No More Learning

64. Y ang tse: The Y ellow River, which to flood seasonally [53: 116].
used
48. "10 porto blindness. "
. . .
la
cecita:
1,
"I
carry
the
49. Delcroix: Carlo D. [88:46]. He was blinded in the Fascist struggle. His work for war veterans was made difficult by the "Two evils": usury and theft. His will to act is indicated by ! tis willingness to struggle with the bureaucracy [GK, 229, 249].
60. "war ein . . . dazu": G, "was a maker and a poet as wei! . " Pound liked poets who were good and careful craftsmen.
61. the armada: Return to Drake and sea battles [91:21].
62. 300 years: Reina [91:4,5].
63. Nein! . . . Wolken: G, "No! but in clouds. "
Boris de Rachewiltz [B de R], Massime degli antichi Egiziani, Milan, 1954, and II Libra Egizio degli Inferi, Rome, 1959; Ber? nart de Ventadorn, "Tant a1 rno cor pIe de joya," no. 44, Appel, 1915,260? 263: Dante,Inf. XX, XXVII, Par. III, V, Pur. XXVII, Convivio [Conv. ]; EP, LUstra, 196.
Background
EP, SP, 452-457, 28, 25, 47? 52; SR, 80. Boris de Rachewlltz [B de R], "Pagan and Magic Elements," in EH, Approaches, 174? 197; E. A. Wallis Budge, A History of Egypt, Vo! . III, Netherlands, 1968; Eustace Mullins, This Difficult Individual, Ezra Pound [EM, Difficult]; M de R. Discretions, 151; Allan Wade, ed. , The Letters of W. B. Yeats, New York, 1955.
Exegeses
JW, Pai, 2? 2, 183? 187; J. Neault, Pai, 4? 1,7,28; M de R, Discre?
tions, 113? 114; NS, Reading, 96? 102; HK, Era, 364; BK, Pai, 5? 1, 214; EH, Pai, 2? 1, 143; CE, Ideas 157? 158; CB? R, ZBC, 32, 140? 143; HK, Era, 338? 339, 530? 531; MB, Trace, 310? 324; Timothy Materer, "Ez to WynDAMN," in Helix, 13/14 (this double issue is devoted to Ezra Pound).
shoe-
65. 25 hundred: Figure seems to derive from Anters time [93:4]. And the "2 thou? sand years" from the time of Christ.
66. Apollonius: [91 :9; 94:42].
67. Erigena: One of the most important light? p! tilosophers [74:90], as are the others listed here.
68.
69. Richardus: [85:52].
Avicenna:
[93 :48].
70. Hilary: [Cf. 40 above].
71. brown . . . sweat: Reference Raphaelite painting, with its blurred lines and shadows.
72. cannon . . . opium: The British purpor- tedly trained the Chinese to use opium and developed a lucrative trade in it during their 19th? century occupation of China.
73. Portagoose: Portuguese [89:238].
74. Ari: Aristotle [87:26]. The "common custom" is the formation of monopolies.
CANTO XCIII
Sources
to post-
559
? 560
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1. "A man's . . . ": Trans. of the Egyptian hieroglyphics provided to Pound by his son? in-law, Boris de Rachewiltz. Pound was much elated to discover such secular wisdom recorded so early in history [B de R, in EH, Approaches, 178] .
2. Kati: King Khati, an Egyptian ruler Pound encountered in a book by his son- in? law [ibid. ].
3. "pauis angelicus": L, "angel-bread. " From Dante's Convivio 1. 1, 50? 102 [cf. 60 below1,where the writer promises to distrib- ute the never-diminishing bread of angels among his readers, in keeping with the NeD- platonic tenet that the good always increases [JW]. Also, common phrase for the com? munion wafer.
4. Antef: A minister "in the reign of Sesas- tris I (12th dynasty, ca. 1970? 1936 B. C. )," who purportedly said, "Give bread to the hungry, beer to the thirsty" [cf. RO, Pai, 6? 2,181].
5. two 1/2s of a seal: [77:56]. The first half is the "panis angelicus" and the second is Anters compassion for the destitute.
6. his own mind: A musical figure evoking Tiresias [80:30] and Odysseus, whose mind was such that the gods said "he must be one of us" [L, 270].
7. K&6f. wv . . . : H, "daughter of Cadmus" [91 :88].
8. Apollonius: [94:42].
9. arcivescovo: I, "archbishop. " Archbishop Pisani [97:200]. Pound and his daughter Mary visited him at Rome before WWIl. The next several lines concern his kind act of giving the child a roll of chocolates [M de R, Discretions, 113? 114].
10. "La Tour": F, "The ToweL" A picture of a painting by Georges de la Tour on a box of Gianduja chocolates the archbishop gave to Mary. The box and the painting together suggest a cornucopia.
11. Augustine: St. Augustine [16:6]. It seems that the two lines are a detail from a story the archbishop told as the three walked from St. Peter's toward their car? rozza.
12. The Pope: Augustine's conversion took place in 387. In 391 he moved to Hippo and in 395 became auxiliary bishop there. Since his most significant works, The Confessions (ca. 400) and The City of God (later than 412), were done after 395, the pope with whom he had such a dialog would most likely be St. Siricius (384? 399), Anastasius (399A01), or Innocent I (40IA17).
