Five, twenty two: This chapter of The Life o f
Apollonius
tells the story of a young man who spent his fortune on building a huge house with gardens and colonades but spent nothing on education.
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
keeping the Ganges on his right hand .
.
.
went down towards the sea a journey of ten days from the sacred ridge.
" On the way they saw many animals.
"And in the usual discussion of what they saw they reached the sea.
.
.
.
And they say that the sea called Erythra 'or red' is of deep blue colour, but
,
the gold
which the
. . . : H, "many shapes. " Said
90. napa . . . TLJ. I,wow: H, "among all
of wisdom. " After travel to many other places, including Babylon, again, Nineveh, Seleucia, Cyprus, and Paphos, A. "then sailed to Ionia, where he excited much admi- ration and no little esteem among all lovers of wisdom" [ibid. , 345].
9! . bell the boat: A story of pearl fishing at Balara ends thus: "they found the entire sea full of wild animals and it was crowded with seals; and the ships . . . carry bells . . . the sound of which frightens away these creatures" [ibid. , 343].
92. Grant, 0 Muses: The people of Symrna sent a deputation to. A. asking that he 'visit them. When A. asked why they wanted him, the legate said "to see him and be seen. " A. said: "I will come, but 0 ye Muses, grant that we may also like one another" [ibid. , 349-351].
93. "Oil . . . iY. AA~AWV: H, "we may also like one another. "
94. Ephesus . . . : A.
urged the people there to devote themselves to study: "for they were devoted to dancers and taken up with pantomimes, and the whole city was full of pipers, and full of effeminate rascals, and full of noise"
[ibid. , 351].
went to
Ephesus and
lovers
[82:17,18].
. . .
[ibid. , 361].
99. Em . . . 'ri01): H, "on board the ship [for
it was] already evening. " [The source has +7817, an adverb of time meariing "now" or "already. " With the subscript on the first eta, the word becomes a form of ei8w, but since with the rough breathing it means no- thing, we must assume an error of transcrip~ tion. ] At Ilium, A. said he "must spend a night on the mound of Achilles. " So "he went up alone to the b'di10W; but they went on board ship, for it was already evening"
[ibid. , 369].
100. "master . . . fire": A. had gathered in his travels a large group of followers. As autumn drew on and bad weather could be expected at sea, they wanted to be on his
or n
H, "do best
98. npixTTELlJ
what he knows" [the source has the singular 0' rather than the plural nominative di] . A. 's argument about keeping the peace included a tolerance for differences of opinion and the idea that each man should be urged to employ his best talent: "To me it seems best that each man should do what he under- stands best and what he best can do"
8VVCiTW:
103. AeoIis . . . : A. offered an
prayer to get Achilles to appear. When he did appear he granted A. the boon of an- swering 5 questions about the Trojan War. A. 's fifth question concerned Horner's rea- son for not mentioning Palamedes. Achilles said that Odysseus, to his shame, caused Palamedes' death and Homer didn't want to record that shame. Achilles said: "But you, 0 Apollonius, . . . must care for his tomb and restore the image of Palamedes . . . and it lies in Aeolis close to Methymna in Lesbos. " Then A. said to his companions: "With these words . . . Achilles vanished with a flash of summer lightning, for indeed the cocks were already beginning their chant" [ibid. , 383-385].
104. So that . . . margin: The source of these three lines is not known. They are not in Apollonius [cf. HK, "Under the Larches of Paradise," Gnomon] .
105. a touchstone: As A. approached Rome, he was warned to keep away because Nero would doubtless have him imprisoned or put to death, as he did with other philoso-
Indian
? ? 5S0
94/638-639
94/639
581
phers, so that young men were left without a teacher. A. said: "Well, of all the blessings which have been vouchsafed me by the gods . . . this present one . . . is the great? est . . . : for chance has thrown in my way a touchstone to test these young men . . . to prove . . . which of them are philosophers"
[ibid. , 335].
106. yiY. p ~ciaavo,: H, "for a touchstone" [ibid. , 434]. the remainder of the Greek line, if it occurs anywhere, must be part of a sentence that contains a transitive verb. KCt()CXpOV is an adjective in the objective case. It means, "pure, bright, clear. " The other words may mean, "and far from anything
mortal. "
107. "Hie sunt leones": L, "here are lions. " After Rome, A. traveled toward Gibraltar: "the extremity of Libya. . . furnishes a haunt to lions" [ibid. , 467].
