Pound may want them
construed
as "mate of heaven.
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
Another story has it that he feigned madness and was released by King Wu of the
new Chou dynasty and then fled to Corea.
130. Meng-ford: From the phrase that fol- lows ("t3 houei Meng tsin"), which means "greatly assembled at Meng Ford. " It is part of the first line of the Great Declaration, which consists of three speeches King Wu gave to his officers and people after his con? quest of the Shang dynasty [Pt. IV, Chap. I, Couvreur's Chou King].
131. Heou Tsi . . . Tan Fou: A summary of a Couvreur historical note that traces the history of the royal family of the Chou dynasty, showing the results of the watch- word "our dynasty came in because of a great sensibility," a reprise of the opening of the canto [cf. 2 above]. Grieve has a note that gives much in little: I'Tan Fou . . . was the great-grandfather of Wu Wang, the king who, continuing the rebellion of his father, Wen Wang, defeated the tyrant emperor Chou Hsin [last of the Shang dynasty] and in 1122 B. C. founded the Chou dynasty. It was Tan Fou who first established the Chou state at the foot of Mount Ki in 1326 B. C. King Wan . . . passed on the Chou hereditary dominions to his son . . . Wu Wang. "
132. Les moeurs . . . fleurit: F, "The morals had been reformed; virtue flourished. "
133. Ideogram: Ling [cf. I above]. We re- turn to the ~de0. 991m that opened this canto. While Po~es several other characters to stand for the virtue, humanity, and sensitive. ness of the individual, he uses this one to tie together the processes of heaven with the processes of nature and the Confucian ideals of order in man. Just as the transcendant order of Neoplatonic thought is imaged by the heavens and clouds being reflected in water, so here the sky? cloud components on the top of this character, with the rain in the center and the earth-ceremonies of the bot? tom components, imply in parallel fashion the harmony that results when the processes of heaven's will are reflected in the actions of the emperor who has the good of the people at heart. Note too the way the three components of ling articulate with the three panels of Cosimo Tura [79:25].
134. Ad Meng vadum: L, "At the ford of Meng. "
135. Huang Ho: "Yellow River. "
136. eh' e' ditta dentro: I, "which he dic- tates within me" [Pur. XXIV, 54]. Bona- giunta of Lucca asks Dante if he is the one "who brought forth new rhymes, beginning: Ladies that have understanding of love? " Dante answers him, "I am one who, when Love inspires me, takes note, and goes set? ting it forth after the fashion which he dic- tates within me" [Singleton].
137. Cheou . . . aerumnas: L, "Chou inflicts calamities. " This Chou is the last emperor of the Shang dynasty. In the spring at the ford of Meng, Wu Wang spoke to his officers and people: "Heaven and earth are the parents of all things; and of all things, man alone has reason. He who is most intelligent and per? spicacious becomes the supreme sovereign; and the supreme sovereign becomes the par? ents of the people. Now Chou [Che6u], the emperor of Shang, does not stand in awe of heaven above and inflicts calamities on the people below. " .
138. Ideogram: Ts'oung, ts'ung [M6916], "astute. "
139. Ideogram: Tan [M6048]'''sincere. ''
140. Ideogram: Ming [M4534], "intelli- gent. " This character is central to Pound's idea of divinity manifesting itself through the intelligence of man [CON, 20].
141. tso iuen heou: French for tso [M6780], "to make"; yuan [M7707], 'Ichief, great"; hou [M2144J, "king. " "To be a great sovereign. "
142. "Gentlemen . . . : King Wu (chief ruler of the West) went On to tell his people (from the western states) more reasons why heaven desired him to overthrow the emperor and become ruler of all the Middle Kingdom. Legge translates: "Oh' my valiant men of the West, Heaven has enjoined the illustrious courses of duty, of which the several charac? ters are quite plain. "
112. chung . . . : Chung
result"; wang [M70451, "in vain"; hsien
[M2692], "seems. " "The result seems to have been in vain. "
113. Imperator . . .
peror. Just as wine and must" [see 115 below].
