A book by David De Witt
available
to Pound was entitled The Judicial Murder of Mary E.
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
thy mirrour .
.
.
: Wu tells Fung that the Ancients have said: "Let not men look only into water; let them look into the
do
R,
~
1
? 478
85/555-557
85/557-558
479
178. Ling2 : [cf. I and 133 above].
179. Ideogram: P'i [M5137]' "great. " This goes with the ideogram for ling on the previ- ous page: "great sensibility" [cf. 9 above].
180. The arrow . . . points: A thematic statement for The Cantos as a whole, and the point of 85 in particular. The Chou King (or Book ofHistory) is made up of a number of odes. Said Pound: "The Master Kung col- lected the Odes and the historical documents of the ancient kings, which he considered instruments worthy of preservation.
"We find two forces in history: one that divides, shatters, and kills, and one that con- templates the unity of the mystery. 'The arrow hath not two points. ' There is the force that falsifies, the force that destroys every clearly delineated symbol, dragging man into a maze of abstract arguments, de- stroying not one but every religion" [A Vi- siting Card, 1942; SP, 306]. Legge gives the king's remark as: "We have followed no double aims. " Maybe "have not gone in two directions" would be closer.
181. pou eul cheu: French for pu [M5379], "not"; Ideogram: erh [M1752], "double"; shih [M5822], "go. " "Two directions. "
182. "0 "numbreux officiers: F, "0 numer- ous officers," The title of a chapter in Cou- vreur and a phrase used often by the duke of Chou as he addresses the officers of the conquered Shang dynasty.
Shang, who ruled 1324-1265. Just as with ''T'ai Meau" above, the characters to the left are his name: Ideogram: Wu [M7195] ;Ideo- gram: Ting [M6381].
188. cognovit aerurnnas: L, "He has known hardships. " The phrase does not corne from the relevant Latin of Cauvreur, but it applies to both the ancient emperors just cited as well as to Tsou Kia, to come. In their early years they "toiled away. , . from the court" and "lived among the inferior people" and, indeed, knew hardships. These experiences later made them compassionate rulers.
189. T s a u KIA: Legge gives us: "In the case of Tsoo~Kea, he . . . was at first one of the inferior people. When he came to the throne, he understood the law of the sup- port of the inferior people, and was able to exercise a protecting kindness towards their
to the new. Pound conceives one of the functions of The Cantos as to pass on the tradition-the great tradition. But in this case it is the tradition of the East that he would pass on to the West. As he stated it at 13/60: "The blossoms of the apricot / blow from the east to the west, / And I have tried to keep them from falling" [13:32].
194. Sagetrieb: G, a Pound-invented word that has had a number of interpretations. David Gordon, having had the benefit of hearing Pound talk about it in the context of writing both Rock-Drill and Thrones, says it means "Pass on the tradition. "
195. Ideogram: Cheu, shih [M5780], "de- pends"; Ideogram: ngo [M4778], "1, me, we, us. " "It depends on us. "
196. XVI. 4: Chap. XVI, sec. 4, Couvreur, where we read: "O! you said, 0 Prince, 'It depends on ourselves. ' I also do not dare to rest in the favour of God. "
197. We flop . . . : Pound's
Legge's sentence continued from above: "The favour of Heaven is not easily pre- served. Heaven is hard to be depended on. Men lose its favouring appointment because they cannot pursue and carry out the rever- ence and brilliant virtue of their fore- fathers. "
198. Diuturna . . . : L, "Think of the fu- ture. " Sec. 10 Couvreur, goes on: "Think of the distant future, and we shall have the decree in favour of Chou made sure. "
199. respect . . . men: Legge: "If you can but reverently cultivate your virtue, and bring to light our men of eminence, then you will resign to some successor in a time of established security. "
200. Ideogram: Ming [M4534], here "train"; ngo [cf. 195 above), "our"; Ideo- gram: tsiun (chun) [Mln7], "superior," or "fit. " Couvreur has the character for "men"
[M4508] in this group.
means "will of God" or "life-destiny. " Pound believes that divinity manifests in the intelligence of all men great and small. The duke of Chou is explaining why the Hsia dynasty fell: "God sent down correction on Hea, but the sovereign only increased his luxury and sloth, and would not speak kind- ly to the people. . . . He kept reckoning on the decree of God in his favour, and would not promote the means of the people's support. "
202. subsidia: L, "support. "
203. "And don't pester . . . fights": Legge gives us, politely; "Do not err in regard to the litigations aqd precautionary measures;-let the proper officers regulate them. " The numbers in the margins refer to the appropriate chapters and sections of Couvreur.
204. Hio Kim jou kouan: Legge says: "Study antiquity in order to enter on your offices. " Pound likes his "mot juste" line better.
205. Ideogram: Touan, tuan, [M6547]: "stop" or "cut off. " In the Ta Hsio ("Ta Seu"), Pound translates this character as "cut the cackle" because he sees the right component as an ax and the left components as the archives tied up with silk [CON, 77].