. . .
[ibid. ]. And going west, right would be north.
109. Heliad's poplar: "At Gadeira/' A. and Damis visited a shrine shaded by two trees: "they were a cross between the pitch tree and the pine, and formed a third species; and blood dripped from their bark, just as gold does from the HeJiad poplar" [ibid. 473] .
110. their pillars: They came then to a tem- ple to Hercules: "the pillars in the temple were made of gold and silver smelted togeth- er . . . and their capitals were inscribed with letters which were neither Egyptian nor Indi- an" [ibid. ]. Pound identifies the letters as Sumerian.
1 1 I . OE ? . ? 1 T p a T T o v U L : H , " f o r t h e d o e r s o f holiness" [ibid. , 503].
112. yiiv . . . o,UtjJIY. An: H, "and the sea is all safe. " A. said: "let us not forget that the whole earth affords secure ground for the doers of holiness, and that the sea is safely traversed not only by people in ships but even by people attempting to swin" [ibid. ].
113. v. 17: Bk. V, chap. 17 of The Life of Apollonius [ibid. , 501].
114. Musonius: A philosopher of Babylon whom Nero threw into prison "for the crime of being a sage. " A. was told his story as a warning to himself as he approached Rome [ibid. , 431]. Some years later at Athens, A. "met Demetrius the philosopher for after the episode of Nero's bath and of his speech about it [91:92], Demetrius continued to live at Athens. " Demetrius told of how he, trying to console Musonius "took his spade and stoutly dug it into the earth. " The
phrase "raiSed our stele," not in the source, is a metaphor for "done honor to" [ibid. , 505].
115.
Five, twenty two: This chapter of The Life o f Apollonius tells the story of a young man who spent his fortune on building a huge house with gardens and colonades but spent nothing on education. A. asked him whether men should be valued for them- selves or for their wealth. Said the young man, "their wealth, for wealth has the most influence. " A. finally says: "My good boy, it seems to me that it is not you that own the house, but the house that owns you. " A. 's
sentiment rhymes exactly with the preach~ ments of Kung and Mencius. The first two characters are the core of the Kung adage, "Humane men use wealth to develop them~ selves; inhumane men use themselves to de~ velop wealth" [55:9]. Fa 1-5 ("use") and ts 'ai2 ("wealth") are the core of the message to "King Huey" [Cf. 62 above].
116. 29-: At Alexandria A. had conversa- tions with Vespasian, whose idea about wealth was the opposite of the young man of chapter twenty-two. V. used wealth to develop himself and others. In chap. 29, V. says to A. : "For I was never the slave of wealth that I know of even in my youth"
[ibid. , 529].
117. Chung: [M1504], "the mean" or "bal- ance. " Pound translated the Chinese classic Chung Yung [The doctrine of the mean] as The Unwobbling Pivot [CON, 95-188]. In discussing the duties of an ernperor, A. told
Vespasian that Nero ? "disgraced the empire by letting the strings go too slack and draw- ing them too tight. " V. thought this over and asked: "Then you would like a ruler to observe the mean? " A. 's answer was emphat- ic: "Not I but God himself, who has defined equity as consisting in the mean" [ibid. , 527].
118. VESPASIAN: [78:55]. Titus Flavius Vespasianus, A. D. 9~79, Roman emperor (69-79). He made his way in the world by sheer work and talent. After the murder of Nero in 68, Galba succeeded and ruled a few months until he was killed and Otho suc- ceeded. Meanwhile, Vitellius was proclaimed emperor by the armies in the north. He ruled until Otho was routed, but support for him melted away when Vespasian's troops from the east arrived. Vespasian asked A_ whether he should be emperor and A. said he should. He seized Egypt, received help from his friends in Italy, and arrived in Rome in A. D. 69. His troops located Vitellius in hiding and killed him [ibid. , 537-553].
119. form6 . . . : S, "I made new records. " Source unknown. The phrases summarize the reign of Vespasian, who set about restor- ing the state and its finances and gave an example of frugal living which contrasted greatly with the life of Nero.