13. St Peter's: M de R wrote: "The [jrst visit was to St. Peter's. "
14. carrozza: I, "carraige. " Wrote Mary: "It was a short walk to the carrozza. " After- wards, she received the gift.
15. internal horrors: Prob. referring to churches with interior design and art of the ersatz variety.
16. Santa Sabina: I, "Saint Sabine," a church in Rome: one of the best examples of good architecture.
17. San Domenico: I, "Saint Dominic" [44:9]. A church Pound was fond of at Siena. Wrote M de R: "His favorite walk was to Fontebranda and then up to San Dome?
nico" [ibid. , 133].
18. Hyksos: Asiatic invaders of Egypt around 2100 B. C. The Egyptologist Budge wrote: "The Hyksos destroyed much, but what they left undestroyed the native Egyp? tians neglected; through these causes the condition of the country was lamentable"
[Egypt, III, 190; Neault, Pai, 4? 1, 28]. A later ruler, Amasis I, started to restore the temples of the gods and to this end "had the quarries of Tura reopened, in order that 'good stone' might be hewed therein for the buildings" [ibid. ].
19. butchers . . . : [87/573].
22. "The waves . . .
tion of a Japanese haiku which he used in 1937 to illustrate the third element that is always suggested by two present. The haiku concerned a war hero. Here the waves and moonlight evoke a "you" that refers to the "Ondine" [SP,453].
23. Old GrinelI: Prob. a Pound acquaintance of his London years, when he was first inter- ested in Japanese verse forms.
24. Olibanum: [2:20]. Frankincense, sacred to Dionysus [cf. 35 below].
25. "non fosse cive": I, "were not a citizen" [Par. VIII, 116]. In this scene Charles Martel asks Dante: "But tell me-would it be worse for man on earth, if he wasn't a citizen? " Dante, with civility, must say that it would
[JW].
26. Avon: A river in England. People from its banks would not agree on matters of civility.
27. "dragons' spleens": ChatiHon reports to King Philip concerning Englishmen on the warpath: "Rash, inconsiderate, fiery volun- taries, / With ladies' faces and fierce dragons' spleens, / Have sold their fortunes at their native homes, / . . . To make a hazard of new fotuneshere" [King John, II, 1,71? 75].
28. "a pelting farm": John of Gaunt says: "This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land / -Is now leas'd out-I die pronouncing
Glossary
20. Classe: I, from the name of an Italian church, "Saint Appollinaire in CIasse" ("St. Apollinaire by the fleet" or "at the har? bor"), located just outside Ravenna. It is a marvel of Romanesque beauty [9:28]. Its incredible wall-long-length mosaics were prob. source of Yeats's "0 sages, standing in God's holy fire I As in the gold mosaic of a wall. "
21. Ondine: [91:7].
in alchemical and chemical processes, as well as in the arts. A source of alum and related clays and bauxite meant wealth: here the solvency of the papacy seems to be in- dicated.
30. Tolfa: Prob. Le ToIfe, a hilly district north of Siena.
31. Medici: [8:38; 21:35].
32. "Te voila . . . ": F, "There you are, my Bourienne. "
33. Bourienne: [18:11]. Louis Bourrienne, private secretary to Napoleon the Great.
34. correni' attrattiva: I, "attractive cur- rent. " The magnetic attraction in alchemy and in sexuality are implied.
35. ureus . . . gold: [90:28]. Related to the Isis? Kuanon and the natrix [90:30]. Pound wrote to his son-in-law about the sacred snakes: "The turquoise, that is to say white belly turquoise shading, long diamond pat? tern, and sapphire back is a natrix, not a rock viper. . . . Some brute had needlessly slaughtered the one in memory, somewhere cross country from Caserta, or thereabout and left it on a loose stone division wall, by foot path or mulatiera. . . . Certainly servant of Iside. I suppose olibanum standard for usage, plus what else as salutation" [MB, Trace, 313].
36. Peitz . . . bionda: P, "I suffer worse the pain of love / Than did the lover Tristan / Who suffered many a grief/ Because of Isolde, the blonde" [lines 45-48 of Bernart de Ventadorn's "Tant ai mo cor pIe de joya" ("I have a heart so full of joy"), No. 44, Appel's 1915 edition, pp. 260? 263]. Pound edited the poem himself, since his reading of peitz for plus and his Italian spelling of bionda for blonda can be found in no other edition [JW].
37. Castalia: [90:5].
38. c'est autre chose: F, "that's something else. "
39. Sau Cristoforo: I, "St. Christopher. "
i t - I Like to a tenement [Richard II, II, I, 58? 60].
or a
pelting
farm"
there! ":
Pound's
rendi-
29. alum: A double sulfate of aluminum and potassium widely used in medicine and
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tellectual tradition of the classical world was preserved for the renaissance in the West. Dante cites him with Algazel and Plato
[Conv. II, 14. 5], linking the soul to Heaven and defining the 8th sphere (concerned with natural science) and the 9th (concerned with moral science), which Pound cans "agenda. "
49. Algazel: Arabic philosopher, 1058? 1111, who lived most of his life in Baghdad. A confirmed mystic and ascetic, he was fiercely critical of the rationalizing Aristote- lian movement in Arabic thought: quite the opposite of the fun-loving life of enthusiastic debauchery often lived by A vicenna.
