Byzantium
12%: Pound believed one of the reasons the Byzantine Empire lasted for a thousand years, whereas the Manchu dy- nasty in China did not, was the interest fate [CFT, Pai, 2-1, 79; cf.
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
" A field near the Tiber used for sports, elec- tions, military exercises, public sacrifices, etc.
The Greeks variously sacrificed chariots and horses to Helios each year.
The Rho- dians flung them into the sea for the gods to use.
"The Spartans performed the sacrifice on the top of Mount Taygetus, the beautiful range behind which they say the great lumi- nary set every night" [Frazer, Golden Bough, 49].
. . .
293. Flamen Portualis: "Priest of Por- tunus," the god of harbors. Source has "Por- tunalis. "
294. "inter . . . sepulta": L, "words are now dead and buried. " [JE: "Festus is referring to his researches and the number of words in
97/683
books that have fallen out of use (1626).
Intermortua is a single word. "]
295. Ideogram: Po [M4977] , "old. "
296. Ideogram: Ma [M4310], "horse. "
297. Ideogram: Tsu [M6815], "god. " The three characters signify Relios. In ancient China the Ma-tsu presided over sacrifices to protect or benefit the emperor's horses. With the two characters at the end of the canto, we read: "Old horse god doesn't lie down"
[Analects XIII, ii].
nese for "ground ivy" [EH, Pai 8-1,53-54]. 300. arachidi: I, "peanuts. " In a note dated
627
IS Sept. 1942 Pound wrote: "Peanuts could bring self-sufficiency in food to Italy or, rather to the empire, for these 'monkey nuts' would grow better in Cyrenaica" [SP, 319].
301. acero: I, "maple tree. " During WWII Pound wanted the government to cultivate peanuts (for oil) and maple trees (for sugar) to relieve food shortages [ibid] . They didn't, but he did not "lie down" on the job: he imported maple trees himself.
302. Ideogram: Wu [M7180], "not. "
303. Ideogram: Chuan [MI641], "fatigue. " Pound translates these last two characters in the Analects as: "not lie down" [CON, 248].
289. EV
ocxi/lwv:
298. Athelstan:
299. kadzu: Transliteration from the Japa-
H, "in shady
But now some power brings down a rave- nous lion" [II XI, 479-480; trans. R. Fitz- g e r a l d ] . P o u n d u s e s t h e ef1~C<AE o f L e t a rather than Homer's ii'YC<'YE, a 2d a. of iY. 'Yw
292. rubbing
Quirinus [113:32] which Festus records [1125]. The question of parsley for Latin persillum or persilium is controversial [Peck,
Pai, 2-2, 212].
CANTO XCVIII Sources
Homer, Od. X, III; F. W. Baller, trans. , The Sacred Edict, Shang- hai, 1924, rpt. NPF, Orono, Me. , 1979 [Edict]; Plotinus, The Enneads, trans. Stephen Mackenna, London, 1926 [Enneads]; Ovid, Meta. IV; Cavalcanti, Donna mi prega; Ciullo d' Alcamo, "Rosa fresca aulentissirna," SR, 101; Frederick II, The Book of the Falcon, trans. C. A. Wood and F. Marjorie Fyfe, Stanford, 1943; P. Lacharme, Confucii Chi-King, Stuttgartiae et Tubingae, 1830 [Lacharme]; Dante, Par. XIII; Pliny, History XXXV, 36, 85-86 (Loeb' IX, 323-325); Herman Diels, Die fragmente der Vorsokratiker; a companion to Diels trans. by Kathleen Freeman, Oxford, B. Blackwell, 1946 [Diels, frag no. ].
Background
EP, GK, 260; SP, 73-97; JN, Blossoms From the East, Orono, Me. , 1983.
Exegeses
CFT, Pai, 2-1, 79; CFT, Pai, 2-3, 451-453; Michaels, Pai, 1-1,50;
MB, Trace, 379; DG, Pai, 4-1, 121-168; DG, Pai, 3-2,169-190; JW,Later,133-147.
parsley:
A custom at
groves.
[91: 52].
