"...And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean." ）
Constantine P. Cavafy died in Alexandria, Kingdom of Egypt on this day in 1933 (aged 70).
"I Went" by Cavafy
No restraint. I surrendered completely and I went.
To gratifications that were partly real,Partly careening within my mind--I went in the illuminated night.And I drank powerful wines, just as The champions of pleasure drink.
*
The Paris Review
The Alexandrian Greek poet Constantine Cavafy (1863–1933) is a towering figure of twentieth-century literature. No modern poet brought so vividly to life the history and culture of Mediterranean antiquity; no writer dared break, with such taut energy, the taboos of his time surrounding homoerotic desire.On the Ship
April 29, 2015 | by Dan Piepenbring
C. P. Cavafy.
“On the Ship,” a poem by Constantine P. Cavafy from our Spring 2005 issue. Cavafy was born on April 29, 1863; he died on his seventieth birthday.
It certainly resembles him, this small
pencil likeness of him.
pencil likeness of him.
Quickly done, on the deck of the ship;
an enchanting afternoon.
The Ionian Sea all around us.
an enchanting afternoon.
The Ionian Sea all around us.
It resembles him. Still, I remember him as handsomer.
To the point of sickness—he was that sensitive,
and it illumined his expression.
Handsomer, he appears to me,
now that my soul recalls him, out of Time.
To the point of sickness—he was that sensitive,
and it illumined his expression.
Handsomer, he appears to me,
now that my soul recalls him, out of Time.
Out of Time. All these things, they’re very old—
The sleuth, and the ship, and the afternoon
The sleuth, and the ship, and the afternoon
Translated from the Greek by Daniel Mendelsohn.
最近，我就在近代希臘詩人卡瓦菲（CP. cavafy, 1863~1933）裡，讀到＜尼祿王的任期＞的這首詩，非常有啟發性。
尼祿王（Nero, 37~68）乃是紀元一世紀的羅馬皇帝，他未滿十七歲登基，是羅馬帝國第一個少年皇帝。他在就位後，無為而治，自然較多仁政，頗受人擁護。但廿二歲那一年，他下令處死母親，廿五歲那一年處死妻子，漸露凶殘、荒誕、誇張的特性；後代曾有學者從精神失常及慢性中毒的角度，來解釋他的突變。他廿七歲那一年羅馬大火，他下令重建，手筆及工程動員之大，成就了他暴君之名。但換個角度言，若沒有當年窮極奢華的重建，也不會有今天這個有如巨大建築文獻的羅馬。他廿九歲時又到希臘各地漫遊，長達一年三個月，返回時羅馬帝國已叛變四起，羅馬軍團擁立西班牙的加爾巴為王，決定將他處死；於是尼祿王緊急逃亡，他的最後下場，有人說是自刎而死，有人說他逃到希臘，一年後被捕處死，享年僅卅一歲。
而有關尼祿王的預言是這樣的：
尼祿王一點也不緊張當他聽到
希臘德爾斐神諭如此預言：
「要小心七十三歲」。因為這代表他還有好長時間可以享受
他今年不過卅歲
這黃金般的任期已經太充分
他要等到死去還要好長的時間
現在他帶著些微疲倦準備返回羅馬
旅程雖然勞累但卻快樂
每天全都是樂趣
劇場、花園、運動場，……
而夜晚則在每個希臘城市，……
啊，享受那裸體的種種肉慾狂歡……。
尼祿王這樣看預言。而在西班牙
加爾巴卻正在祕密集合並訓練軍隊
這個七十三歲的老人家。
當我們讀到這裡，可能都難免啞然失笑。神諭要他小心七十三歲，不是說他七十三歲會天命告終，而是要他提防一個七十三歲的老人家。「要小心七十三歲」是個曖昧的語句，它詞意含混，不但尼祿王無法解讀，別的人也同樣無法解讀。我們社會的許多籤詩，不也相同嗎！
而論星相命卜，我最服膺的，還是有關朱熹的那則故事。朱熹天性正直，厭惡富人恃強凌弱。他在福建任官時，當地有個富戶人家的墳地風水極好，於是有個惡窮人決心強占，他偷偷去把自己先人的墓碑埋在那裡，而後告官說祖墳之地被富戶強占。朱喜遂開始調查，並挖到了那塊墓碑，於是將富戶重罰，墳地則判給了惡棍，朱喜也頗為自己的主持公道而自豪。但有次他微服出訪，卻聽到人們都在談那個案子，並嘲笑朱喜被惡徒耍了一次。
於是，朱喜遂親自去看那塊墳地，果然風水絕佳，惡徒將他的先人移葬至此，將來必家族飛黃騰達。於是朱喜當即向老天祝願：「此地不發，是無地理；此地若發，是無天理。」他祝罷離去，當晚那裡天降大雨，一聲閃電雷擊，那塊風水寶地塌陷，成了一汪池塘。
這個故事的啟示是：所有的星相命卜和預言，都大不過天理人理，地理和命理若不能合乎天理人理，又有甚麼意義呢？
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