Damon the craftsman (none better in the Peloponnese) is giving the last touches to his Retinue of Dionysos carved in Parian marble: the god leading in divine glory, with power in his stride; after him, Intemperance; and beside Intemperance, Intoxication pours out the satyrs’ wine from an amphora wreathed in ivy; near them, Sweetwine, the delicate, eyes half-closed, soporific; and behind come the singers Tunemaker and Melody and Reveller— the last holding the honored processional torch which he never lets die—and then Ceremony, so modest. Damon carves all these. And as he works his thoughts turn now and then to the fee he’s going to receive from the king of Syracuse: three talents, a large sum. Adding this to what he has already, he’ll live grandly from now on, like a rich man, and—think of it—he’ll be able to go into politics: he too in the Senate, he too in the Agora.
Reprinted from C.P. CAVAFY: Collected Poems Revised Edition, translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard, edited by George Savidis. Translation copyright © 1975, 1992 by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Princeton University Press. For reuse of these translations, please contact Princeton University Press.
The Canon