? ? ? 628
98/684-685
98/685-686
629
1. Ra-Set: [91: 19].
2. Ocellus: [94:172].
Trinity has two persons flowing from the nonphysical Father as Knower, but the third, awareness of the Knower, exists with- in the human body as well as without. The concept may be difficult to equate with that of Plotinus below. The metaphor of sunlight shining through a prism might help: in its flow, it is both outside and inside the prism.
20. Plotinus: [15:11]. In the "Preller? Ritter Extracts" appended to the Enneads, we read: "Plotinus does not allow that the au- thentic, the separable soul, is in the body: the body is in the soul" [CFT, Pai, 2-3, 451-553].
21. Gemisto: Georgias G. , a Byzantine Neo- platonist sometimes called Plethon [8:31].
22. hilaritas: L, H, iA<Y. p6rT/~. A neologism Pound created to stand for one of the pri- mary ways divinity manifests in the world. Combine gaiety, mirth, rejoicing, gladness, laughter, and other such words and collec- tively they yield the basic religious concept hi/aritas [Michaels, Pai, 1-1, 50; 83: 9].
23. et . . . simiglianza: 1+ L. Prob. intended to mean "and half-gliding [cadenza like] in misty clouds," or "their likeness in clouds. "
24. K. ed] o/lo{watv: H, "down in the man- ner. " Deorum: L, "of the Gods. "
25. Herakleitos: Fl. in Ephesus (500 B. C. ) in the time of Confucius. H. equated the Logos with elemental fire and said the uni- verse was a tension of opposites Vibrating as the lyre under the bow. Said H. : "God is day-night, winter-summer, war-peace, satiety-famine" [Diels, frag. 67]. Hence in politics "the people must fight for the law as for a wall" [frag. 44] .
26. Leueothoe: Daughter of Orchamus of Babylon, who buried her alive because of her love for Apollo. Her divine lover changed her into an incense bush [Ovid, Meta. IV, 238- 297]. Not to be confused with Leucothea [cf. 6 above].
27. Commissioner: [ef. 49 below].
3. Agada
. . .
Faasa: Hsin 1
[77:24]. [97: 156].
4. Ideogram:
5. TI> . . . <jJriPPJY. K<Y. : H, "drugs from Egypt"
[39:7]. Circe gave the men of Odysseus "evil drugs from Egypt" rOd X, 213].
6. Leueothea . . . : [95:32].
7. Xpovac:: H, "Time. "
8. 1rVEVp<Y. BEWV: H, "spirit of the gods. "
9. Kal epwc; ao? [cxc:. : H, "and wisdom of
love. "
10. (hieron): [97/678-681]. H, "temple. "
11. ne quaesaris: L, "he asked not" [91 :38] [see 100:81 for "sell a slave"].
12. ius Italicum: L, "Italian law. "
13. more Sabello: L, "according to Sabel- Han custom," The Sabelli were a primitive tribe of Italy.
14. Piazza: I, "Square. " The central public place of a town. Pound saw the custom of women parading their grief in black shawls around the square (an atavistic remnant from ancient vegetation rites) being de- stroyed by new Italian law under fascism.
15. Demeter: The Greek goddess, mother of Persephone, from whose black gown the mourning shawls were supposedly cut, in the most ancient belief [JW].
tion to be [36/178].
reason's
peer and
mate"
16. "Ut . . . pulehram": L, "So that make beauty. "
you
36. Senator Cutting: Bronson C. , 1888- 1935, senator from New Mexico. In a letter Pound asked him, "How many literate sena- tors are there? " Cutting "sent nine names, ending 'and I suppose Dwight L, Morrow' " [GK, 260]. Add Morrow and Cutting him-
self and you get "eleven. "
37. /lriw: H, a root that combines with other words to add the idea of "longing" or "desire. "
38. Mohammed . . . : The Koran recognizes "desire" as a part of religion.
39. Sister . . . : Circe [I: 1] was the sister of Aeetes and the daughter of Apollo.
17. 81m iJ<Y. A<'<a01/~: H, "by the sands of the sea" [96:98].
18.