. . .
183. Imperator affirms. "
ait: L, "The
emperor
184. Ideogram: I [M3037], "city. " Here the new capital of Lo.
185. Iterum dieD: L, "I say again. "
207. nor laws . . . : Legge
on your power to exercise oppression; do not rely on the laws to practise extortion. "
208. Not all things . . . : Legge: "Be not passionate with the obstinate, and dislike them. Seek not every quality in one indi- vidual. "
209. Ideogram: Pei4 [M4997], "prepare. " This character appears in the passage from which 208 is cited.
186. T A l MEOU: Posthumous
Teheou Koung (Chung-Tsung), 7th emperor of the Shang dynasty, who ruled 1637-1562. T'ai [M6020], a term of respect in titles; Ideogram: Meou Wu [M7197], "Heavenly Stem,"
187. au TING: Posthumous title of Kao Tsoung (Kaou-tsung), 20th emperor of the
title of
masses . . . .
joyed the throne for thirty years. "
Thus it was that
190. Ideogram: Wei [M7066], "only";
Ideogram: Cheng [M351], "right"; Ideo- gram: chih [M935], personal pronoun; Ideo- gram: kung [M3710], "contribution. " From a statement about King Wan: "from the vari- ous states he received only the right amount of contribution," "Contribution" is a word for taxes. King Wan taxed justly and "en- joyed the throne for fifty years. "
191. invicem docentes: L, "teaching and learning in turn. "
192. Ideogram: Siu, hsil [M2835], "all, to- gether. "
193. Ideogram: Chlao, kia6 [M719], "teach, instruct. " This character has particu- lar implications. Pound uses it along with "Sagetrieb," the German word he created to mean "pass on the tradition. " The word and phrase have moral and social implications. It is the moral duty of this generation to pass on the wisdom received from the previous generation to the young of the next. That was what Confucius did. He gathered the best of all the odes and history and music from the old generation and organized it into new forms so that it could be passed on
rendition of
Tsoo-Kea en-
'-
character,
ming2 [M4534] in 200 above. This one
201. Ideogram: This
[M4537], should not be confused with
ming4
206. A wareness
"Practise them [reverence and econo- my] . . . and your minds will be at ease. . . . Practise them in hypocrisy, and your minds will be toiled. "
fatiguing:
Legge says,
says: "Do not rely
? ? ? 480
210. Ideogram: Yung2 [M7560], "forbear-
anee. " This character is the ioung in the next gloss, which "is, in some cases, charity. "
211. IOU ioung te nai ta: Legge gives: "Have forbearance and your virtue will be great. "
212. Ideogram: Chong, sheng [M5738], "to beget, be born. " Ideogram: heou: hou [M2147], "virtuous, good. " Legge: "The people are born good, and are changed by
external things. "
213. The 5 laws . . . : The 5 laws are the laws of relationships: (1) king and official; (2) father and son; (3) husband and wife; (4) brother and brother; (5) friend and friend. This line is formative for this canto
and The Cantos as a whole. All human rela- tions derive from a deep awareness of how divinity manifests in the minds and hearts of men, how intelligence and love in the tensile light descending derive from divinity and are in fact the divine in process-the motivating force of the process.
214. che funge: I, "which is continually in action. " Funge is an Italian neologism Pound created for a particular use [74:455]. M de R believes that it derives from Latin [ungar, and she points Qut that in the Italian rendition of his Unwobbling Pivot he trans- lates "La purezza funge" as "the unmixed function" and adds: "The unmixed is the
tensile light, the Immaculata. There is no end to its action" [HK, Pai, 1-1, 83]. The tensile light, the light descending, the intel- ligence that informs awareness, is thus at the root of human motivation to exemplify the 5 laws. All of the precepts that Pound has
culled from Couvreur in Canto 85 concern how the will of heaven should be exempli- fied in the ruler as well as in the life of every man.
215. Brancusi: Constantin B. , 1876-1957, the Rumanian sculptor who settled in Paris in 1904 and became a leader of the modern- ist movement toward abstraction. Pound knew him in the 20s and 30s. He is men- tioned dozens of times in his prose writings and Pound remembered "a few evenings in
85/558-559
Brancusi's old studio, wherein quiet was es~ tablished" [GK, 84]. Also, "Brancusi in some dimensions a saint" [GK, 1051. Under the heading "Values" Pound wrote: "I would put up a dozen brass tablets to one phrase of Constantin Brancusi's [he sets the phrase in caps] : One of those days when I would not have given up fifteen minutes of
my time for anything under heaven" [SP 283].
216. Piazzale Loreto: The public square in Milan where the corpses of Mussolini, Clara Pitacei, and four others from the Sa10 gov~ ernment "were hung, head downwards" by a group of partisans [Kirkpatrick, Mussolini,
671].
