Читать книгу The Complete Poems of C.P. Cavafy - Daniel Mendelsohn, Daniel Mendelsohn - Страница 16

Of glory be you fearful, O my Soul.

And if you are unable to defeat

your ambitions, then hesitantly, guardedly

pursue them. And the further you proceed,

the more searching, the more attentive must you be.

And when at last you reach your apogee—a Caesar;

and cut the figure of one who’s much renowned,

then take heed more than ever as you go out on the street,

a man of power, conspicuous with your retinue,

when someone approaches you out of the crowd,

a certain Artemidorus, bringing a letter,

and hurriedly says “Read this right away,

it’s something important that concerns you,”

don’t fail to stop; don’t fail to put off

all talk and business; don’t fail to

brush off all and sundry who salute and fawn

(you can see them later); let even

the Senate wait, and find out at once

the weighty contents of Artemidorus’s letter.

[1906; 1910]