114. directio: L, "direction," Evokes "di? rection of the will," a major theme of the poem. The word does not occur in Cou- vreur's Latin. Instead of combining it with "voluntatis," as he usually does [77:57], Pound combines it here with a Chinese word for will: "tcheu," or chih [M971], "determi- nation; will. "
115. fennentum . . . : L, "fermentation and fruit [seeds/grain]. " These words, along with the Latin in 113 above, are fragments of a whole sentence of Kao Tsung to Vueh which says: "Be to me as the yeast and the malt in making sweet spirits; as the salt and the prunes in making agreeable soup. "
116. study . . . hawk: More ofYueh's advice to the emperor.
117. tao tsi: French translation for tao [M6136], "truth" and chi [M500], "store up. "
118. T? xv7]: H [context of 49 above], "skill in an art. "
[MI500],
"the end
mustum: L,
"The ern?
? 476
85/552-554
85/554-555
477
143. Ideogram: Hsien [M2692], "mani- fest. " Legge translates as "quite plain"; Pound says "perfectly clear. "
144. Ideogram: Wu [M7195], "warlike; fierce. " The title of the first ruler of the Chou dynasty. One day Wu came to the borders of Shang and addressed his army: "In his left had he carried a battle-axe, yel- low with gold, and in his right he held a white ensign, which he brandished, saying, 'Far are ye come; ye men of the Western regions. ' "
145. "e canta la gallina"; I, "and the hen crows. " Couvreur's Latin gives "Gallinae rna? tutinus cantus est domus exinanitio. " In French, "Le chant de la paule Ie matin an- nonce la ruine de la famille" ("The crowing of a hen in the morning indicates the ruin of the family"). King Wu [in the speech in 144 above] is showing that Emperor Chou ("Cheou" in the canto) erred in following the counsel of his women rather than at? tempting to follow the will of heaven. Pound may have put it in Italian because the phrase recalled an old "skipping rope song": "trene? ta, quaranta / la gallina canta / e canta nel pollaio, / e cana nel cortile" [Mondolfo, Pai,
3-2, 286].
146. ganged up: Wu accuses Chou of having for ministers and officers men "who are only the vagabonds of the empire, loaded with crimes . . . making them great officers and nobles. "
147. "6 steps . . . fugitives": Wu's speech to the army continues with instructions on how to fight: "In today's business, do not ad- vance more than six blows, or seven blows; and then stop and adjust your ranks. . . . Do not rush on those who fly to us in sllb~ mission. "
concern the 'decisive battle at which King Wu defeated the forces of Cheou: "[Cheou] led forward his hosts like a forest, and as~ sembled them in the wilderness of Muh. "
151. quasi silvam convenit: L, "like a forest assembled. "
152. jo lin: Jo [M3126], "like. " Ideogram: lin [M4022], "forest. " "Like a forest. "
153. "Liking . . . no man. ": The sources not provide this precise sentence, which may be Pound's summary judgment of the ac~ tions ofWu.
154. The 4th part: Refers to Book IV, Part IV of Couvreur's Chou King, which is called "The Great Plan. " The chapter con- cerns details, "marginalia," about the duties of government.
. . .
156. T'oung . . . chenn: Ideogram: t'ung [M6618], "pain"; Ideogram: kuan [M3560], "cause distress"; Ideogram: nai [M4612], "however"; Ideogram: shen [M5718], "the body. " King Wu is giving advice to his younger brother, Fung: "Oh! ' " Fung . . . it is as if some disease were in your person. . . . Where you go, employ all your heart. "
157. ou iu chouei: French for wu [M7180], "not"; yu [M7643]' "in"; shui [M5922]' "water. "
[M839],
glass of other people. " And then asks: "Ought we not to look much to it as our glass, and learn how to secure the repose of Ollr time. "
162. Ideogram: T'u [M6532], "land"; Ideo- gram: chung [M1504], "center. " These two characters begin a break in the text from Chap. X to Chap. XII of Couvreur. The duke of Chou is telling the king to bring his gov- ernment to the city of Lo, "the center of the land. " In the text these characters are sepa~ rated from the following ones, which are "gists" and do not form a sentence.