217. Holohan: John H. , a witness who could have given evidence of the innocence of Mary Surratt, who was executed as a conspirator in the assissination of President Lincoln. As was Mussolini, she was tried by a military court and did not have benefit of a jury.
A book by David De Witt available to Pound was entitled The Judicial Murder of Mary E. Surratt [Pai, 12-2 & 3].
218. Jury . . . Athens: [87:40].
219. au BeAiav: H, "Shall we to all our ills add cowardice? " Sophocles, Electra, 351 [Loeb, 151]. Pound uses this line as an illustration at the end of his Women of Tra-
chis [WT, 50], as a note to "IT ALL CO- HERES" [109/772; 116/797] : "This is the key phrase for which the play exists, as in the Electra: 'Need we add cowardice to all the rest of these ills? ' " [DG].
220. King Owen . . . Cheng: Ou-Ouang (Wen Wang). Legge: "King Wan was able to . . . unite . . . the great empire" because he had
"such ministers as his brother of Kih, Hwang Yaou [Houng leo], San E-sang [San I Cheng]. "
85/559, 86/560
481
224. aperiens . . : L, "opened up his soul to you. " The duke said to the officers: "King Wen . . . opened up his soul to you. " He implored them to follow Wen's example and carry out his? decrees. Pound uses phrases from this same speech to open Can~ to 86. As with the end of Canto I, the colon indicates a motion forward into the next canto, tying the end of the one to the begin- ning of the other.
221. Ideogram: above].
"Sagetrieb"
[see
194
1. Ideogram: Hsu [M2862], "sympathy," or "solicitude. " The duke continues his speech [85: 224]. Where Couvreur gives the phrase "une sollicitude sans limite," Legge gives "boundless anxieties": "Think of the virtue of King Wan and enter greatly into his boundless anxieties. " The Roman numerals in the text identify the part, chapter, and section in Couvreur.
2. Turbationem: L, "confusion, disorder": The Latin passage in Couvreur says: "The Duke said: . . . Gelardian Shih, yuu will be able, I hope, to profit from my advice, tu consider the great ruin and disorder of the house of Yin. "
3. Bismarck: Otto vun B. , 1815-1898 [48:17; 80:172]. Cited by Pound as an ex-
222. Ideogram: Ping [M5291], "grasp. " Morrison [8603] analyses the components
<\
l
of this character as "from a hand grasping grain. " This prob. caught Pound's eye be~ cause the basic Fascist symbol is a hand holding together many spears of wheat.
223. Ideogram: Mao [M4373], "to go for- ward with eyes covered," or "to rush upon. " Mathews uses several phrasal examples of mao, such as "to throw out sparks" and "to smoke-as a chimney. " Hence the line
"Risked
the
smoke. . . . "
CANTO LXXXVI Sources
Seraphin Couvreur, Chou King, Paris, Cathasia, 1950; James Legge, The Four Books, Shanghai, 1923; Lewis A. Maverick, China A Model for Europe, San Antonio, Texas, 1946.
Background
EP, SP, 43, 160,326,328, 169; GK, 260; Virginia Cowles, The Rothschilds: A Family o f Fortune, New Y ork, Knopf, 1973; M de R, Discretions, 195; Christopher Hollis Two Nations London, 1935; William E. Woodward, A Ne~ American His: tory, 1936; Cicero, De Officiis II, 89; Eustace Mullins, This Difficult Individual, Exra Pound, New York, 1961 [EM, Dif- ficult].
Exegeses
Grieve, Pai, 4-2 & 3, 362-508; EH, Pai, 2-3, 497-498; HK, Pai,
2-1,41; BK and TE, Pai, 9-3, 432; Walkiewicz and Witemeyer, Pai, 9-3, 441-459; Cookson,Pai, 8-2,361.
Glossary
? 482
86/560-561
86/561-562
483
emplum of balance and order: "Having be- come really conversant with the activities of either of these men [Bismarck, Gladstone] , would not almost any document of the peri- od fall, if we read it, into some sort of orderly arrangement? " [SP, 43J. It was Bis- marck's opinion that the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71, would be the last European war.
4. Dummheit, nicht Bosheit: G, "stupidity not malice. " Old M's opinion about how Germany got into WWI [cf. 9 below J .
5. Old Margherita: Queen mother of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy [EH, Pai, 2-3, 497J.
6. Elenor? dowager: May suggest Marghe- rita compares in some way to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
7. "Sono . . . Cattivi": I, "They are all
tics, Holy Father, but they are not wicked. " Statement about the Germans, prob. made by Queen Margherita to the pope.
