No More Learning

36. Zeus . . . Leto: Zeus, in conjunction with Leto, sired both Helios (Apollo) and Artemis (Diana).
37. Help me . . . : [91 :41J. "Help me in my need. "
Enna: Accordingto Ovid, the place where
. . .
The place
38. Circeo
Terracina where Pound would have restored the goddess to her pedestal [SP, 53; 39:38J.
39. The temple . . . blossom: These 12 lines are a visionary glimpse of paradise, with its strange, unearthly lights and colors and the hieratic animals [17/77J .
seaward:
near
40. Carrara: [74: 80J.
noted for the purity of its white marble.
41. Xoroi: H, Hdancers. " "Religion? With no dancing girls at the altar? " [87/575J.
City in
Tuscany
50. caffaris
. . .
cloud-wall:
Paradisal
fiora.
peace . . . him: [109:40J.
? ? ? 692
106/755
moon? god is being renewed with the jeweled axe" [ibid. , 102] .
60. HREZEIN: H, "knowing. " From a phrase in Epigram 14 [cf. 54 above], esthla hrezein ("knowing virtue"), about Selenaia, a young girl born in Aeolian Smyrna who presented a nautilus to Arsinoe.
61. Selena: [Salenaia]: The "pearly nauti? Ius," a spiral shell lined with mother of pearl, is a memora to the birth of Aphrodite out of the sea foam.
62. Paros: A Greek island of the central Cyclades.
63. Xoroi: [Cf. 41 above].
64. Carrara's. . . Italian city famous for marble [74/428].
65. God's eye . . . : [Cf. 113:43]. The divine essence operates as intelligence in man: it is through man's eyes that God sees.
. . .
107/756 693 Exegeses
DD, Sculptor, 239? 240; DG, Pai, 4? 2 & 3, 223? 299; DD, Pai 6? 1, 101-107; HK, Era, 336; CFT, Pai, 5? 1, 69? 76; Materer, Pai, 4-2 & 3, 323; Moody, Pai, 4? 1, 55-69; MB, Trace, 444-447; William Cookson, A Guide to The Cantos, inedit [WC, Guide] .
[Documentation for the Institutes is difficult, as the numbering and subsectioning of the text is inconsistent. The chap. is given here, with section no. in parentheses if clear; if not, the p. no. of the 1797 edition is given. ]
Glossary
Philadelphus. . . . The admiral first placed there the goddess, lady of this beach of Zephyrium" [MB, Trace, 441]. The epithet "Selena" is a conflation with another young girl [cf. 60 below] .
55. Aedificavit: L, "built. "
56. EUPLOIA: H, "good voyage. " The epi- gram continues: "She [Aphrodite] will grant a good voyage and in the midst of the storm becalm the sea in behalf of those who invoke her" [ibid. ].
57. an Aeolian: Berenice. It was at this tem- ple that B. offered a lock of her hair Cas an earnest [ex voto]), which became the latest constellation [97: 170; 102:42].
58. Arsinoe Kupris: H, "the Cyprian Arsinoe. "
59. Miwo: The chorus in the Hagaromo says to Tennin Cthe aerial spirit): "0, you in the form of a maid, grant us the favour of your delaying. The pine? waste of Miwo puts on the color of spring" [CNT! , 103]. Before this, the Tennin said: "The jeweled axe takes up the eternal renewing, the palace of the
66. columns
disal scene which Pound, as he nears the end of the poem, still sees as visionary [74:292].
1. Selinunt: Sicily. "The Sicilian rose of Ciulio D'Alcamo has grown into the English azalia" [DG, Pai 4? 2 & 3, 249]. Frederick II, 1194? 1250, king of Sicily, was a great legisla? tor whose fame and work were known in the England of Henry III. Some of the precepts of the Magna Carta were maturing in Sicily under his direction [DD, Pai, 6? 1, 104] .