Byzantium 12%: Pound believed one of the reasons the Byzantine Empire lasted for a thousand years, whereas the Manchu dy- nasty in China did not, was the interest fate [CFT, Pai, 2-1, 79; cf. 160 below].
19. Anselm: [105:16]. Anselm's idea of the
. . .
Glossary
28. Est deus in nobis: L, "And god [is] in us. "
29. that sea-gull: Leucothea.
30. Xpi(8? f. 1vov: H, "veil" or "scarf. " Pound's "bikini" [95:75].
31. She . . . line: Leucothea, the daughter of Cadmus [4:4], was turned into a sea-bird [Ovid, Meta. IV, 670 ff].
32. lot of'em . . . : W. B. Yeats, Eliot, and W. Lewis had no firm ground in understand- ing money, economics, or political ideology, as Pound remembered the 20s and 30s.
33. Ideogram: Pu [M5379], "none. " Pic- tUre of a bird in flight [85: 179].
34. Orage: Alfred Richard 0. , 1873-1934, as editor of the New Age a promoter of Social Credit ideas [80:322].
35. Per ragione vale: I, "valid or worthy through reason. " From Cavalcanti's Donna mi prega. Pound renders as, "deeming inten-
43. Uncle William: W. B. Yeats: "When you are old and gray and full of sleep" is from Ronsard [MB, Trace, 379].
44. Ronsard: Pierre de R. , 1525-1585, lead- ing poet of the French PIMade.
45. WEv6o,," . . . 7rE7rVU/lEVOC:: H, "he will not tell a lie for [he is], wise indeed" rOd. III, 20]. Athene is talking to Telemachus about old Nestor.
46. ich bin am Zuge: G, "I am on the march" or "I'll get there," meaning get to the Sheng U or The Sacred Edict, which is the Source of most of the rest of this canto and of Canto 99 [cf. 60 below].
47. iY. PX~: H, "in the beginning. "
48. Shensi: A province of old China.
49. Ouang: For "Wang," :E, the first char? acter of the salt commissioner's name; the two following characters "Iu" and "p'uh," the rest of his name, are given in the text.
SO. volgar' eloquio: J, "popular speech," an Italian rendering of Dante's Latin title De Vulgari Eloquentia.
51. The King: A pun on wang, which is the word for "king. " Wang's job was to bring the wisdom of The Sacred Edict to the common man.
52. Sagetrieb: [85:194].
53. Hsuan: Wi [M2870], "warmth. "
54. Ideogram: Shih [M5788], "to mani. fest" or "to proclaim. "
55. Ideogram: Pen [M5025], "root" or "source. "
56. Ideogram: Yeh [M7321], "teachings" or "instruction. " The heart of Neoconfu- cianism is the ethics of human relations in the family, in civil life, and in military life. From sunrise to sunset, the warmth of hu- man relations should be the guide for all behavior. This central message of The Sacred
Edict must be made manifest to the world. Combined with the art and skill to create things, it is the root and source of all good
40. "noi
class citizens [bourgeois] . "
borghesi:
I, "we other middle?
41. Consigliere: I, "councillor. "
42. in piazza": I, "in the square. " In con- trast with Mussolini, whose public speaking overwhelmed the masses.
? ? 630
98/687
teaching [Edict, passim]. In order that the message be proclaimed continuously, the emperor required that the people of every town be called together once a month to hear it read. For over a century this was presumably done. [From here on, citations to the source will be given by chapter num? ber of the Edict followed by the page num?
ber in the Baller edition. Cf. 124 below. ]
57. TEXVT1: H, "art" or "skill. "
58. Ari: Aristotle said that philosophy was the business of old men who could base their conclusions on a sufficient phalanx of parti~ culars.
the practices of later followers. So with Taoism, which also preached asceticism in the beginning. Later, Taoist priests pre? tended to do miracles and to be able to produce "the Elixir of Gold, a mystical com- pound by means of which the Taoist al- chemists professed themselves able to pro? duce gold, and confer the gift of immortal- ity" [VII, 75]. In a section called "Taoist Delusions," we read a list of such miracles, which, the Edict says, "is a pack of lies. " People ought to show more sense because no
one ever sees them do the things they pro? mise, or if they do, "it. is all a parcel of magic, a device for hoodwinking you" [VII, 84]. The Sacred Edict appeals to reason: "Who has seen them go to the Western Para- dise? or fly up in broad daylight? manifestly it is all humbug! " [VII, 76].
