" King Wang, speaking to his ministers,
attributes
these qualities to ministers of an earlier time.
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
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. Ideogram: Lu [M4280J. The name of the duke of Leu, who according to tradition was King Mu's minister for crime. This char- acter opens Chap. XXVII of Couvreur.
44. etiam? . . . inspiciendus: L, ~'even ap- pearance must be examined. " Legge gives
here-
French
paths
T a hsueh; The Great Digest. 29. ta hUm: Ta hsun; "great counsel. "
30. te i: "Awareness of morality. "
31. Quis . . . documenta: L, "What man teaches without documents [lessons]. "
32. even barbarians . . . : The sense of duke's speech here is that righteousness and good government will have such an influence on the people that "the wild tribes, with their coats buttoning on the left, will all seek their dependence on them. "
33. Non periturum: L, "imperishable. "
34. Ideogram: Kiue; chi [M453J, "to fio-
ish. " Pound's "kiue sin" is a transcription of Couvreur's "ki kiue sIn" for Mathew's chi, chueh, hsin.
35. Ideogram: Sin; hsin [M2735J, "heart, mind. "
28. ta seu:
the
? ? 484
86/563-564
86/564-565
485
the whole sentence: "When you have exam- ined, and many things are clear, yet form a judgment from studying the appearance of the parties. "
45. Ideogram: Mao [M4368], "appear- ances" [Chap. XXVII]. The next 4 charac- ters [from Chap. XXX] go together.
46. Ideogram: i [M302l], "moreover"; Ideogram: shang [M5670]; "still"; Ideo- gram: i [M30l6], "one"; Ideogram: jen
[M3097], "man. " Legge give the whole sen- tence: "The glory and tranquillity of a State also may perhaps arise from the excellence of one man. "
47. Edwardus: Edward, Prince of Wales,
Hoesch, the telephone conversation he had delayed the start of WWII by three years
[109:40].
48. von Hoesch: Leopold von H. , German ambassador to England in the mid-thirties.
49. Eva's pa: Fritz Hesse, ca. 1900-1980, the father of Eva Hesse. Eva is a scholar, critic, historian and official translator of The Cantos as well as numerous critical works into German. A senior editor of Paideuma, she is a great resource to all. Her father was press attache at the German em bassy in Lon-
don in the mid-1930s and told the story of overhearing the conversation between King Edward VIII and the ambassador. The king called von Hoesch "Leo" and referred to himself familiarly, "hier spricht David" [HK, Pai, 2-1, 41].
50. Bismarck: [cf. 3 above]. His idea was no wars after 1870.
51. Ideogram: i [M3002], "righteousness. "
56. gold . . . Spain: During England's effort to assist Spain against the armies of Napo~ leoTI, the British government had a hard time in providing Arthur Wellesley (later duke of Wellington) money to pay his troops. Every- one insisted upon being paid in gold. All A. W. could do was issue drafts on British treasury bills, which were bought only at massive discounts by "a mob of Maltese and Sicilian financiers" [Cowles, The Roths- childs, 42]. The drafts finally arrived in En-
gland (after going through a chain of specu- lators), where Nathan Rothschild bought them up very cheap. Knowing this procedure could not go on for long without great harm to England, he and his brothers in France and Germany began buying all the gold they could get. Finally the government went to Nathan Rothschild for help. He was pre-
pared. Gold shipped by sea was often sunk, so getting it to A. W. in Spain was a difficult and treacherous business. Says Cowles: "Nathan's scheme [to do ill . . . was com- parable to burglary in broad daylight" [43]. With the help of his family in France, he let it be known that England was trying to prevent the flow of gold and silver to
France. Napoleon had relaxed his blockade in order to help the French consumer, so that at a place near Dunkirk 'legal smuggling' was permitted. Once N got the idea the English didn't want to lose gold, he helped the Rothschilds with what he thought was their plan "to drain away Britain's reserves. " What they were really doing was helping the
English and undermining the Bank of France. James Rothschild hoodwinked Na- poleon and his finance minister, Molliens: "So the French Government allowed the Rothschilds to establish an artery of gold, running the length and breadth of France, to the heart of enemy resistance: Wellington's headquarters in Spain" [ibid. ]. Karl Roths-
child crossed the Pyrenees, as if an innocent
Pierce, in a letter of 1852 (not 1850): "The Rothschilds, the Barings, and other large capitalists now control, to a great extent, the monarchies of continental Europe" [BK & TE, Pai, 9-3, 432].
