Sophist Leaving Syria

Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)



Eminent sophist, now that you are leaving Syria
with plans to write a book about Antioch,
it's worth your mentioning Mevis in your work—
the famous Mevis, unquestionably
the best looking, the most adored young man
in all Antioch. No one of the others
living his kind of life, no one of them gets paid
what he gets paid. To have Mevis
just for two or three days, they often give
as much as a hundred staters. I said in Antioch;
but in Alexandria as well, in fact in Rome even,
you can't find a young man as attractive as Mevis.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
84

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGFHBIF
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 525
Words 103
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12

Constantine P. Cavafy

Constantine P. Cavafy was a Greek poet who lived in Alexandria and worked as a journalist and civil servant. He published 154 poems; dozens more remained incomplete or in sketch form. His most important poetry was written after his fortieth birthday. more…

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