8. BaIlin: Albert Reeder B. , 1857-1918, a director of the Ham burg-Am erika [Steam- shipJ Co. , a familiar of the Kaiser's, and a friend of Chancellor von Bulow. The remark prob. concerns the Allied blockade against Germany. If he'd known it was going to happen, Ballin was one of the few people who could have "stuffed all Hamburg with grain. "
9. Bulow: Bernhard von B. , 1849-1929, German statesman and diplomat who be- came foreign minister in 1897 and chancel- lor in 1900. It was his intransigence in deal- ing with France, England, and Russia which helped increase German isolation and strengthen the Triple Entente. In his mem- oirs BUlow tells of a conversation between his wife, Maria, and Qu~en Margherita, who asked her bluntly: "Tell me frankly, Maria,
you wanted the war, didn't you? " Maria said "She was prepared to swear by the Virgin Mary and all that was sacred that neither the Kaiser nor the German people had wanted the war. " Queen Margherita replied: "Then the German diplomatists and ministers in
office in 1914 must be the greatest asses the world has ever seen" [EH, Pai, 2-3, 498J.
10. Talleyrand: [44:28; 62:151J.
statesman who helped restore the Bourbons after the fall of Napoleon. In pursuing a "balance of power" policy he created, in the Quadruple Alliance (1834), buffer states and the Bourbon dynasty [103:22J. Earlier, as grand chamberlain under Napoleon, he had set up a first dynasty. In WWI, the existence of Belgium on the side of France ("Frog- land") was one of the factors that saved France. "Svizzera" (Switzerland) remaining
neutral may have been another.
11. only two of us: Couvreur IV, XVI, 20 continues the Duke's speech [cf. I, aboveJ. Legge translates: "I simply say, 'The estab- lishment of OU[ dynasty rests with us two. ' Do you agree with me? Then you also will say, 'It rests with us two' . . . . "
12. Brancusi: [85:215J. Pound often quotes this remark made by the sculptor.
13. je peux . . . finiiir: F, "I can start some- thing every day, but finish! "
14. Ideogram: Hsiang [M2579J, "to judge. "
15. Ideogram: [85: IJ: By not having ling, the Hsia emperor "lost the feel of the people. "
16. Ideogram: Tien [M6347J, "to be in charge of. "
17. Ideogram: Sagetrieb [85:194J.
18. Ideogram: Chien [M837] , "documents" or "to appoint. " These three characters do not appear together as a sentence in the source. The context in which they occur suggests that some officers of the state did "take charge of the good of the people," did try "to instruct and pass on the tradition," and did "appoint" good officers to serve the prople. By putting them together, Pound may be suggesting something like: "Sensibil- ity will come by passing on the tradition as
contained in the documents. "
19. way . . . loveless: Legge: "The
which you tread are continually those of
disquietude;-have you in your hearts no love for yourselves? "
20. Get men . . . : The sense of the Cou- vreur passage is that if you get real men, "brave as bears," to serve, the empire will grow in glory.
21. milites instar ursorum: L, "wardors like bears. "
22. Not in two minds: Legge translates the phrase: "[ministersJ of no double heart. " N. B. "The arrow has not two points"
[85:180J.
23. Ideogram: Tuan [M6541 J, "principles. "
24. j6ung: French for yung [M7567J, "use/' or "act on. " Hence, "Act on pdn- ciples. "
25. Edictorum: L, "proclamations. "
26. Ideogram: T'i [M6246 J, "the essential" or "complete. "
27. Ideogram: lao, yao [M7300J, "the im- portant. " Legge gives the phrase that ties these characters together as: "in proclama- tions a combination of completeness and brevity are valuable. "
36. Mencius: [54:66; 78:60, 139J. The context suggests that the characters are the basis of Legge's "exert your mind to the utmost. " That will lead to "Mou Wang" below.
37. MOU WANG: King Mu, the 5th emper- or of the Chou dynasty (reigned 1001- 946 B. C. ). Couvreur and Legge view him as a lightweight who wandered around aimlessly, talking great but doing little. Ideogram: Mu [M4601J; "majestic"; Ideogram: wang [M7037J ; "king. "
38. Ideogram: Tou; tu [M6514J, "true"; Ideogram: tchoung; chung [M1506J, "loy- al"; Ideogram: tchen; chen [M346J, "virtu- ous. " King Wang, speaking to his ministers, attributes these qualities to ministers of an earlier time.
39. Kiun Ia: "Keun-ya. " Legge: "The king spoke thus: "Keun-ya, do you take for your rule the lessons afforded by the former courses of your excellent fathers. " Pound gives the essence of his speech in: "live up to your line. "
40. T'ai Tch'ang: The imperial banner. In his words to Keun-ya, King Mu said that Keun-ya's father and grandfather had served the royal house so well that they "accom- plished a merit which was recorded on the grand banner. " Ideogram: ch'ang [M221], "principle. "
41. ice and tigers: Now king Mu says, as he starts his rule "the trembling anxiety of my mind makes me feel as if I were treading on a tiger's tail, or walking upon spring ice. "
42. Ideogram: Hsien [M2697J, "law, regu- lations, constitution. " Legge: "The king said, . . . 'Ever help your sovereign to follow ihe regular laws [constitutionJ. ''' This char? acter eods Chap. XXVI of Couvreur.
