Waiting for the Barbarians

Well, another presidential election come and gone, and the United States of America has a new President-Elect . . . Donald Trump. And the Republican party retained control of the Senate and House of Representatives. And this gives them the Supreme Court. The Republican Party was just handed all the keys to the kingdom, and will be given free reign to implement all the ideas that they've been saying will make America great again, make it the best country on Earth, make it Paradise. And I wish them well, in a sense - it would be great if they actually did make things better, harming no one in the process. Not bloody likely, but it would be great. They're out of excuses, though. No one left to blame. They hold all the cards - can't claim they didn't succeed because the Democrats stopped them. We better have the Utopia they promised, because there are no longer any excuses to hide behind. Unless, of course, they start to scapegoat those "undesirables" that Trump targeted in his campaign. Ask Germany, they saw that happen once, in the 1930s . . . the list of "undesirables" is almost identical, too . . .

Anyway, having no one left to blame if the Republican party is not 100% successful reminds me of a poem by Constantine Cavafy called "Waiting for the Barbarians". On several levels. After all, from now until Inauguration Day in January, Obama, arguably one of the most civilized presidents in recent history, will be waiting to hand over power to the barbarians (Trump and his cronies). On another level, the Republicans are left in the position of the Romans (never so named - Romaioi rather than Romani, anyway) in the poem. What will they do without the barbarian Democrats? Those people were some kind of solution . . . Anyway. You don't need to read Modern Greek, I'll post a translation (not mine):

What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?             The barbarians are due here today. Why isn’t anything happening in the senate? Why do the senators sit there without legislating?             Because the barbarians are coming today.             What laws can the senators make now?             Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating. Why did our emperor get up so early, and why is he sitting at the city’s main gate on his throne, in state, wearing the crown?             Because the barbarians are coming today             and the emperor is waiting to receive their leader.             He has even prepared a scroll to give him,             replete with titles, with imposing names. 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, and 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. Why don’t our distinguished orators come forward as usual to make their speeches, say what they have to say?             Because the barbarians are coming today             and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking. Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion? (How serious people’s faces have become.) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, everyone going home so lost in thought?             Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.             And some who have just returned from the border say             there are no barbarians any longer. And now, what’s going to happen to us without barbarians? They were, those people, a kind of solution.

Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard

— Τι περιμένουμε στην αγορά συναθροισμένοι;         Είναι οι βάρβαροι να φθάσουν σήμερα. — Γιατί μέσα στην Σύγκλητο μια τέτοια απραξία;   Τι κάθοντ’ οι Συγκλητικοί και δεν νομοθετούνε;         Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα.         Τι νόμους πια θα κάμουν οι Συγκλητικοί;         Οι βάρβαροι σαν έλθουν θα νομοθετήσουν. —Γιατί ο αυτοκράτωρ μας τόσο πρωί σηκώθη,  και κάθεται στης πόλεως την πιο μεγάλη πύλη  στον θρόνο επάνω, επίσημος, φορώντας την κορώνα;         Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα.         Κι ο αυτοκράτωρ περιμένει να δεχθεί         τον αρχηγό τους. Μάλιστα ετοίμασε         για να τον δώσει μια περγαμηνή. Εκεί         τον έγραψε τίτλους πολλούς κι ονόματα. — Γιατί οι δυο μας ύπατοι κ’ οι πραίτορες εβγήκαν  σήμερα με τες κόκκινες, τες κεντημένες τόγες·  γιατί βραχιόλια φόρεσαν με τόσους αμεθύστους,  και δαχτυλίδια με λαμπρά, γυαλιστερά σμαράγδια·  γιατί να πιάσουν σήμερα πολύτιμα μπαστούνια  μ’ ασήμια και μαλάματα έκτακτα σκαλιγμένα;         Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα·         και τέτοια πράγματα θαμπώνουν τους βαρβάρους. —Γιατί κ’ οι άξιοι ρήτορες δεν έρχονται σαν πάντα  να βγάλουνε τους λόγους τους, να πούνε τα δικά τους;         Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα·         κι αυτοί βαρυούντ’ ευφράδειες και δημηγορίες. — Γιατί ν’ αρχίσει μονομιάς αυτή η ανησυχία  κ’ η σύγχυσις. (Τα πρόσωπα τι σοβαρά που εγίναν).  Γιατί αδειάζουν γρήγορα οι δρόμοι κ’ η πλατέες,  κι όλοι γυρνούν στα σπίτια τους πολύ συλλογισμένοι;         Γιατί ενύχτωσε κ’ οι βάρβαροι δεν ήλθαν.         Και μερικοί έφθασαν απ’ τα σύνορα,         και είπανε πως βάρβαροι πια δεν υπάρχουν.                                __  Και τώρα τι θα γένουμε χωρίς βαρβάρους.  Οι άνθρωποι αυτοί ήσαν μια κάποια λύσις.

(Από τα Ποιήματα 1897-1933, Ίκαρος 1984)