2. Akragas: Agrlgento, capital of Agrigento Province, S Sicily. Founded in 580 B. C. as Acragas or Akragas by the Greek colonists of Gela, it became one of the most splendid cities of the Grecian world.
3. Coke: Sir Edward C. , 1552? 1634, one of the most famous of English jurists. He was member of Parliament, solicitor general, speaker of the House of Commons, and attorney-general under Elizabeth; under King James he was chief justice of common pleas and lord chief justice of England. In his long years of battle in defense of the rule of law and the primacy of Magna Carta against the prerogative of kings, he eventually spent much time imprisoned in the Tower during the last years of James and the first years of Charles I. His Institutes o f the Laws o f En- gland became the backbone of English com? man law. Certain of his precepts, such as the primacy of Magna Carta and the tradition of common law, became vital to the American Revolution. Wrote Coke: "In many cases the common law will control acts o f Parliament and sometimes adjudge them to be utterly void; for when an act of Parliament is against common right and reason, or repugnant, or
impossible to be performed, the common law will control it and adjudge such acts to be void. " This precept, issued in a trivial case, echoed down the centuries. Concerning the Stamp Act of 1765, passed by Parlia- ment, James Otis shouted: "An act against natural equity is void. " The Mass. Assembly declared the Stamp Act invalid, "against Magna Carta and the natural rights of En? glishmen, and therefore, according to the Lord Coke, null and void" [Bowen, Lion, 315].
4. Inst. 2: The Second Part o f the Institutes of the Laws of England, by Edward Coke. The "Proeme" says that, after King Ed- ward I, Parliament ordained that the charters "should be sent under the great seale, as well to the justices of the forest, as to others, and to all sheriffes . . . and that the same charters should be sent to all the cathedrall churches, and that they should be read and published in every county four times in the yeare"
[A6: p. 6 of the "Proeme"].
5. 20. H. 3: The 20th year of the reign of Henry III. This was the year in which Henry removed "evil councill" and did "under his great seale confirme both Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta" [A9].
6. mother . . . of repose: Coke ends the "Proeme" to the Institutes by making a dis- tinction between other glosses written by doctors and his expositions upon the Char- ter. Others contained private interpretations; but "our expositions or commentaries upon
CANTO CVIl Sources
Sir Edward Coke, Second Institutes o f the Laws o f England, 1797 [Institutes]; Catherine Drinker Bowen, The Lion and the Throne, Little, Brown, Boston 1956 [Bowen, Lion] ; Dante, Par. X, 42,
136.
Background
EP, SR, 62, 101; EH Approaches, 173, 192; Bryce Lyon, A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England, Harpers, N. Y. , 1960; William Stubbs, The Constitutional History of En- gland, Vol. II, Oxford, 1887; William Sharp McKechnie, Magna Carta, rev. , Burt Franklin, N. Y. , 1958.
boughs: Items in a
para-
? ? 694
107/756
107/757
695
Magna Charta. . . are the resolutions of judges in courts of justice in judiciall courses of proceeding . . . and shall (as we conceive) produce certainty, the mother and nurse of repose" [A13].
7. scutage: According to the Institutes: "Certain it is, that he that ho1deth by castle? guard shall pay no escuage, for escuage must be rated according to the quantity of the knights fees" [Chap II. pp. 9? 10]. Seutage was a fee paid by a knight in lieu of military service.
8. Milite: L, "Soldier. " Coke's name as au- thor on the title page of the Institutes reads: "Authore EDWARDO COKE, Milite, J. C. "
9. Sigier: Siger de Brabant, 13th? century French philosopher who was condemned in 1270 for Aristotelian teaching. His works reveal Avenoes' concepts of Aristotle, as ap? posed to Thomas Aquinas's interpretations, which were accepted by the church. Siger held that men have but one intellectual spirit and that, although man is mortal, mankind is immortal. Undaunted by his condemnation, Dante Places Siger in Paradise among the orthodox thinkers in the "heaven of the sun" [Par. X, 136].