43.
do
R,
~
1
? 478
85/555-557
85/557-558
479
178. Ling2 : [cf. I and 133 above].
179. Ideogram: P'i [M5137]' "great. " This goes with the ideogram for ling on the previ- ous page: "great sensibility" [cf. 9 above].
180. The arrow . . . points: A thematic statement for The Cantos as a whole, and the point of 85 in particular. The Chou King (or Book ofHistory) is made up of a number of odes. Said Pound: "The Master Kung col- lected the Odes and the historical documents of the ancient kings, which he considered instruments worthy of preservation.
"We find two forces in history: one that divides, shatters, and kills, and one that con- templates the unity of the mystery. 'The arrow hath not two points. ' There is the force that falsifies, the force that destroys every clearly delineated symbol, dragging man into a maze of abstract arguments, de- stroying not one but every religion" [A Vi- siting Card, 1942; SP, 306]. Legge gives the king's remark as: "We have followed no double aims. " Maybe "have not gone in two directions" would be closer.
181. pou eul cheu: French for pu [M5379], "not"; Ideogram: erh [M1752], "double"; shih [M5822], "go. " "Two directions. "
182. "0 "numbreux officiers: F, "0 numer- ous officers," The title of a chapter in Cou- vreur and a phrase used often by the duke of Chou as he addresses the officers of the conquered Shang dynasty.
Shang, who ruled 1324-1265. Just as with ''T'ai Meau" above, the characters to the left are his name: Ideogram: Wu [M7195] ;Ideo- gram: Ting [M6381].
188. cognovit aerurnnas: L, "He has known hardships. " The phrase does not corne from the relevant Latin of Cauvreur, but it applies to both the ancient emperors just cited as well as to Tsou Kia, to come. In their early years they "toiled away. , . from the court" and "lived among the inferior people" and, indeed, knew hardships. These experiences later made them compassionate rulers.
189. T s a u KIA: Legge gives us: "In the case of Tsoo~Kea, he . . . was at first one of the inferior people. When he came to the throne, he understood the law of the sup- port of the inferior people, and was able to exercise a protecting kindness towards their
to the new. Pound conceives one of the functions of The Cantos as to pass on the tradition-the great tradition. But in this case it is the tradition of the East that he would pass on to the West. As he stated it at 13/60: "The blossoms of the apricot / blow from the east to the west, / And I have tried to keep them from falling" [13:32].
194. Sagetrieb: G, a Pound-invented word that has had a number of interpretations. David Gordon, having had the benefit of hearing Pound talk about it in the context of writing both Rock-Drill and Thrones, says it means "Pass on the tradition. "
195. Ideogram: Cheu, shih [M5780], "de- pends"; Ideogram: ngo [M4778], "1, me, we, us. " "It depends on us. "
196. XVI. 4: Chap. XVI, sec. 4, Couvreur, where we read: "O! you said, 0 Prince, 'It depends on ourselves. ' I also do not dare to rest in the favour of God. "
197. We flop . . . : Pound's
Legge's sentence continued from above: "The favour of Heaven is not easily pre- served. Heaven is hard to be depended on. Men lose its favouring appointment because they cannot pursue and carry out the rever- ence and brilliant virtue of their fore- fathers. "
198. Diuturna . . . : L, "Think of the fu- ture. " Sec. 10 Couvreur, goes on: "Think of the distant future, and we shall have the decree in favour of Chou made sure. "
199. respect . . . men: Legge: "If you can but reverently cultivate your virtue, and bring to light our men of eminence, then you will resign to some successor in a time of established security. "
200. Ideogram: Ming [M4534], here "train"; ngo [cf. 195 above), "our"; Ideo- gram: tsiun (chun) [Mln7], "superior," or "fit. " Couvreur has the character for "men"
[M4508] in this group.
means "will of God" or "life-destiny. " Pound believes that divinity manifests in the intelligence of all men great and small. The duke of Chou is explaining why the Hsia dynasty fell: "God sent down correction on Hea, but the sovereign only increased his luxury and sloth, and would not speak kind- ly to the people. . . . He kept reckoning on the decree of God in his favour, and would not promote the means of the people's support. "
202. subsidia: L, "support. "
203. "And don't pester . . . fights": Legge gives us, politely; "Do not err in regard to the litigations aqd precautionary measures;-let the proper officers regulate them. " The numbers in the margins refer to the appropriate chapters and sections of Couvreur.
204. Hio Kim jou kouan: Legge says: "Study antiquity in order to enter on your offices. " Pound likes his "mot juste" line better.
205. Ideogram: Touan, tuan, [M6547]: "stop" or "cut off. " In the Ta Hsio ("Ta Seu"), Pound translates this character as "cut the cackle" because he sees the right component as an ax and the left components as the archives tied up with silk [CON, 77].
. . .
