Κωνσταντίνος Π. Καβάφης, «Θεόφιλος Παλαιολόγος». Constantine P. Cavafy, “Theophilos Palaiologos”

Ο Αυτοκράτωρ Θεόφιλος, μικρογραφία σε χειρόγραφο. Emperor Theophilos, in the Chronicle of John Skylitzes.

Ο τελευταίος χρόνος είν’ αυτός. Ο τελευταίος των Γραικών

αυτοκρατόρων είν’ αυτός. Κι αλίμονον

τι θλιβερά που ομιλούν πλησίον του.

Εν τη απογνώσει του, εν τη οδύνη

ο Κυρ Θεόφιλος Παλαιολόγος

λέγει «Θέλω θανείν μάλλον ή ζην».

Η είσοδος του Μωάμεθ Β΄ στην Κωνσταντινούπολη (πίνακας του Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, 19ος αιώνας). Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, L'Entrée du sultan Mehmet II à Constantinople le vingt-neuf mai 1453, 1876, oil on canvas. Toulouse, Musée des Augustins (France).

A Κυρ Θεόφιλε Παλαιολόγο,

πόσον καημό του γένους μας, και πόση εξάντλησι

(πόσην απηύδησιν από αδικίες και κατατρεγμό)

οι τραγικές σου πέντε λέξεις περιείχαν.

(Από τα Κρυμμένα Ποιήματα 1877;-1923, Ίκαρος 1993).

Constantine P. Cavafy, “Theophilos Palaiologos”

The embassy of John the Grammarian in 829, between the Byzantine emperor Theophilos (right) and the Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun, from the Madrid Skylitzes. 12th/13th century.

This is the last year, this the last

of the Greek emperors. And, alas,

how sadly those around him talk.

Kyr Theophilos Palaiologos

in his grief, in his despair, says:

“I would rather die than live.”

Η Άλωση της Κωνσταντινούπολης από τον Θεόφιλο Χατζημιχαήλ. A picture of the fall of Constantinople by Theophilos Hatzimihail.

Ah, Kyr Theophilos Palaiologos,

how much of the pathos, the yearning of our race,

how much weariness

(such exhaustion from injustice and persecution)

your six tragic words contained.

Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard.

Constantine P. Cavafy (Κωνσταντίνος Π. Καβάφης, 1863-1933) was one of the most important modern Greek poets. His poetry, written in his distinctive, personal, exquisite Greek, occupies itself with the less glorious periods of Greek history, looking with a melancholic and sarcastic view at the vanity of power and fame, and with the sensuality of Cavafy's thinly veiled homosexuality. A collection of his poems can be found at the Cavafy Archive of the Onassis Foundation.