62. S human relations: "From time imme- morial to the present what has been ortho- dox? Nothing more than (the observance of) these Five Relationships-emperor and min- ister, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, friend and compan- ion" [VII, 72].
63. mules . . . farmsteads: A long passage in the source concerns grandfathers who toiled, hoarded, and saved a fortune only to have children and grandchildren who, "having no sense, squander it at pleasure" and in keep- ing up appearances. "If they see this one wears silk, they must wear satin; if that one rides horseback, they must ride in a chair. " After they squander the money, what then? "The next thing is to sell off the farmsteads"
[V, 56-67]. How does this happen? In Chap. VI, entitled "The Value of Educa- tion," we have the answer: "If people are uneducated, though they dress well and live well, their minds are stupid and sordid; like mules or horses: (it is) all in vain they are saddled with good saddles, and trappings, they are still animals" [VI, 62? 63].
64. Ideogram: Fu [MI982], "living priests" or "Bhud-foes" [DG, Pai, 3-2,185].
65. Bhud-foes: Chap. VII, entitled "Ortho- doxy," has a number of subsections with
such titles as, "Evils of Promiscuous Meet- ings," "Follies of Idolatrous Ritual," "Bud- dhist Incantations," "Taoist Delusions," etc. , all concluding that these heretical sects do not help with the emperor's work.
66. external . . . gold pill: "As to Taoism it speaks of plans for asceticism (such as) grasping mercury in lead; the dragon moan- ing; the tiger screaming; the internal and the external pill" [VII, 75].
. . .
77. Stock: Noel S. , Australian poet and crit? ic who, as a young man, wrote Pound at SI. Elizabeths and for a time championed his ideas and causes and visited him in Italy after Pound's return there. Author of numer- ous articles about Pound. as well as The Life o f Ezra Pound, Reading The Cantos, etc.
78. god . . . gilded? : "As to His Celestial Excellency [the Buddha] . . . he is taking it easy in paradise; do you suppose he needs you to model him a gilded image, and build him a house to live in? " [VII, 79].
79. hua4 . ? ? : Hua4 [M2215], "words";
5 9 . Kcx. 8o'Aov: whole. "
H, " g e n e r a l l y "
o r
" o n
t h e
t'ou 2 [M6489], "head"; "something to talk abou t. "
[M2215-15]:
60. Y ang
Son of K'ang Hsi [59:21] and emperor of China, 1723-1735. There were 3 versions of the Edict: (I) The original document, made up of 16 7-character platitudes, which was
set forth by Emperor K'ang Hsi; (2) the Wen-Ii, or literary text, done by Yung Cheng, which was a lengthy commentary explaining with examples the intentions of the original edict; and (3) a still later and more elaborate commentary done in the lan- guage of the people by Wang Iu? p'uh. The Wen-Ii asks a question of all Buddhists of Yung Cheng's time who were out begging money and gifts to build palaces for the Buddha to live in: Since Buddha himself (Gautama Siddhartha) abandoned the splen- did palace of his father, the king, "and hid
himself in the heights of a snowy mountain to practice asceticism. " would he be likely to "prize the religious houses and monas- teries you build? " [VII, 79].
61. Taoist priests . . . : The Neoconfucians were against the Buddhist priests because they seemed to encourage idleness and col- lected money by sending their followers out with begging bowls. But that was not an idea of Buddha himself. The main idea of Buddha was different: "What is Buddha? Buddha is the heart. . . . if your heart is good this is Buddha" [VII 74]. The Sacred Edict distin- guishes the original ideas of founders from
Tching:
Y ung
Cheng
80. whiteness of bones: The bones of those "Bhud-foes" or other devotees who have thrown themselves off a precipice [DG, Pai, 4-1, 135J. "Again) there is a set of extreme- ly foolish people. It may be on account of their parents' illness they vow to devote their body. As soon as the parents are well, they go up to the mountain to publicly burn incense . . . On arriving at the summit, they throw themselves down the precipice, and are either killed, or maimed" [VII, 80].
