p. 222); “Temethos, Antiochian, 400 A.D.” (p. 223); “A Young Man, Schooled in the Art of the Word, in His 24th Year” (p. 224); “The Bank of the Future” (Hidden) (p. 225); “Calculation” (Hidden) (p. 226); “Artificial Flowers” (Hidden) (p. 227); “In the Same Area” (p. 228).

Portraits and Monuments:

“On Board the Ship” (p. 231); “Tomb of the Grammarian Lysias” (p. 232); “Tomb of Eurion” (p. 233); “Tomb of Lanis” (p. 234); “For Ammonis, Who Died at Age 29 in 610” (p. 235); “Ionia” (p. 236); “One of Their Gods” (p. 237); “In the City of Osroene” (p. 238); “Tomb of Ignatius” (p. 239); “Of the Hebrews (50 A.D.)” (p. 240); “Tomb of Iasis” (p. 241); “In the Month of Athyr” (p. 242); “Aimilianos Monae, Alexandrian, 628-655 A.D.” (p. 243); “In This Port” (p. 244); “Imenos” (p. 245); “Kimon, Son of Learchos, 22, Student of Greek (in Kyrene)” (p. 246); “Coins”* (p. 247); “Eternal”* (p. 248); “Epitaph”* (p. 249); “Days of 1896” (p. 250); “In a Small Town” (p. 251); “Two Young Men, Aged 23 or 24” (pp. 252-253); “An Old Greek” (p. 254); “Days of 1901” (p. 255); “Picture of a Twenty-three-year-old Youth Drawn by His Friend of the Same Age, an Amateur” (p. 256); “Days of 1909, ’10 and ’11” (p. 257); “Beautiful White Flowers Which Suited Him” (pp. 258-259); “Days of 1908” (pp. 260-261).

Prose:

“A Night in Kalinderi” (pp. 265-269); “The Mountain” (pp. 270-272); “Clothes” (p. 273); “The Pleasure Division” (pp. 274-275); “Reflections of an Old Man on Writing” (pp. 276-277); “The Ships” (Hidden) (pp. 278-280); “In the Light of Day” (pp. 281-290); “Notes on Poetic Work” (pp. 291-303); “On the Poet C.P. Cavafy” (p. 304).

Editorial note: Jones has grouped the poems under thematic headings and identified Cavafy's 'Hidden' and his 'Repudiated' poems. In our main record we have affixed an asterisk to the titles of poems that Jones identifies as 'Hidden' and two asterisks to those he labels 'Repudiated'.

Afterword (pp. 307-330); Works Cited (pp. 331-332).

Index of Titles (pp. 333-338).