163. Ideogram: Tan [M6037], "dawn. " Here the name of the duke of Chou. Ideo- gram: Yueh [M7694], "said". "Tan said. "
164. Ideogram: P'ei [M5019], "worthy"; Ideogram: huang [M2283], "sovereign. " These characters do not occur together in the Chinese text of Couvreur.
Pound may want them construed as "mate of heaven. " Legge gives: "Tan said, 'Now that this great city has been built, from henceforth he [the king] may be the mate of great heaven. ' "
165. XIII, 9: Couvreur, Chap. XlII, sec. 9 of Book IV.
166. k'i p'eng: Ideogram: ch'i [M525], "his"; Ideogram: p'eng [M5054], "compan- ion"; 1<: huo [M2395], "fire"; cho (~"a) [MI256], "burn. " The duke of Chou is giv- ing advice to his young son and says he should have friends and companions but not have favorites or be partial or indulgent: "If you do so, the consequences hereafter will be like a fire, which . . . blazes up, and by and by cannot be extinguished. "
167. Ideogram: Ching [M1l38], "rever- ence. " The duke tells his son if he will "Go and be reverent," one of his rewards will be "to know the sincere. "
168. Tch'eng T'ang: Ch'eng T'ang [53:40], with the gold engraved bathtub, who was the founder of the Shang dynasty.
169. X: ko [M3358], "spear. " This char- acter does not appear alone in the Couvreur text but as a component in the next charac~
ter, pj(: ch'eng [M379], "to perfect. " r~: t'ang [M6101], "hot water. " The founder of the Shang dynasty. Thus Pound put together some elements that say: "With his spear, Tch'eng T'ang overthrew Hia. "
170. Hia: The Hsia dynasty, 2205-1766.
171. Praestantissimos . . . : L, "most out~ standing men to rule. " The Latin and Chi~ nese tags in this and the next several lines are from a speech by the duke of Chou, who, in an address to the remaining officers of the house of Shang, enumerates those character~ istics of the deposed Shang dynasty upon which the new Chou dynasty (founded by Wu Wang) has been established: (I) an origi- nal charge from heaven, (2) rule only by the best-qualified men, (3) the emperor's desire to make virtue illustrious throughout the empire, (4) attention to the sacrifices and to the favor of god, and (5) a sincere attempt by the emperor always to manifest a good~ ness corresponding to that of heaven. The ultimate object is the welfare (tranquillity) of the people. Pound incorporates all these characteristics into the sensibility (ling2 ) , which he subsequently defines as "the feel
of the people" [86/560].
172. Ideogram: Tien [M6350], "to rule. "
173. Ti I: Penultimate emperor of the Shang dynasty, 1191-1154.
174. nullus . . . -sociavit: L, "Everyone made it [virtue] illustrious. Everyone allied him- self [with the will of heaven]. "
175. ut benefaceret: L, "so that he might benefit. "
176. k'i tche: French for ch'i [M525], "his"; che [M277], "benefit. "
177. Tcheou: Usually Pound gives Cou- vreur's "Cheou" for this last Shang emperor, Chou Hsin. Do not be confused. The 3d dynasty, the one that followed the Shang, is known as the Chou dynasty. Its first king was Wu Wang, who was honored and served by the duke of Chou. These people are not to be confused with this Chou, who is the last, weak emperor of Shang, Chou Hsin.
French "cheu," chih [M939], "stop". ,deogram: T'si, Ch'i
[M560], "adjust. "
149. n. i tcheu t'si: "And then stop and adjust [your ranks]. "
150. Cheou's host . . . jo lin: These lines
148. Ideogram:
155. Liu dogs
Part V is entitled "Le Chien de Liu" [Legge, "The Hounds of Liu"]. In it, the grand counselor Cheu advises King Wu not to ac~ cept the hounds as a gift from tribes under his rule.
: Couvreur
Book IV,
158. Ideogram:
min [M4508], "mankind" or "the people. "
159. Ideogram: "oversee. ) J
Kien,
chien
Transcription
error for
160. 10. 12: Chap. X, sec. 12, of Part IV, Couvreur.
