Leader from Western Libya
In general, Alexandria liked
the Prince from Western Libya
Aristomenis, the son of Menelaos,
who stayed there for ten days.
Like his name, his attire is fittingly Greek.
He gladly accepted the honours, but
he did not seek them; he was modest.
He bought Greek books,
mainly historical and philosophical.
Above all, he was a man of few words.
He was profound in his thoughts, people said,
and for such men, it is natural not to talk a lot.
But he was neither deep in his thoughts nor anything else.
Just an ordinary, funny man.
He took a Greek name, dressed like the Greeks,
he learned how to behave like a Greek, more or less,
and his soul trembled as if he would
to ruin the somewhat good impression he made
by speaking Greek with a few barbarisms,
and the Alexandrians would make fun of him,
as it is their habit, those awful people.
For this reason, he restricted himself to a few words,
being careful with the conjunctions and pronunciation,
and he was so terribly bored having
all those unspoken words piled up inside him.
Manolis Aligizakis 