183. Imperator affirms. "
ait: L, "The
emperor
184. Ideogram: I [M3037], "city. " Here the new capital of Lo.
185. Iterum dieD: L, "I say again. "
207. nor laws . . . : Legge
on your power to exercise oppression; do not rely on the laws to practise extortion. "
208. Not all things . . . : Legge: "Be not passionate with the obstinate, and dislike them. Seek not every quality in one indi- vidual. "
209. Ideogram: Pei4 [M4997], "prepare. " This character appears in the passage from which 208 is cited.
186. T A l MEOU: Posthumous
Teheou Koung (Chung-Tsung), 7th emperor of the Shang dynasty, who ruled 1637-1562. T'ai [M6020], a term of respect in titles; Ideogram: Meou Wu [M7197], "Heavenly Stem,"
187. au TING: Posthumous title of Kao Tsoung (Kaou-tsung), 20th emperor of the
title of
masses . . . .
joyed the throne for thirty years. "
Thus it was that
190. Ideogram: Wei [M7066], "only";
Ideogram: Cheng [M351], "right"; Ideo- gram: chih [M935], personal pronoun; Ideo- gram: kung [M3710], "contribution. " From a statement about King Wan: "from the vari- ous states he received only the right amount of contribution," "Contribution" is a word for taxes. King Wan taxed justly and "en- joyed the throne for fifty years. "
191. invicem docentes: L, "teaching and learning in turn. "
192. Ideogram: Siu, hsil [M2835], "all, to- gether. "
193. Ideogram: Chlao, kia6 [M719], "teach, instruct. " This character has particu- lar implications. Pound uses it along with "Sagetrieb," the German word he created to mean "pass on the tradition. " The word and phrase have moral and social implications. It is the moral duty of this generation to pass on the wisdom received from the previous generation to the young of the next. That was what Confucius did. He gathered the best of all the odes and history and music from the old generation and organized it into new forms so that it could be passed on
rendition of
Tsoo-Kea en-
'-
character,
ming2 [M4534] in 200 above. This one
201. Ideogram: This
[M4537], should not be confused with
ming4
206. A wareness
"Practise them [reverence and econo- my] . . . and your minds will be at ease. . . . Practise them in hypocrisy, and your minds will be toiled. "
fatiguing:
Legge says,
says: "Do not rely
? ? ? 480
210. Ideogram: Yung2 [M7560], "forbear-
anee. " This character is the ioung in the next gloss, which "is, in some cases, charity. "
211. IOU ioung te nai ta: Legge gives: "Have forbearance and your virtue will be great. "
212. Ideogram: Chong, sheng [M5738], "to beget, be born. " Ideogram: heou: hou [M2147], "virtuous, good. " Legge: "The people are born good, and are changed by
external things. "
213. The 5 laws . . . : The 5 laws are the laws of relationships: (1) king and official; (2) father and son; (3) husband and wife; (4) brother and brother; (5) friend and friend. This line is formative for this canto
and The Cantos as a whole. All human rela- tions derive from a deep awareness of how divinity manifests in the minds and hearts of men, how intelligence and love in the tensile light descending derive from divinity and are in fact the divine in process-the motivating force of the process.
214. che funge: I, "which is continually in action. " Funge is an Italian neologism Pound created for a particular use [74:455]. M de R believes that it derives from Latin [ungar, and she points Qut that in the Italian rendition of his Unwobbling Pivot he trans- lates "La purezza funge" as "the unmixed function" and adds: "The unmixed is the
tensile light, the Immaculata. There is no end to its action" [HK, Pai, 1-1, 83]. The tensile light, the light descending, the intel- ligence that informs awareness, is thus at the root of human motivation to exemplify the 5 laws. All of the precepts that Pound has
culled from Couvreur in Canto 85 concern how the will of heaven should be exempli- fied in the ruler as well as in the life of every man.
215. Brancusi: Constantin B. , 1876-1957, the Rumanian sculptor who settled in Paris in 1904 and became a leader of the modern- ist movement toward abstraction. Pound knew him in the 20s and 30s. He is men- tioned dozens of times in his prose writings and Pound remembered "a few evenings in
85/558-559
Brancusi's old studio, wherein quiet was es~ tablished" [GK, 84]. Also, "Brancusi in some dimensions a saint" [GK, 1051. Under the heading "Values" Pound wrote: "I would put up a dozen brass tablets to one phrase of Constantin Brancusi's [he sets the phrase in caps] : One of those days when I would not have given up fifteen minutes of
my time for anything under heaven" [SP 283].
216. Piazzale Loreto: The public square in Milan where the corpses of Mussolini, Clara Pitacei, and four others from the Sa10 gov~ ernment "were hung, head downwards" by a group of partisans [Kirkpatrick, Mussolini,
671].
217. Holohan: John H. , a witness who could have given evidence of the innocence of Mary Surratt, who was executed as a conspirator in the assissination of President Lincoln. As was Mussolini, she was tried by a military court and did not have benefit of a jury.