120. BUT . . . Greece: Later on V. wrote A. many letters inviting him to attend his court at Rome. But A. refused because V. had taken away the freedom of the Greeks be- cause of their "factitiousness. " Thus, A. wrote to Vespasian: "You have taken such a dislike to the Hellenes, that you have en-
her sex" [Mead, A of T, 54]. She prob. exercised some restraint upon "the dark and jealous temper of her husband, but in her son's (Caracalla's) reign, she administered the principal affairs of the Empire. . . . She was the patroness of every art, and the friend of every man of genius. " She had both the background and the reasons: "for the beautiful daughter of Bassianus, priest of the sun at Emesa, was an ardent collector of books from every part of the world. . . . It was at her request that Philostratus wrote the Life of Apollonius" [ibid. 55]. N. B. : Tyana is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable [Surette, Poi, 2-2, 337-338].
124. TWV ? ? ? nailiwv: H, "of his own chil- dren. " In convincing V. he should be emper~ or, A. said: "If however he accepts the throne, he will have the devoted service of his own children" [P, Life, 549].
125. uno TO'~ 8eoZ" H, "by the gods. " This phrase occurs a few lines after the first one, when A. says: "For myself I care little about constitutions, seeing that my life is governed by the gods" [ibid. ]. The sense of A. 's page- long speech adds up to a lack of interest in abstract theory.
126. Ideograms: 1 1-5 jen2 [M30l6 and M3097], "one man. " A. said to V. : "For just as a single man pre~eminent in virtue transforms a democracy into the guise of a government of a single man who is the best; so the government of one man, if it provides all round for the welfare of the community, is popular government" [ibid. ]. The immedi- ate reason for the phrase came from a visit to S1. Elizabeths of a Confucian scholar, Carson Chang. Pound said to him that 4 Confucians working together could save China. Chang replied, "Four? One is enough" [Poi, 3-3, 326].
127. V. 35: Bk V. , chap. 35 contains the materials of the 3 foregoing glosses.
12S. E1Tt . ? ? eipnaeTO! L: H, "that he should say what he really thinks. A. 's idea of "a man of philosophic habit" [P, Life, I, 553].
129. ei . . . ~KEtC H, "if you were the ten-
: "But
promontory of
lOS. Calpis
Europe, known as Calpis, stretches along the inlet of the ocean on the right hand side"
the
slaved them . . . .
with my company? Farewell" [ibid. , 567].
121. ANTONINUS: A. Pius [78:56].
122. lex Rhodi: L, "law of Rhodes. "
123. Daughter . . . TY ana: Julia Domna, wife of Emperor Septimius Severus, was one of the most remarkable women of the classi- cal world: "She possessed, even in an ad- vanced age, the attractions of beauty . . . and strength of judgment, seldom bestowed on
What then
do you want
? ? 582
94/640
94/640-641
583
ant of my breast. " V. "listened gladly" to all A. had to say and then said: "if you were the tenant of my breast, you could not more accurately report my inmost thoughts"
[ibid. J.
130. & do not mow: A. 's final advice to V. was: "mow not down the loftier stalks which overtop the rest for this maxim of Aristotle's is unjust; but try rather to pluck disaffection out of men's hearts! ) [ibid. , 553? 555J.
and offered sacrifice to Amasis . . . and con- veyed him up country into Egypt with pip- ings, hymns and songs composed in his honor" [ibid. , 569-571 J.
136. enhVTc{J &80VT? C;: H, "in his honor. " 137. Amasis: "Historically, Amasis I, Egyp?
tian pharoah and founder of the XVIIIth Dynasty (c. 1700 B. C. ), is famous as the king who finally delivered Egypt from the Hyksos [cf. 44 aboveJ . . . who overran Egypt somtime around 2100 B. C. " [Neault, Poi, 4-1, 27-28J. In A History of Egypt, Budge records the destruction caused by the Hyksos and the great good done by Amasis. Says Neault: "like Apollonius, Amasis be? comes an embodiment of the moral precept, reaffirmed in Apollonius's identification of
the lion, that was characteristic of an era of immanent gods when men lived in harmony withnature" [ibid. J.
138. keeping the Nile . . . : Then A. set out for Ethiopia "to visit the naked sages. " Through parable A. warned his many fol? lowers so that many remained behind: "but the rest, ten in number, I believe, offered prayer to the gods . . . departed straight for the pyramids, mounted on camels and keep- ing the Nile on their right hand" [P, Life, I, 573J.
