The news about the outcome of the sea-battle at Actium <br />was of course unexpected. <br />But there's no need for us to draft a new proclamation. <br />The name's the only thing that has to be changed. <br />There, in the concluding lines, instead of: "Having freed the Romans <br />from Octavius, that disaster, <br />that parody of a Caesar," <br />we'll substitute: "Having freed the Romans <br />from Antony, that disaster,..." <br />The whole text fits very nicely. <br /> <br />"To the most glorious victor, <br />matchless in his military ventures, <br />prodigious in his political operations, <br />on whose behalf the township ardently wished <br />for Antony's triumph,..." <br />here, as we said, the substitution: "for Octavius Caesar's triumph, <br />regarding it as Zeus' finest gift— <br />to this mighty protector of the Greeks, <br />who graciously honors Greek customs, <br />who is beloved in every Greek domain, <br />who clearly deserves exalted praise, <br />and whose exploits should be recorded at length <br />in the Greek language, in both verse and prose, <br />in the Greek language, the vehicle of fame," <br />et cetera, et cetera. It all fits brilliantly.<br /><br />Constantine P. Cavafy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-a-township-of-asia-minor/