8! .
. . .
293. Flamen Portualis: "Priest of Por- tunus," the god of harbors. Source has "Por- tunalis. "
294. "inter . . . sepulta": L, "words are now dead and buried. " [JE: "Festus is referring to his researches and the number of words in
97/683
books that have fallen out of use (1626).
Intermortua is a single word. "]
295. Ideogram: Po [M4977] , "old. "
296. Ideogram: Ma [M4310], "horse. "
297. Ideogram: Tsu [M6815], "god. " The three characters signify Relios. In ancient China the Ma-tsu presided over sacrifices to protect or benefit the emperor's horses. With the two characters at the end of the canto, we read: "Old horse god doesn't lie down"
[Analects XIII, ii].
nese for "ground ivy" [EH, Pai 8-1,53-54]. 300. arachidi: I, "peanuts. " In a note dated
627
IS Sept. 1942 Pound wrote: "Peanuts could bring self-sufficiency in food to Italy or, rather to the empire, for these 'monkey nuts' would grow better in Cyrenaica" [SP, 319].
301. acero: I, "maple tree. " During WWII Pound wanted the government to cultivate peanuts (for oil) and maple trees (for sugar) to relieve food shortages [ibid] . They didn't, but he did not "lie down" on the job: he imported maple trees himself.
302. Ideogram: Wu [M7180], "not. "
303. Ideogram: Chuan [MI641], "fatigue. " Pound translates these last two characters in the Analects as: "not lie down" [CON, 248].
289. EV
ocxi/lwv:
298. Athelstan:
299. kadzu: Transliteration from the Japa-
H, "in shady
But now some power brings down a rave- nous lion" [II XI, 479-480; trans. R. Fitz- g e r a l d ] . P o u n d u s e s t h e ef1~C<AE o f L e t a rather than Homer's ii'YC<'YE, a 2d a. of iY. 'Yw
292. rubbing
Quirinus [113:32] which Festus records [1125]. The question of parsley for Latin persillum or persilium is controversial [Peck,
Pai, 2-2, 212].
CANTO XCVIII Sources
Homer, Od. X, III; F. W. Baller, trans. , The Sacred Edict, Shang- hai, 1924, rpt. NPF, Orono, Me. , 1979 [Edict]; Plotinus, The Enneads, trans. Stephen Mackenna, London, 1926 [Enneads]; Ovid, Meta. IV; Cavalcanti, Donna mi prega; Ciullo d' Alcamo, "Rosa fresca aulentissirna," SR, 101; Frederick II, The Book of the Falcon, trans. C. A. Wood and F. Marjorie Fyfe, Stanford, 1943; P. Lacharme, Confucii Chi-King, Stuttgartiae et Tubingae, 1830 [Lacharme]; Dante, Par. XIII; Pliny, History XXXV, 36, 85-86 (Loeb' IX, 323-325); Herman Diels, Die fragmente der Vorsokratiker; a companion to Diels trans. by Kathleen Freeman, Oxford, B. Blackwell, 1946 [Diels, frag no. ].
Background
EP, GK, 260; SP, 73-97; JN, Blossoms From the East, Orono, Me. , 1983.
Exegeses
CFT, Pai, 2-1, 79; CFT, Pai, 2-3, 451-453; Michaels, Pai, 1-1,50;
MB, Trace, 379; DG, Pai, 4-1, 121-168; DG, Pai, 3-2,169-190; JW,Later,133-147.
parsley:
A custom at
groves.
[91: 52].
? ? ? 628
98/684-685
98/685-686
629
1. Ra-Set: [91: 19].
2. Ocellus: [94:172].
Trinity has two persons flowing from the nonphysical Father as Knower, but the third, awareness of the Knower, exists with- in the human body as well as without. The concept may be difficult to equate with that of Plotinus below. The metaphor of sunlight shining through a prism might help: in its flow, it is both outside and inside the prism.