59. Pierce: Franklin P. , 1804-1869, 14th president of the U. S. , 1853-1857, who made a reputation in the House (1833-1837) and Senate (1837-1842) while very young and, after retiring from politics, as a brigadier general during the Mexican War. As an anti? slavery candidate in the convention of 1852, he was nominated on the 49th ballot as a compromise candidate, was elected, and served one term. A kindly, courteous person, Pierce was weak, unstable, and vacillating as president.
60. question? : Wasn't England owned by the banks in the 1850's? Pound's answer is: Not at that time. England was not wholly owned by the banks until 20 years later, after the Suez deal.
61. Suez: In November 1857, Disraeli dis- covered that the Khedive of Egypt, "a noto- rious spendthrift who was drowning in debt," was trying to sell his shares in the Suez to the French government. Disraeli was fearful that the French might snap them up and thus control what he thought was a vital British interest. But if the French knew the British wanted the shares, they'd doubtless buy at once. Speed and secrecy were neces- sary. D found out from Lionel Rothschild beforehand the price England would have to pay. Then he had to convince the cabinet, which was not easy; but they finally agreed that they should buy the shares if they could borrow the money. The story is that D poked his head out of the door of the cabi- net room and said "Yes" to his secretary, who sped to the Rothschilds and said that D needed ? 4 million. "'When? ' asked Lionel. . . 'Tomorrow' [said the secretary] . . . 'What is your security? ' [said Rothschild . . . ] 'The British Government' [said the secretary]. 'You shall have it' [said Rothschild]. " D wrote to Queen Victoria: "There was only one firm that could do it-Rothschilds. They behaved admirably: advanced the money at
a low rate, and the entire interest of the Khedive is now yours, Madam" [Cowles, 162]. The facts do not support Pound's opinion. Disraeli could not have asked Parlia- ment, because of the need for speed and secrecy. Says Cowles: "The purchase turned out to be one of the best investments ever made by the government. In 1898, the mar- ket value of the shares was ? 24 million; in
1914 ? 40 million; in 1935 ? 95 million. And for nearly twenty-five years earnings were at a rate of fifty-six percent on the original investment" [ibid. , 163].
62. Ideogram: Hsin [M2748], "trust. "
63. "Alla non della": I, "to, not of. " A much repeated recollection of Mussolini's precision in language in drawing up his Pro- gram of Verona for the Republic of Salo, est. Sept. 23, 1943. "It is a right to property not a right of property," is the sense of Pound's source. M de R [Discretions 195] cites the quote with the explanation, "work is not the object but the subject of econ- omy" [108:3].
64. ou rcxvrcx -. '. . KcxKoim: H, "not all . . . ills. " Part of Electra phrase [85:219].
52. "Nicht
. . .
cattivi":
[cf. 4
& 7
above].
53. Hamburg: [cf. 8 above].
traveler, Wellington's
[ibid. , 44].
57. Geschaft: iness. "
eventually receipts
and duke of
later Edward VIII
[cf. 89/601; 95:39]. According to Von
54. Miss Wi'let: Prob. Violet Hunt. Answer
to the question, "Will there be war? " [38/188]. Answer the same [38:26].
55. 20 years . . . Bonaparte: Echo of re- peated anecdote [78: 10].
G, "employment" or "bus-
70.