139. flil . . . rEK1): H, "one penny begets an- other penny. "
140.
,
the gold
which the
. . . : H, "many shapes. " Said
90. napa . . . TLJ. I,wow: H, "among all
of wisdom. " After travel to many other places, including Babylon, again, Nineveh, Seleucia, Cyprus, and Paphos, A. "then sailed to Ionia, where he excited much admi- ration and no little esteem among all lovers of wisdom" [ibid. , 345].
9! . bell the boat: A story of pearl fishing at Balara ends thus: "they found the entire sea full of wild animals and it was crowded with seals; and the ships . . . carry bells . . . the sound of which frightens away these creatures" [ibid. , 343].
92. Grant, 0 Muses: The people of Symrna sent a deputation to. A. asking that he 'visit them. When A. asked why they wanted him, the legate said "to see him and be seen. " A. said: "I will come, but 0 ye Muses, grant that we may also like one another" [ibid. , 349-351].
93. "Oil . . . iY. AA~AWV: H, "we may also like one another. "
94. Ephesus . . . : A.
urged the people there to devote themselves to study: "for they were devoted to dancers and taken up with pantomimes, and the whole city was full of pipers, and full of effeminate rascals, and full of noise"
[ibid. , 351].
went to
Ephesus and
lovers
[82:17,18].
. . .
[ibid. , 361].
99. Em . . . 'ri01): H, "on board the ship [for
it was] already evening. " [The source has +7817, an adverb of time meariing "now" or "already. " With the subscript on the first eta, the word becomes a form of ei8w, but since with the rough breathing it means no- thing, we must assume an error of transcrip~ tion. ] At Ilium, A. said he "must spend a night on the mound of Achilles. " So "he went up alone to the b'di10W; but they went on board ship, for it was already evening"
[ibid. , 369].
100. "master . . . fire": A. had gathered in his travels a large group of followers. As autumn drew on and bad weather could be expected at sea, they wanted to be on his
or n
H, "do best
98. npixTTELlJ
what he knows" [the source has the singular 0' rather than the plural nominative di] . A. 's argument about keeping the peace included a tolerance for differences of opinion and the idea that each man should be urged to employ his best talent: "To me it seems best that each man should do what he under- stands best and what he best can do"
8VVCiTW:
103. AeoIis . . . : A. offered an
prayer to get Achilles to appear. When he did appear he granted A. the boon of an- swering 5 questions about the Trojan War. A. 's fifth question concerned Horner's rea- son for not mentioning Palamedes. Achilles said that Odysseus, to his shame, caused Palamedes' death and Homer didn't want to record that shame. Achilles said: "But you, 0 Apollonius, . . . must care for his tomb and restore the image of Palamedes . . . and it lies in Aeolis close to Methymna in Lesbos. " Then A. said to his companions: "With these words . . . Achilles vanished with a flash of summer lightning, for indeed the cocks were already beginning their chant" [ibid. , 383-385].
104. So that . . . margin: The source of these three lines is not known. They are not in Apollonius [cf. HK, "Under the Larches of Paradise," Gnomon] .
105. a touchstone: As A. approached Rome, he was warned to keep away because Nero would doubtless have him imprisoned or put to death, as he did with other philoso-
Indian
? ? 5S0
94/638-639
94/639
581
phers, so that young men were left without a teacher. A. said: "Well, of all the blessings which have been vouchsafed me by the gods . . . this present one . . . is the great? est . . . : for chance has thrown in my way a touchstone to test these young men . . . to prove . . . which of them are philosophers"
[ibid. , 335].
106. yiY. p ~ciaavo,: H, "for a touchstone" [ibid. , 434]. the remainder of the Greek line, if it occurs anywhere, must be part of a sentence that contains a transitive verb. KCt()CXpOV is an adjective in the objective case. It means, "pure, bright, clear. " The other words may mean, "and far from anything
mortal. "
107. "Hie sunt leones": L, "here are lions. " After Rome, A. traveled toward Gibraltar: "the extremity of Libya. . . furnishes a haunt to lions" [ibid. , 467].
. . .
[ibid. ]. And going west, right would be north.