20. Plotinus: [15:11]. In the "Preller? Ritter Extracts" appended to the Enneads, we read: "Plotinus does not allow that the au- thentic, the separable soul, is in the body: the body is in the soul" [CFT, Pai, 2-3, 451-553].
21. Gemisto: Georgias G. , a Byzantine Neo- platonist sometimes called Plethon [8:31].
22. hilaritas: L, H, iA<Y. p6rT/~. A neologism Pound created to stand for one of the pri- mary ways divinity manifests in the world. Combine gaiety, mirth, rejoicing, gladness, laughter, and other such words and collec- tively they yield the basic religious concept hi/aritas [Michaels, Pai, 1-1, 50; 83: 9].
23. et . . . simiglianza: 1+ L. Prob. intended to mean "and half-gliding [cadenza like] in misty clouds," or "their likeness in clouds. "
24. K. ed] o/lo{watv: H, "down in the man- ner. " Deorum: L, "of the Gods. "
25. Herakleitos: Fl. in Ephesus (500 B. C. ) in the time of Confucius. H. equated the Logos with elemental fire and said the uni- verse was a tension of opposites Vibrating as the lyre under the bow. Said H. : "God is day-night, winter-summer, war-peace, satiety-famine" [Diels, frag. 67]. Hence in politics "the people must fight for the law as for a wall" [frag. 44] .
26. Leueothoe: Daughter of Orchamus of Babylon, who buried her alive because of her love for Apollo. Her divine lover changed her into an incense bush [Ovid, Meta. IV, 238- 297]. Not to be confused with Leucothea [cf. 6 above].
27. Commissioner: [ef. 49 below].
3. Agada
. . .
Faasa: Hsin 1
[77:24]. [97: 156].
4. Ideogram:
5. TI> . . . <jJriPPJY. K<Y. : H, "drugs from Egypt"
[39:7]. Circe gave the men of Odysseus "evil drugs from Egypt" rOd X, 213].
6. Leueothea . . . : [95:32].
7. Xpovac:: H, "Time. "
8. 1rVEVp<Y. BEWV: H, "spirit of the gods. "
9. Kal epwc; ao? [cxc:. : H, "and wisdom of
love. "
10. (hieron): [97/678-681]. H, "temple. "
11. ne quaesaris: L, "he asked not" [91 :38] [see 100:81 for "sell a slave"].
12. ius Italicum: L, "Italian law. "
13. more Sabello: L, "according to Sabel- Han custom," The Sabelli were a primitive tribe of Italy.
14. Piazza: I, "Square. " The central public place of a town. Pound saw the custom of women parading their grief in black shawls around the square (an atavistic remnant from ancient vegetation rites) being de- stroyed by new Italian law under fascism.
15. Demeter: The Greek goddess, mother of Persephone, from whose black gown the mourning shawls were supposedly cut, in the most ancient belief [JW].
tion to be [36/178].
reason's
peer and
mate"
16. "Ut . . . pulehram": L, "So that make beauty. "
you
36. Senator Cutting: Bronson C. , 1888- 1935, senator from New Mexico. In a letter Pound asked him, "How many literate sena- tors are there? " Cutting "sent nine names, ending 'and I suppose Dwight L, Morrow' " [GK, 260]. Add Morrow and Cutting him-
self and you get "eleven. "
37. /lriw: H, a root that combines with other words to add the idea of "longing" or "desire. "
38. Mohammed . . . : The Koran recognizes "desire" as a part of religion.
39. Sister . . . : Circe [I: 1] was the sister of Aeetes and the daughter of Apollo.
17. 81m iJ<Y. A<'<a01/~: H, "by the sands of the sea" [96:98].
18.
Byzantium 12%: Pound believed one of the reasons the Byzantine Empire lasted for a thousand years, whereas the Manchu dy- nasty in China did not, was the interest fate [CFT, Pai, 2-1, 79; cf. 160 below].
19. Anselm: [105:16]. Anselm's idea of the
. . .
