Make sure the engraving is done skillfully. <br />The expression serious, majestic. <br />The diadem preferably somewhat narrow: <br />I don't like that broad kind the Parthians wear. <br />The inscription, as usual, in Greek: <br />nothing excessive, nothing pompous— <br />we don't want the proconsul to take it the wrong way: <br />he's always nosing things out and reporting back to Rome— <br />but of course giving me due honor. <br />Something very special on the other side: <br />some discus-thrower, young, good-looking. <br />Above all I urge you to see to it <br />(Sithaspis, for God's sake don't let them forget) <br />that after "King" and "Savior," <br />they engrave "Philhellene" in elegant characters. <br />Now don't try to be clever <br />with your "where are the Greeks?" and "what things Greek <br />here behind Zagros, out beyond Phraata?" <br />Since so many others more barbarian than ourselves <br />choose to inscribe it, we will inscribe it too. <br />And besides, don't forget that sometimes <br />sophists do come to us from Syria, <br />and versifiers, and other triflers of that kind. <br />So we are not, I think, un-Greek.<br /><br />Constantine P. Cavafy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/philhellene/
