The following poems appeared, some of them in slightly different form, in the following publications: “Philhellene,” “Nero’s Timetable,” “One of Their Gods,” “Myres: Alexandria of 340 B.C.” (
The New York Review of Books
); “The Retinue of Dionysus,” “Morning’s Sea,” “Aboard the Ship,” “In the Same Space” (
The Paris Review
); “Candles,” “Windows,” “But Wise Men Apprehend What Is Imminent,” “As Much As You Can,” “Very Rarely” (
Meridian
13, Spring/Summer 2004); “Herodes Atticus,” “King Demetrius,” “Dangerous,” “Alexandrian Kings,” “Envoys from Alexandria,” “The Seleucid’s Displeasure” (
Arion
12.3, Winter 2005); “Sweet Voices,” “Voices” (
Gulf Coast,
Winter 2007); “It Must Have Been the Spirits” (
The New Yorker).

The Unfinished Poems and Fragmentary Sketches that appear in Part IV of this work were first published in a Greek edition,
Ateli,
by Ikaros Publishers, Athens, in 1994, edited and with commentary by Renata Lavagnini, translations of which are published here with new commentary by Daniel Mendelsohn. The Greek-language poems are copyright © by Manuel Savidis.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

David R. Godine, Publisher, Inc.: Excerpts from
Les Fleurs du mal
by Charles Baudelaire, translated by Richard Howard, translation copyright © 1982 by Richard Howard. Reprinted by permission of David R. Godine, Publisher, Inc.

Harvard University Press and the Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library: Excerpt from
Philostratus: Volume I,
Loeb Classical Library®
Volume 16, translated by Christopher P. Jones (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press), copyright © 2005 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College. The Loeb Classical Library® is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press and the Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library.

Manolis Savidis and the Cavafy Archive at the Center for Neo-Hellenic Studies (Spoudasterio tou Neou Hellenismou): material translated by Manuel Savidis from Cavafy’s “Notes on Poetics and Ethics,” and excerpts from the Greek-language poems, copyright © Manuel Savidis; various other material in the Archive.

A NOTE ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Daniel Mendelsohn was born on Long Island in 1960 and studied Classics at the University of Virginia and at Princeton, where he received his doctorate in 1994. His reviews and essays on literary and cultural subjects appear regularly in
The New Yorker
and
The New York Review of Books.
His previous books include
The Elusive Embrace,
a
New York Times
Notable Book and a
Los Angeles Times
Best Book of the Year, and the international best seller
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million,
which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Prix Médicis, and many other honors. Mr. Mendelsohn is also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Book Critics Circle Citation for Excellence in Book Reviewing, and the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. He teaches at Bard College.