The Satrapy What a misfortune, although you are made  for fine and great works  this unjust fate of yours always  denies you encouragement and success;  that base customs should block you;  and pettiness and indifference.  And how terrible the day when you yield  (the day when you give up and yield),  and you leave on foot for Susa,  and you go to the monarch Artaxerxes  who favorably places you in his court,  and offers you satrapies and the like.  And you accept them with despair  these things that you do not want.  Your soul seeks other things, weeps for other things;  the praise of the public and the Sophists,  the hard-won and inestimable Well Done;  the Agora, the Theater, and the Laurels.  How can Artaxerxes give you these,  where will you find these in a satrapy;  and what life can you live without these. Constantine P. Cavafy >>阅读更多