109. Heliad's poplar: "At Gadeira/' A. and Damis visited a shrine shaded by two trees: "they were a cross between the pitch tree and the pine, and formed a third species; and blood dripped from their bark, just as gold does from the HeJiad poplar" [ibid. 473] .
110. their pillars: They came then to a tem- ple to Hercules: "the pillars in the temple were made of gold and silver smelted togeth- er . . . and their capitals were inscribed with letters which were neither Egyptian nor Indi- an" [ibid. ]. Pound identifies the letters as Sumerian.
1 1 I . OE ? . ? 1 T p a T T o v U L : H , " f o r t h e d o e r s o f holiness" [ibid. , 503].
112. yiiv . . . o,UtjJIY. An: H, "and the sea is all safe. " A. said: "let us not forget that the whole earth affords secure ground for the doers of holiness, and that the sea is safely traversed not only by people in ships but even by people attempting to swin" [ibid. ].
113. v. 17: Bk. V, chap. 17 of The Life of Apollonius [ibid. , 501].
114. Musonius: A philosopher of Babylon whom Nero threw into prison "for the crime of being a sage. " A. was told his story as a warning to himself as he approached Rome [ibid. , 431]. Some years later at Athens, A. "met Demetrius the philosopher for after the episode of Nero's bath and of his speech about it [91:92], Demetrius continued to live at Athens. " Demetrius told of how he, trying to console Musonius "took his spade and stoutly dug it into the earth. " The
phrase "raiSed our stele," not in the source, is a metaphor for "done honor to" [ibid. , 505].
115.
Five, twenty two: This chapter of The Life o f Apollonius tells the story of a young man who spent his fortune on building a huge house with gardens and colonades but spent nothing on education. A. asked him whether men should be valued for them- selves or for their wealth. Said the young man, "their wealth, for wealth has the most influence. " A. finally says: "My good boy, it seems to me that it is not you that own the house, but the house that owns you. " A. 's
sentiment rhymes exactly with the preach~ ments of Kung and Mencius. The first two characters are the core of the Kung adage, "Humane men use wealth to develop them~ selves; inhumane men use themselves to de~ velop wealth" [55:9]. Fa 1-5 ("use") and ts 'ai2 ("wealth") are the core of the message to "King Huey" [Cf. 62 above].
116. 29-: At Alexandria A. had conversa- tions with Vespasian, whose idea about wealth was the opposite of the young man of chapter twenty-two. V. used wealth to develop himself and others. In chap. 29, V. says to A. : "For I was never the slave of wealth that I know of even in my youth"
[ibid. , 529].
117. Chung: [M1504], "the mean" or "bal- ance. " Pound translated the Chinese classic Chung Yung [The doctrine of the mean] as The Unwobbling Pivot [CON, 95-188]. In discussing the duties of an ernperor, A. told
Vespasian that Nero ? "disgraced the empire by letting the strings go too slack and draw- ing them too tight. " V. thought this over and asked: "Then you would like a ruler to observe the mean? " A. 's answer was emphat- ic: "Not I but God himself, who has defined equity as consisting in the mean" [ibid. , 527].
118. VESPASIAN: [78:55]. Titus Flavius Vespasianus, A. D. 9~79, Roman emperor (69-79). He made his way in the world by sheer work and talent. After the murder of Nero in 68, Galba succeeded and ruled a few months until he was killed and Otho suc- ceeded. Meanwhile, Vitellius was proclaimed emperor by the armies in the north. He ruled until Otho was routed, but support for him melted away when Vespasian's troops from the east arrived. Vespasian asked A_ whether he should be emperor and A. said he should. He seized Egypt, received help from his friends in Italy, and arrived in Rome in A. D. 69. His troops located Vitellius in hiding and killed him [ibid. , 537-553].
119. form6 . . . : S, "I made new records. " Source unknown. The phrases summarize the reign of Vespasian, who set about restor- ing the state and its finances and gave an example of frugal living which contrasted greatly with the life of Nero.