10. Berengar: Raymond Berenger, count of Provence, and father of Eleanor. The House of Berenger had extensive holdings in Pro- vence and Toulouse and was linked through Eleanor of Aquitaine to the House of Plan? tagenet and England. After Eleanor of Pro?
vence married Henry III, she installed mem- bers of her family in high offices, thereby alienating the barons.
II. Eleanor: E. of Provence, d. 1291. Queen of Henry III. She had a benevolent effect upon the king and helped lead him from evil counselors to those who advised him to make confirmation of the charters.
. . .
rightful heirs. The sense of the passage is that the keeper, whether acting for the king or the church, must keep up the land and "the houses, parks, warrens, ponds, mills . . . and he shall deliver to the heir . . . all the land stored with ploughs, and all other things, at the least as he received it. The passage ends with the warning to the "Custo- dian" that "such custody shall 'not be sold"
[Chap. V].
13. Light, cubic: Neoplatonic flow of light conceived by Pound as the "great acorn . . . bulging out" [106:48]. The "light descend? ing" is intelligence, as in Kung.
14. nel Sale: I, "in the sun" [cf. 9 above]. 15. non . . . parvente: I, "showing not by
color but by light" [Par. X, 42]. The fourth heaven (of the sun) is inhabited by theolo? gians, who are bathed in pure light.
16. Custumier . . . de Nonnand: Said Coke: "We have also . . . cited the Grand Custumier de Normandy . . . being a book compounded as well of the laws of England . . . which book was composed in the raign of King H. 3. " [AlO? Il].
17. de la foresta: F, "of the forest. " Early English charters, such as the Coronation Charter of Henry I and "The Articles of the Barons" (signed by King John at Runny? mede), which became known as "The Char? ter of Runnymede," included the Charter de Foresta, which in time, said Coke, was "called Magna Charter de Foresta" [A4]. This document collected all the laws can? cerned with the royal forests [CFT, Pai, 5? 1, 70]. "14/H/3" indicates the 14th year in the reign of Henry III.
18. yellow green: May indicate permanence,
a s w i t h " T h e Sacn~d E d i c t . " T h e c o l o r
rhymes with 99/694: "Till the blue grass
turn yellow / and the yellow leaves float in
not" [Chap. VIII, (1)]. The royal "we" en? compasses the kings before us and the kings who will come after us, as implied in "The king is dead; long live the king. "
20. ancient eit franchies: OF, "that it have its ancient liberties. " From Coke's comment on this article, which reads: "The city of London shall have all the old liberties and customs, which it hath been used to have. Moreover we will and grant, that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and barons of the five ports, and all other ports, shall have all their liberties and free customs" [Chap. IX] .
21. ne injuste vexes: OF, "not unjustly ha? rass. " Coke said: "No man shall be dis- trained to do more service for a knights fee, nor any freehold, than therefore is due. " Coke says this concept was founded in an- cient law, in "the form of the writ of Ne injuste vexes" [Chap. X].
22. progressus ostendunt: L, "progress [of things] reveals. " From a note which says that, when a question cannot be settled by a justice or circuit, it can be taken to London. Coke cites an old Latin rule of law which translates: "But the progress of things re- veals much that could not have been fore? seen at the beginning" [Chap. XII, (4)b].
23. periplum . . . : English justices were required to go out throughout the kingdom to the local courts of assize to bring justice to the people. Here the concept is made to rhyme with the ideas of Kung (Confucius). Kung found the root in the process. Pound sees a similar root in Magna Carta. As in the Pisan Cantos, "periplum" simply indicates, in addition, moving from place to place
[74/431,443,444].
24. Ideogram: Pen [M5025], "root, source,
origin. " Part of pen yeh [98:55,56].
25. Glanvil: Ranulf de Glanvill[e], d. 1190.
A chief justicier for Henry II of England. One of the great works of English law, Trae? tatus de Zegibus et consuetudinibus regni An- gliae [Treatise on the laws and customs of the realm of England], has been ascribed to him. Coke said: "It appeareth by Glanvile
that this act was made in affirmance of the common law" [Chap. XIV, (2)].