161. . . . 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 . . .
new Chou dynasty and then fled to Corea.
130. Meng-ford: From the phrase that fol- lows ("t3 houei Meng tsin"), which means "greatly assembled at Meng Ford. " It is part of the first line of the Great Declaration, which consists of three speeches King Wu gave to his officers and people after his con? quest of the Shang dynasty [Pt. IV, Chap. I, Couvreur's Chou King].
131. Heou Tsi . . . Tan Fou: A summary of a Couvreur historical note that traces the history of the royal family of the Chou dynasty, showing the results of the watch- word "our dynasty came in because of a great sensibility," a reprise of the opening of the canto [cf. 2 above]. Grieve has a note that gives much in little: I'Tan Fou . . . was the great-grandfather of Wu Wang, the king who, continuing the rebellion of his father, Wen Wang, defeated the tyrant emperor Chou Hsin [last of the Shang dynasty] and in 1122 B. C. founded the Chou dynasty. It was Tan Fou who first established the Chou state at the foot of Mount Ki in 1326 B. C. King Wan . . . passed on the Chou hereditary dominions to his son . . . Wu Wang. "
132. Les moeurs . . . fleurit: F, "The morals had been reformed; virtue flourished. "
133. Ideogram: Ling [cf. I above]. We re- turn to the ~de0. 991m that opened this canto. While Po~es several other characters to stand for the virtue, humanity, and sensitive. ness of the individual, he uses this one to tie together the processes of heaven with the processes of nature and the Confucian ideals of order in man. Just as the transcendant order of Neoplatonic thought is imaged by the heavens and clouds being reflected in water, so here the sky? cloud components on the top of this character, with the rain in the center and the earth-ceremonies of the bot? tom components, imply in parallel fashion the harmony that results when the processes of heaven's will are reflected in the actions of the emperor who has the good of the people at heart. Note too the way the three components of ling articulate with the three panels of Cosimo Tura [79:25].
134. Ad Meng vadum: L, "At the ford of Meng. "
135. Huang Ho: "Yellow River. "
136. eh' e' ditta dentro: I, "which he dic- tates within me" [Pur. XXIV, 54]. Bona- giunta of Lucca asks Dante if he is the one "who brought forth new rhymes, beginning: Ladies that have understanding of love? " Dante answers him, "I am one who, when Love inspires me, takes note, and goes set? ting it forth after the fashion which he dic- tates within me" [Singleton].
137. Cheou . . . aerumnas: L, "Chou inflicts calamities. " This Chou is the last emperor of the Shang dynasty. In the spring at the ford of Meng, Wu Wang spoke to his officers and people: "Heaven and earth are the parents of all things; and of all things, man alone has reason. He who is most intelligent and per? spicacious becomes the supreme sovereign; and the supreme sovereign becomes the par? ents of the people. Now Chou [Che6u], the emperor of Shang, does not stand in awe of heaven above and inflicts calamities on the people below. " .
138. Ideogram: Ts'oung, ts'ung [M6916], "astute. "
139. Ideogram: Tan [M6048]'''sincere. ''
140. Ideogram: Ming [M4534], "intelli- gent. " This character is central to Pound's idea of divinity manifesting itself through the intelligence of man [CON, 20].
141. tso iuen heou: French for tso [M6780], "to make"; yuan [M7707], 'Ichief, great"; hou [M2144J, "king. " "To be a great sovereign. "
142. "Gentlemen . . . : King Wu (chief ruler of the West) went On to tell his people (from the western states) more reasons why heaven desired him to overthrow the emperor and become ruler of all the Middle Kingdom. Legge translates: "Oh' my valiant men of the West, Heaven has enjoined the illustrious courses of duty, of which the several charac? ters are quite plain. "
112. chung . . . : Chung
result"; wang [M70451, "in vain"; hsien
[M2692], "seems. " "The result seems to have been in vain. "
113. Imperator . . .
peror. Just as wine and must" [see 115 below].