120. BUT . . . Greece: Later on V. wrote A. many letters inviting him to attend his court at Rome. But A. refused because V. had taken away the freedom of the Greeks be- cause of their "factitiousness. " Thus, A. wrote to Vespasian: "You have taken such a dislike to the Hellenes, that you have en-
her sex" [Mead, A of T, 54]. She prob. exercised some restraint upon "the dark and jealous temper of her husband, but in her son's (Caracalla's) reign, she administered the principal affairs of the Empire. . . . She was the patroness of every art, and the friend of every man of genius. " She had both the background and the reasons: "for the beautiful daughter of Bassianus, priest of the sun at Emesa, was an ardent collector of books from every part of the world. . . . It was at her request that Philostratus wrote the Life of Apollonius" [ibid. 55]. N. B. : Tyana is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable [Surette, Poi, 2-2, 337-338].
124. TWV ? ? ? nailiwv: H, "of his own chil- dren. " In convincing V. he should be emper~ or, A. said: "If however he accepts the throne, he will have the devoted service of his own children" [P, Life, 549].
125. uno TO'~ 8eoZ" H, "by the gods. " This phrase occurs a few lines after the first one, when A. says: "For myself I care little about constitutions, seeing that my life is governed by the gods" [ibid. ]. The sense of A. 's page- long speech adds up to a lack of interest in abstract theory.
126. Ideograms: 1 1-5 jen2 [M30l6 and M3097], "one man. " A. said to V. : "For just as a single man pre~eminent in virtue transforms a democracy into the guise of a government of a single man who is the best; so the government of one man, if it provides all round for the welfare of the community, is popular government" [ibid. ]. The immedi- ate reason for the phrase came from a visit to S1. Elizabeths of a Confucian scholar, Carson Chang. Pound said to him that 4 Confucians working together could save China. Chang replied, "Four? One is enough" [Poi, 3-3, 326].
127. V. 35: Bk V. , chap. 35 contains the materials of the 3 foregoing glosses.
12S. E1Tt . ? ? eipnaeTO! L: H, "that he should say what he really thinks. A. 's idea of "a man of philosophic habit" [P, Life, I, 553].
129. ei . . . ~KEtC H, "if you were the ten-
: "But
promontory of
lOS. Calpis
Europe, known as Calpis, stretches along the inlet of the ocean on the right hand side"
the
slaved them . . . .
with my company? Farewell" [ibid. , 567].
121. ANTONINUS: A. Pius [78:56].
122. lex Rhodi: L, "law of Rhodes. "
123. Daughter . . . TY ana: Julia Domna, wife of Emperor Septimius Severus, was one of the most remarkable women of the classi- cal world: "She possessed, even in an ad- vanced age, the attractions of beauty . . . and strength of judgment, seldom bestowed on
What then
do you want
? ? 582
94/640
94/640-641
583
ant of my breast. " V. "listened gladly" to all A. had to say and then said: "if you were the tenant of my breast, you could not more accurately report my inmost thoughts"
[ibid. J.
130. & do not mow: A. 's final advice to V. was: "mow not down the loftier stalks which overtop the rest for this maxim of Aristotle's is unjust; but try rather to pluck disaffection out of men's hearts! ) [ibid. , 553? 555J.
and offered sacrifice to Amasis . . . and con- veyed him up country into Egypt with pip- ings, hymns and songs composed in his honor" [ibid. , 569-571 J.
136. enhVTc{J &80VT? C;: H, "in his honor. " 137. Amasis: "Historically, Amasis I, Egyp?
tian pharoah and founder of the XVIIIth Dynasty (c. 1700 B. C. ), is famous as the king who finally delivered Egypt from the Hyksos [cf. 44 aboveJ . . . who overran Egypt somtime around 2100 B. C. " [Neault, Poi, 4-1, 27-28J. In A History of Egypt, Budge records the destruction caused by the Hyksos and the great good done by Amasis. Says Neault: "like Apollonius, Amasis be? comes an embodiment of the moral precept, reaffirmed in Apollonius's identification of
the lion, that was characteristic of an era of immanent gods when men lived in harmony withnature" [ibid. J.
138. keeping the Nile . . . : Then A. set out for Ethiopia "to visit the naked sages. " Through parable A. warned his many fol? lowers so that many remained behind: "but the rest, ten in number, I believe, offered prayer to the gods . . . departed straight for the pyramids, mounted on camels and keep- ing the Nile on their right hand" [P, Life, I, 573J.
139. flil . . . rEK1): H, "one penny begets an- other penny. "
140.