Glossary
28. Est deus in nobis: L, "And god [is] in us. "
29. that sea-gull: Leucothea.
30. Xpi(8? f. 1vov: H, "veil" or "scarf. " Pound's "bikini" [95:75].
31. She . . . line: Leucothea, the daughter of Cadmus [4:4], was turned into a sea-bird [Ovid, Meta. IV, 670 ff].
32. lot of'em . . . : W. B. Yeats, Eliot, and W. Lewis had no firm ground in understand- ing money, economics, or political ideology, as Pound remembered the 20s and 30s.
33. Ideogram: Pu [M5379], "none. " Pic- tUre of a bird in flight [85: 179].
34. Orage: Alfred Richard 0. , 1873-1934, as editor of the New Age a promoter of Social Credit ideas [80:322].
35. Per ragione vale: I, "valid or worthy through reason. " From Cavalcanti's Donna mi prega. Pound renders as, "deeming inten-
43. Uncle William: W. B. Yeats: "When you are old and gray and full of sleep" is from Ronsard [MB, Trace, 379].
44. Ronsard: Pierre de R. , 1525-1585, lead- ing poet of the French PIMade.
45. WEv6o,," . . . 7rE7rVU/lEVOC:: H, "he will not tell a lie for [he is], wise indeed" rOd. III, 20]. Athene is talking to Telemachus about old Nestor.
46. ich bin am Zuge: G, "I am on the march" or "I'll get there," meaning get to the Sheng U or The Sacred Edict, which is the Source of most of the rest of this canto and of Canto 99 [cf. 60 below].
47. iY. PX~: H, "in the beginning. "
48. Shensi: A province of old China.
49. Ouang: For "Wang," :E, the first char? acter of the salt commissioner's name; the two following characters "Iu" and "p'uh," the rest of his name, are given in the text.
SO. volgar' eloquio: J, "popular speech," an Italian rendering of Dante's Latin title De Vulgari Eloquentia.
51. The King: A pun on wang, which is the word for "king. " Wang's job was to bring the wisdom of The Sacred Edict to the common man.
52. Sagetrieb: [85:194].
53. Hsuan: Wi [M2870], "warmth. "
54. Ideogram: Shih [M5788], "to mani. fest" or "to proclaim. "
55. Ideogram: Pen [M5025], "root" or "source. "
56. Ideogram: Yeh [M7321], "teachings" or "instruction. " The heart of Neoconfu- cianism is the ethics of human relations in the family, in civil life, and in military life. From sunrise to sunset, the warmth of hu- man relations should be the guide for all behavior. This central message of The Sacred
Edict must be made manifest to the world. Combined with the art and skill to create things, it is the root and source of all good
40. "noi
class citizens [bourgeois] . "
borghesi:
I, "we other middle?
41. Consigliere: I, "councillor. "
42. in piazza": I, "in the square. " In con- trast with Mussolini, whose public speaking overwhelmed the masses.
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98/687
teaching [Edict, passim]. In order that the message be proclaimed continuously, the emperor required that the people of every town be called together once a month to hear it read. For over a century this was presumably done. [From here on, citations to the source will be given by chapter num? ber of the Edict followed by the page num?
ber in the Baller edition. Cf. 124 below. ]
57. TEXVT1: H, "art" or "skill. "
58. Ari: Aristotle said that philosophy was the business of old men who could base their conclusions on a sufficient phalanx of parti~ culars.
the practices of later followers. So with Taoism, which also preached asceticism in the beginning. Later, Taoist priests pre? tended to do miracles and to be able to produce "the Elixir of Gold, a mystical com- pound by means of which the Taoist al- chemists professed themselves able to pro? duce gold, and confer the gift of immortal- ity" [VII, 75]. In a section called "Taoist Delusions," we read a list of such miracles, which, the Edict says, "is a pack of lies. " People ought to show more sense because no
one ever sees them do the things they pro? mise, or if they do, "it. is all a parcel of magic, a device for hoodwinking you" [VII, 84]. The Sacred Edict appeals to reason: "Who has seen them go to the Western Para- dise? or fly up in broad daylight? manifestly it is all humbug! " [VII, 76].