114. directio: L, "direction," Evokes "di? rection of the will," a major theme of the poem. The word does not occur in Cou- vreur's Latin. Instead of combining it with "voluntatis," as he usually does [77:57], Pound combines it here with a Chinese word for will: "tcheu," or chih [M971], "determi- nation; will. "
115. fennentum . . . : L, "fermentation and fruit [seeds/grain]. " These words, along with the Latin in 113 above, are fragments of a whole sentence of Kao Tsung to Vueh which says: "Be to me as the yeast and the malt in making sweet spirits; as the salt and the prunes in making agreeable soup. "
116. study . . . hawk: More ofYueh's advice to the emperor.
117. tao tsi: French translation for tao [M6136], "truth" and chi [M500], "store up. "
118. T? xv7]: H [context of 49 above], "skill in an art. "
[MI500],
"the end
mustum: L,
"The ern?
? 476
85/552-554
85/554-555
477
143. Ideogram: Hsien [M2692], "mani- fest. " Legge translates as "quite plain"; Pound says "perfectly clear. "
144. Ideogram: Wu [M7195], "warlike; fierce. " The title of the first ruler of the Chou dynasty. One day Wu came to the borders of Shang and addressed his army: "In his left had he carried a battle-axe, yel- low with gold, and in his right he held a white ensign, which he brandished, saying, 'Far are ye come; ye men of the Western regions. ' "
145. "e canta la gallina"; I, "and the hen crows. " Couvreur's Latin gives "Gallinae rna? tutinus cantus est domus exinanitio. " In French, "Le chant de la paule Ie matin an- nonce la ruine de la famille" ("The crowing of a hen in the morning indicates the ruin of the family"). King Wu [in the speech in 144 above] is showing that Emperor Chou ("Cheou" in the canto) erred in following the counsel of his women rather than at? tempting to follow the will of heaven. Pound may have put it in Italian because the phrase recalled an old "skipping rope song": "trene? ta, quaranta / la gallina canta / e canta nel pollaio, / e cana nel cortile" [Mondolfo, Pai,
3-2, 286].
146. ganged up: Wu accuses Chou of having for ministers and officers men "who are only the vagabonds of the empire, loaded with crimes . . . making them great officers and nobles. "
147. "6 steps . . . fugitives": Wu's speech to the army continues with instructions on how to fight: "In today's business, do not ad- vance more than six blows, or seven blows; and then stop and adjust your ranks. . . . Do not rush on those who fly to us in sllb~ mission. "
concern the 'decisive battle at which King Wu defeated the forces of Cheou: "[Cheou] led forward his hosts like a forest, and as~ sembled them in the wilderness of Muh. "
151. quasi silvam convenit: L, "like a forest assembled. "
152. jo lin: Jo [M3126], "like. " Ideogram: lin [M4022], "forest. " "Like a forest. "
153. "Liking . . . no man. ": The sources not provide this precise sentence, which may be Pound's summary judgment of the ac~ tions ofWu.
154. The 4th part: Refers to Book IV, Part IV of Couvreur's Chou King, which is called "The Great Plan. " The chapter con- cerns details, "marginalia," about the duties of government.
. . .
156. T'oung . . . chenn: Ideogram: t'ung [M6618], "pain"; Ideogram: kuan [M3560], "cause distress"; Ideogram: nai [M4612], "however"; Ideogram: shen [M5718], "the body. " King Wu is giving advice to his younger brother, Fung: "Oh! ' " Fung . . . it is as if some disease were in your person. . . . Where you go, employ all your heart. "
157. ou iu chouei: French for wu [M7180], "not"; yu [M7643]' "in"; shui [M5922]' "water. "
[M839],
glass of other people. " And then asks: "Ought we not to look much to it as our glass, and learn how to secure the repose of Ollr time. "
162. Ideogram: T'u [M6532], "land"; Ideo- gram: chung [M1504], "center. " These two characters begin a break in the text from Chap. X to Chap. XII of Couvreur. The duke of Chou is telling the king to bring his gov- ernment to the city of Lo, "the center of the land. " In the text these characters are sepa~ rated from the following ones, which are "gists" and do not form a sentence.