A book by David De Witt available to Pound was entitled The Judicial Murder of Mary E. Surratt [Pai, 12-2 & 3].
218. Jury . . . Athens: [87:40].
219. au BeAiav: H, "Shall we to all our ills add cowardice? " Sophocles, Electra, 351 [Loeb, 151]. Pound uses this line as an illustration at the end of his Women of Tra-
chis [WT, 50], as a note to "IT ALL CO- HERES" [109/772; 116/797] : "This is the key phrase for which the play exists, as in the Electra: 'Need we add cowardice to all the rest of these ills? ' " [DG].
220. King Owen . . . Cheng: Ou-Ouang (Wen Wang). Legge: "King Wan was able to . . . unite . . . the great empire" because he had
"such ministers as his brother of Kih, Hwang Yaou [Houng leo], San E-sang [San I Cheng]. "
85/559, 86/560
481
224. aperiens . . : L, "opened up his soul to you. " The duke said to the officers: "King Wen . . . opened up his soul to you. " He implored them to follow Wen's example and carry out his? decrees. Pound uses phrases from this same speech to open Can~ to 86. As with the end of Canto I, the colon indicates a motion forward into the next canto, tying the end of the one to the begin- ning of the other.
221. Ideogram: above].
"Sagetrieb"
[see
194
1. Ideogram: Hsu [M2862], "sympathy," or "solicitude. " The duke continues his speech [85: 224]. Where Couvreur gives the phrase "une sollicitude sans limite," Legge gives "boundless anxieties": "Think of the virtue of King Wan and enter greatly into his boundless anxieties. " The Roman numerals in the text identify the part, chapter, and section in Couvreur.
2. Turbationem: L, "confusion, disorder": The Latin passage in Couvreur says: "The Duke said: . . . Gelardian Shih, yuu will be able, I hope, to profit from my advice, tu consider the great ruin and disorder of the house of Yin. "
3. Bismarck: Otto vun B. , 1815-1898 [48:17; 80:172]. Cited by Pound as an ex-
222. Ideogram: Ping [M5291], "grasp. " Morrison [8603] analyses the components
<\
l
of this character as "from a hand grasping grain. " This prob. caught Pound's eye be~ cause the basic Fascist symbol is a hand holding together many spears of wheat.
223. Ideogram: Mao [M4373], "to go for- ward with eyes covered," or "to rush upon. " Mathews uses several phrasal examples of mao, such as "to throw out sparks" and "to smoke-as a chimney. " Hence the line
"Risked
the
smoke. . . . "
CANTO LXXXVI Sources
Seraphin Couvreur, Chou King, Paris, Cathasia, 1950; James Legge, The Four Books, Shanghai, 1923; Lewis A. Maverick, China A Model for Europe, San Antonio, Texas, 1946.
Background
EP, SP, 43, 160,326,328, 169; GK, 260; Virginia Cowles, The Rothschilds: A Family o f Fortune, New Y ork, Knopf, 1973; M de R, Discretions, 195; Christopher Hollis Two Nations London, 1935; William E. Woodward, A Ne~ American His: tory, 1936; Cicero, De Officiis II, 89; Eustace Mullins, This Difficult Individual, Exra Pound, New York, 1961 [EM, Dif- ficult].
Exegeses
Grieve, Pai, 4-2 & 3, 362-508; EH, Pai, 2-3, 497-498; HK, Pai,
2-1,41; BK and TE, Pai, 9-3, 432; Walkiewicz and Witemeyer, Pai, 9-3, 441-459; Cookson,Pai, 8-2,361.
Glossary
? 482
86/560-561
86/561-562
483
emplum of balance and order: "Having be- come really conversant with the activities of either of these men [Bismarck, Gladstone] , would not almost any document of the peri- od fall, if we read it, into some sort of orderly arrangement? " [SP, 43J. It was Bis- marck's opinion that the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71, would be the last European war.
4. Dummheit, nicht Bosheit: G, "stupidity not malice. " Old M's opinion about how Germany got into WWI [cf. 9 below J .
5. Old Margherita: Queen mother of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy [EH, Pai, 2-3, 497J.
6. Elenor? dowager: May suggest Marghe- rita compares in some way to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
7. "Sono . . . Cattivi": I, "They are all
tics, Holy Father, but they are not wicked. " Statement about the Germans, prob. made by Queen Margherita to the pope.
