Quotes from work
Waiting for the Barbarians

Constantine P. Cavafy Original title Περιμένοντας τους Βαρβάρους (Greek, 1904)

"Waiting for the Barbarians" is a Greek poem by Constantine P. Cavafy.

“Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.”

Constantine P. Cavafy Waiting for the Barbarians

Source: Waiting for the Barbarians (1904), l. 16

“What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?The barbarians are due here today.”

Constantine P. Cavafy Waiting for the Barbarians

Source: Waiting for the Barbarians (1904), l. 1

“Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?”

Constantine P. Cavafy Waiting for the Barbarians

Source: Waiting for the Barbarians (1904), l. 26
Context: Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home lost in thought?Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.Now what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.