163. Ideogram: Tan [M6037], "dawn. " Here the name of the duke of Chou. Ideo- gram: Yueh [M7694], "said". "Tan said. "
164. Ideogram: P'ei [M5019], "worthy"; Ideogram: huang [M2283], "sovereign. " These characters do not occur together in the Chinese text of Couvreur.
Pound may want them construed as "mate of heaven. " Legge gives: "Tan said, 'Now that this great city has been built, from henceforth he [the king] may be the mate of great heaven. ' "
165. XIII, 9: Couvreur, Chap. XlII, sec. 9 of Book IV.
166. k'i p'eng: Ideogram: ch'i [M525], "his"; Ideogram: p'eng [M5054], "compan- ion"; 1<: huo [M2395], "fire"; cho (~"a) [MI256], "burn. " The duke of Chou is giv- ing advice to his young son and says he should have friends and companions but not have favorites or be partial or indulgent: "If you do so, the consequences hereafter will be like a fire, which . . . blazes up, and by and by cannot be extinguished. "
167. Ideogram: Ching [M1l38], "rever- ence. " The duke tells his son if he will "Go and be reverent," one of his rewards will be "to know the sincere. "
168. Tch'eng T'ang: Ch'eng T'ang [53:40], with the gold engraved bathtub, who was the founder of the Shang dynasty.
169. X: ko [M3358], "spear. " This char- acter does not appear alone in the Couvreur text but as a component in the next charac~
ter, pj(: ch'eng [M379], "to perfect. " r~: t'ang [M6101], "hot water. " The founder of the Shang dynasty. Thus Pound put together some elements that say: "With his spear, Tch'eng T'ang overthrew Hia. "
170. Hia: The Hsia dynasty, 2205-1766.
171. Praestantissimos . . . : L, "most out~ standing men to rule. " The Latin and Chi~ nese tags in this and the next several lines are from a speech by the duke of Chou, who, in an address to the remaining officers of the house of Shang, enumerates those character~ istics of the deposed Shang dynasty upon which the new Chou dynasty (founded by Wu Wang) has been established: (I) an origi- nal charge from heaven, (2) rule only by the best-qualified men, (3) the emperor's desire to make virtue illustrious throughout the empire, (4) attention to the sacrifices and to the favor of god, and (5) a sincere attempt by the emperor always to manifest a good~ ness corresponding to that of heaven. The ultimate object is the welfare (tranquillity) of the people. Pound incorporates all these characteristics into the sensibility (ling2 ) , which he subsequently defines as "the feel
of the people" [86/560].
172. Ideogram: Tien [M6350], "to rule. "
173. Ti I: Penultimate emperor of the Shang dynasty, 1191-1154.
174. nullus . . . -sociavit: L, "Everyone made it [virtue] illustrious. Everyone allied him- self [with the will of heaven]. "
175. ut benefaceret: L, "so that he might benefit. "
176. k'i tche: French for ch'i [M525], "his"; che [M277], "benefit. "
177. Tcheou: Usually Pound gives Cou- vreur's "Cheou" for this last Shang emperor, Chou Hsin. Do not be confused. The 3d dynasty, the one that followed the Shang, is known as the Chou dynasty. Its first king was Wu Wang, who was honored and served by the duke of Chou. These people are not to be confused with this Chou, who is the last, weak emperor of Shang, Chou Hsin.
French "cheu," chih [M939], "stop". ,deogram: T'si, Ch'i
[M560], "adjust. "
149. n. i tcheu t'si: "And then stop and adjust [your ranks]. "
150. Cheou's host . . . jo lin: These lines
148. Ideogram:
155. Liu dogs
Part V is entitled "Le Chien de Liu" [Legge, "The Hounds of Liu"]. In it, the grand counselor Cheu advises King Wu not to ac~ cept the hounds as a gift from tribes under his rule.
: Couvreur
Book IV,
158. Ideogram:
min [M4508], "mankind" or "the people. "
159. Ideogram: "oversee. ) J
Kien,
chien
Transcription
error for
160. 10. 12: Chap. X, sec. 12, of Part IV, Couvreur.
161. . . . 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 . . .