8. BaIlin: Albert Reeder B. , 1857-1918, a director of the Ham burg-Am erika [Steam- shipJ Co. , a familiar of the Kaiser's, and a friend of Chancellor von Bulow. The remark prob. concerns the Allied blockade against Germany. If he'd known it was going to happen, Ballin was one of the few people who could have "stuffed all Hamburg with grain. "
9. Bulow: Bernhard von B. , 1849-1929, German statesman and diplomat who be- came foreign minister in 1897 and chancel- lor in 1900. It was his intransigence in deal- ing with France, England, and Russia which helped increase German isolation and strengthen the Triple Entente. In his mem- oirs BUlow tells of a conversation between his wife, Maria, and Qu~en Margherita, who asked her bluntly: "Tell me frankly, Maria,
you wanted the war, didn't you? " Maria said "She was prepared to swear by the Virgin Mary and all that was sacred that neither the Kaiser nor the German people had wanted the war. " Queen Margherita replied: "Then the German diplomatists and ministers in
office in 1914 must be the greatest asses the world has ever seen" [EH, Pai, 2-3, 498J.
10. Talleyrand: [44:28; 62:151J.
statesman who helped restore the Bourbons after the fall of Napoleon. In pursuing a "balance of power" policy he created, in the Quadruple Alliance (1834), buffer states and the Bourbon dynasty [103:22J. Earlier, as grand chamberlain under Napoleon, he had set up a first dynasty. In WWI, the existence of Belgium on the side of France ("Frog- land") was one of the factors that saved France. "Svizzera" (Switzerland) remaining
neutral may have been another.
11. only two of us: Couvreur IV, XVI, 20 continues the Duke's speech [cf. I, aboveJ. Legge translates: "I simply say, 'The estab- lishment of OU[ dynasty rests with us two. ' Do you agree with me? Then you also will say, 'It rests with us two' . . . . "
12. Brancusi: [85:215J. Pound often quotes this remark made by the sculptor.
13. je peux . . . finiiir: F, "I can start some- thing every day, but finish! "
14. Ideogram: Hsiang [M2579J, "to judge. "
15. Ideogram: [85: IJ: By not having ling, the Hsia emperor "lost the feel of the people. "
16. Ideogram: Tien [M6347J, "to be in charge of. "
17. Ideogram: Sagetrieb [85:194J.
18. Ideogram: Chien [M837] , "documents" or "to appoint. " These three characters do not appear together as a sentence in the source. The context in which they occur suggests that some officers of the state did "take charge of the good of the people," did try "to instruct and pass on the tradition," and did "appoint" good officers to serve the prople. By putting them together, Pound may be suggesting something like: "Sensibil- ity will come by passing on the tradition as
contained in the documents. "
19. way . . . loveless: Legge: "The
which you tread are continually those of
disquietude;-have you in your hearts no love for yourselves? "
20. Get men . . . : The sense of the Cou- vreur passage is that if you get real men, "brave as bears," to serve, the empire will grow in glory.
21. milites instar ursorum: L, "wardors like bears. "
22. Not in two minds: Legge translates the phrase: "[ministersJ of no double heart. " N. B. "The arrow has not two points"
[85:180J.
23. Ideogram: Tuan [M6541 J, "principles. "
24. j6ung: French for yung [M7567J, "use/' or "act on. " Hence, "Act on pdn- ciples. "
25. Edictorum: L, "proclamations. "
26. Ideogram: T'i [M6246 J, "the essential" or "complete. "
27. Ideogram: lao, yao [M7300J, "the im- portant. " Legge gives the phrase that ties these characters together as: "in proclama- tions a combination of completeness and brevity are valuable. "
36. Mencius: [54:66; 78:60, 139J. The context suggests that the characters are the basis of Legge's "exert your mind to the utmost. " That will lead to "Mou Wang" below.
37. MOU WANG: King Mu, the 5th emper- or of the Chou dynasty (reigned 1001- 946 B. C. ). Couvreur and Legge view him as a lightweight who wandered around aimlessly, talking great but doing little. Ideogram: Mu [M4601J; "majestic"; Ideogram: wang [M7037J ; "king. "
38. Ideogram: Tou; tu [M6514J, "true"; Ideogram: tchoung; chung [M1506J, "loy- al"; Ideogram: tchen; chen [M346J, "virtu- ous. " King Wang, speaking to his ministers, attributes these qualities to ministers of an earlier time.
39. Kiun Ia: "Keun-ya. " Legge: "The king spoke thus: "Keun-ya, do you take for your rule the lessons afforded by the former courses of your excellent fathers. " Pound gives the essence of his speech in: "live up to your line. "
40. T'ai Tch'ang: The imperial banner. In his words to Keun-ya, King Mu said that Keun-ya's father and grandfather had served the royal house so well that they "accom- plished a merit which was recorded on the grand banner. " Ideogram: ch'ang [M221], "principle. "
41. ice and tigers: Now king Mu says, as he starts his rule "the trembling anxiety of my mind makes me feel as if I were treading on a tiger's tail, or walking upon spring ice. "
42. Ideogram: Hsien [M2697J, "law, regu- lations, constitution. " Legge: "The king said, . . . 'Ever help your sovereign to follow ihe regular laws [constitutionJ. ''' This char? acter eods Chap. XXVI of Couvreur.
43.
