Five of the following chapters are reprinted by the courtesy of The Nation and the Athenæum; the remainder have not been previously published in this country.
I am indebted to Mr. C. P. Cavafy for permission to publish his poems, and to Mr. George Valassopoulo for his translation of them.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| INTRODUCTION | [9] |
| PHAROS: | |
| PHAROS | [13] |
| THE RETURN FROM SIWA | [24] |
| EPIPHANY | [28] |
| PHILO’S LITTLE TRIP | [32] |
| CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA | [37] |
| ST. ATHANASIUS | [43] |
| TIMOTHY THE CAT & TIMOTHY WHITEBONNET | [52] |
| THE GOD ABANDONS ANTONY | [56] |
| PHARILLON: | |
| ELIZA IN EGYPT | [59] |
| COTTON FROM THE OUTSIDE | [73] |
| THE DEN | [79] |
| BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE MOON | [82] |
| THE SOLITARY PLACE | [86] |
| THE POETRY OF C. P. CAVAFY | [91] |
| CONCLUSION | [98] |
INTRODUCTION
Before there was civilization in Egypt, or the delta of the Nile had been formed, the whole country as far south as modern Cairo lay under the sea. The shores of this sea were a limestone desert. The coast line was smooth usually, but at the north-west corner a remarkable spur jutted out from the main mass. It was less than a mile wide, but thirty miles long. Its base is not far from Bahig, Alexandria is built half-way down it, its tip is the headland of Aboukir. On either side of it there was once deep salt water.
Centuries passed, and the Nile, issuing out of its crack above Cairo, kept carrying down the muds of Upper Egypt and dropping them as soon as its current slackened. In the north-west corner they were arrested by this spur and began to silt up against it. It was a shelter not only from the outer sea, but from the prevalent wind. Alluvial land appeared; the large shallow lake of Mariout was formed; and the current of the Nile, unable to escape through the limestone barrier, rounded the headland of Aboukir and entered the outer sea by what was known in historical times as the “Canopic” mouth.