26. saving his wainage: One of Glanvi11e's concepts, that no fine should be so severe that it would take away a man's means of making a living [DG, Pai, 4? 2 & 3, 255].
27. hominum . . . proborum: L. An inver? sion of "Nisi per sacramentum proborum et legalium hominum de vicineto" ("But by the oath of honest and lawful men of the vici? nage"). The article concerns fines or amer- ciaments and prescribes that "the punish- ment should fit the crime" and that no fine can be assessed except by the oath as in?
dicated [Chap. XIV].
28. laicum tenementum: L, "lay-tenement. " From a section which extends protection to church members: "No man of the church shall be amerced after the quantity of his spiritual benefice, but after his lay? tenament, and after the quantity of his offence"
[Chap. XIV].
29. de par Ie monde: F, "somewhere. " 30. J'ai connu: F, "I knew. "
31. books of a scholler: Coke distinguishes the legal sense of the words "contenement" and "countenance" and ends: "countenance is used for contenement: the armor of a souldior is his countenance, the books of a scholler his countenance and the like" [Chap XIV, (2)].
32. H. 2 E. I: Kings Henry II and Edward I, whom Coke praises for their dedication to justice.
33. en temps . . . : F, "in the time of King Henry Second. "
34. Jim First: King James 1. "When he drank, His thick tongue slobbered 'very un- comely, as if eating his drink, which came out into the cup on each side of his mouth . . . '" [Bowen, Lion, 228]. Because of his fondling of, and attachment to', a long series of handsome young men, James was known as a sodomist.
12. quod custod'
shall not be sold. " This and the preceding line about "the land stored with ploughs" are taken from a section of the Magna Carta that concerns a "keeper" who is holding land in trust which is expected to return to
: L,
"such
custody
. "
an.
19. king dies not: Coke said: "These words being spoken in the politique capacity doe extend to the successors, for in judgement of law the king in his politique capacity dieth
? ? ? ? ? 696
107/757-758
107/758-759
697
35. bitched our heritage: James I's long fight for the divine right of Kings and the royal prerogative as superior to the common law. Coke, who fought tirelessly against the concepts, ended up in the Tower. Thus the king is seen as one who undermined the legal heritage of the people.
36. Obit: L, "died. "
37. Jacques Pere: Shakespeare.
38. Noll: Nickname of Oliver Cromwell, who had King Charles I beheaded in 1649.
39. Puer Apulius: L, "the boy from Apu- lia," i. e. , Frederick II. The words "Ver" and "L'estate" are from Ciullo d'Alcano's "Fres- ca rosa Aulentissima" [DD, Pai, 6-1, 101-
107;SR, 62,101].
40. Voltaire could not: Prob. "could not"
conceive of a government that provided such protection to the people as Magna Carta provided.
41. Queen of Akragas: Prob. Athena, as goddess of wisdom and justice. Akragas [cf. 2 above] had a temple of Athena; even to- day a certain prominence is called "the Rock of Athena" [EB].
42. resistent: Prob. F, resistant, ~'strong. "
43. templum aedificavit: L, "built a tem- ple" [8:43]. Thus the lines construe: "built a temple to the strong goddess Athena. "
44. Segesta: Ancient city of Sicily and bit- ter rival of Selinus [cf. 1 above]. Its ruins, with a temple to Artemis, are near modern Alcamo, and it is thus associated with the Sicilian poet Ciulio d'Alcamo, which Pound hopes will "evoke the enlightened legal Codes of Frederick II" of Sicily [DG, Pai, 4-2 & 3, 257].
45. II. Inst. XXI: This chapter of Magna Carta says: "No sheriff nor bailiff . . . shall take the horses or carts of any man to make carriage, except he pay the old price" In his commentary Coke says the statute applies to all nobility but "extendeth not to any per- son ecclisiasticall," and, "all t h i s . . . was ( .