62. S human relations: "From time imme- morial to the present what has been ortho- dox? Nothing more than (the observance of) these Five Relationships-emperor and min- ister, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, friend and compan- ion" [VII, 72].
63. mules . . . farmsteads: A long passage in the source concerns grandfathers who toiled, hoarded, and saved a fortune only to have children and grandchildren who, "having no sense, squander it at pleasure" and in keep- ing up appearances. "If they see this one wears silk, they must wear satin; if that one rides horseback, they must ride in a chair. " After they squander the money, what then? "The next thing is to sell off the farmsteads"
[V, 56-67]. How does this happen? In Chap. VI, entitled "The Value of Educa- tion," we have the answer: "If people are uneducated, though they dress well and live well, their minds are stupid and sordid; like mules or horses: (it is) all in vain they are saddled with good saddles, and trappings, they are still animals" [VI, 62? 63].
64. Ideogram: Fu [MI982], "living priests" or "Bhud-foes" [DG, Pai, 3-2,185].
65. Bhud-foes: Chap. VII, entitled "Ortho- doxy," has a number of subsections with
such titles as, "Evils of Promiscuous Meet- ings," "Follies of Idolatrous Ritual," "Bud- dhist Incantations," "Taoist Delusions," etc. , all concluding that these heretical sects do not help with the emperor's work.
66. external . . . gold pill: "As to Taoism it speaks of plans for asceticism (such as) grasping mercury in lead; the dragon moan- ing; the tiger screaming; the internal and the external pill" [VII, 75].
. . .
77. Stock: Noel S. , Australian poet and crit? ic who, as a young man, wrote Pound at SI. Elizabeths and for a time championed his ideas and causes and visited him in Italy after Pound's return there. Author of numer- ous articles about Pound. as well as The Life o f Ezra Pound, Reading The Cantos, etc.
78. god . . . gilded? : "As to His Celestial Excellency [the Buddha] . . . he is taking it easy in paradise; do you suppose he needs you to model him a gilded image, and build him a house to live in? " [VII, 79].
79. hua4 . ? ? : Hua4 [M2215], "words";
5 9 . Kcx. 8o'Aov: whole. "
H, " g e n e r a l l y "
o r
" o n
t h e
t'ou 2 [M6489], "head"; "something to talk abou t. "
[M2215-15]:
60. Y ang
Son of K'ang Hsi [59:21] and emperor of China, 1723-1735. There were 3 versions of the Edict: (I) The original document, made up of 16 7-character platitudes, which was
set forth by Emperor K'ang Hsi; (2) the Wen-Ii, or literary text, done by Yung Cheng, which was a lengthy commentary explaining with examples the intentions of the original edict; and (3) a still later and more elaborate commentary done in the lan- guage of the people by Wang Iu? p'uh. The Wen-Ii asks a question of all Buddhists of Yung Cheng's time who were out begging money and gifts to build palaces for the Buddha to live in: Since Buddha himself (Gautama Siddhartha) abandoned the splen- did palace of his father, the king, "and hid
himself in the heights of a snowy mountain to practice asceticism. " would he be likely to "prize the religious houses and monas- teries you build? " [VII, 79].
61. Taoist priests . . . : The Neoconfucians were against the Buddhist priests because they seemed to encourage idleness and col- lected money by sending their followers out with begging bowls. But that was not an idea of Buddha himself. The main idea of Buddha was different: "What is Buddha? Buddha is the heart. . . . if your heart is good this is Buddha" [VII 74]. The Sacred Edict distin- guishes the original ideas of founders from
Tching:
Y ung
Cheng
80. whiteness of bones: The bones of those "Bhud-foes" or other devotees who have thrown themselves off a precipice [DG, Pai, 4-1, 135J. "Again) there is a set of extreme- ly foolish people. It may be on account of their parents' illness they vow to devote their body. As soon as the parents are well, they go up to the mountain to publicly burn incense . . . On arriving at the summit, they throw themselves down the precipice, and are either killed, or maimed" [VII, 80].
8! .
