I'll recite another poem also on a Greek theme.
This is about the invasion of Alexander into Asia Minor.
Alexander had a monument put up after the Battle of Granicus,
which I kind of quote.
For those of you who don't know, I kind of quote in the poem.
How We Heard the Name.
The river brought down dead horses, dead men,
and military debris indicative of war or official acts
upstream.
But it all went by.
It all goes by.
That is the thing about the river.
Then a soldier on a log went by.
He seemed drunk.
And we asked him why had he and this junk come down to us
so from the past upstream.
Friends, he said, the great Battle of Granicus
has just been won by all of the Greeks,
except the Lacedaemonians and myself.
This is a joke between me and a man
named Alexander, whom all of you ba-bas will hear of as a God.