SO. agenda: L, "things to be done. "
51. Agassiz: Alexander Emanuel A. , 1835- 1910, American scientist born in Switzer- land. He received a Harvard degree in 1855 and went on to study engineering, chemis- try, and marine ichthyology. His interests spread to mining engineering, in which he made such a fortune that he endowed the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. In 1875 he surveyed Lake Titicaca, looked at the copper mines of Peru and Chile, and collected Peruvian antiquities for the muse- um. Through all this, as well as dredging expeditions for the U. S. Coast Survey, he was a prolific writer. He is a Pound hero because of his close observation and accurate
reporting. Writing about the curse of writers of abstract statement, Pound said: "They had no ideogrammic method or hadn't erected it into a system and hadn't heard about Professor Agassiz's fish [ABCR, 17? 18], but to confuse a tendency to ab- stract statement with tout bonnement 'intel- ligence' is to sin against all those most admi~ rable canons of nomenclature" [LE, 68]. Agassiz's place is in the 8th sphere of Paradise.
52. Kung: Confucius [13:1]. As he was concerned with moral science, Kung belongs to the highest realm of the empyrean, which is crystalline. [Conv. II, 13,8].
53. Nephertari: The queen of Ramses II. A tomb fresco showed her being led by the
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Third-century Christian martyr, the patron of travelers.
40. little Christo: In legend, the saint carried a child (Christ) across a river and staggered because he also bore the weight of the world in his hands. In paintings he is pictured as a giant with the little Christ holding onto his neck or hair.
41. Gardesee: [76:91]. the German name of Lake Garda.
42. dove siede Peschiera: I, "where Pes- chiera sits" [Inj. XX, 70]. The passage con? cems Virgil's account of the founding of his native city, Mantua. He says it was not be- cause of the false prophetess Manto but be- cause the River Adige provided an appropri- ate bank-thus underlining Pound's conviction that mythology, topography, and
economics mesh.
43. Sorrento: A romantic city situated high on the hills overlooking the Bay of Naples.
44. Cortesia . . . : I, "Courtesy, honesty" [Conv. 11, 10. 8]. Dante is equating civilized
behavior with these qualities.
45. Ureus: Uraeus. Emblem of the sacred serpent (haje) in the headdress of gods and kings in Egypt, symbolizing such things as wisdom, power, and compassion [cf. 35 above].
46. Nine knowledges: The 9 heavens of Dante's Paradise and their allegorical signifi? cance. The first 7 included the traditional trivium and quadrivium.
47. Ideogram: Chih3 [M939], "stop," or "cease," or "to rest in. " The 9 heavens turn around a center that is at rest-the still point of the turning world or the center of the multifoliate rose [85:9].
48. Avicenna: Ibn? Sina. Arabic philosopher, 980? 1037, noted for his work in medicine (The Canon), theology, and alchemy (about which he wrote at least one book, and sever~ al others were falsely attributed to him). It was through his numerous works and the works of other Islamic scholars that the in~
goddess Isis [B de R, Approaches, 34]. The ancient Egyptians used incense as a medium to transform the material into the spiritual
[NS, Reading, 96] .
54. Isis: [90:28]. Pound is creating rhymes to show how the qualities of wisdom, rea- son, compassionate social action, moral aspi~ ration, and love were common driving forces in all great cultures of the past and that they are essential to at least the mystery part 'of all great religions. These qualities will be developed in greater detail in Thrones.
55. "quest' . . . ama": I, "And this union [is what we call love, whereby we can know] what is inside the mind by seeing outside the thing it loves" [Conv. III, 2. 9]. The words in brackets Pound leaves ou t [cf. 90: I] .
56. Risplende . . . : I, "Shines" [Cavalcanti's Donna Mi Prega, 1. 26; T, 132; cf. LE, 164].
57. degli occhi: I, [de li occhi]: "of the eyes" [Conv. Ill, 8. 10]. The whole sentence reads: "Wherefore, since there are six emo- tions proper to the human soul . . . to wit grace, jealousy, pity, envy, love and shame, by none of these may the soul be impas? sioned without the semblance thereof ap- pearing at the window of the eyes" [91:4].
58. Numa Pompilius: Second legendary king of Rome, 715? 672 B. C. A Sabine from Cures, his wife was the nymph Egeria whom he used to meet by night in her sacred grove. The early religious instructions of Rome were almost all attributed to him: "He set up the worship of Terminus (the god of landmarks), appointed the festival of Fides (Faith), built the temple of Janus, reorga- nized the calendar and fixed days of business and holiday. He instituted the fiamens (sacred priests) of Jupiter, Mars and Quiri- nus; the virgins of Vesta, to keep the sacred fire burning on the hearth of the city; the Salii, to guard the shield that fell from heav- en; the pontifices and augurs, to arrange the rites and interpret the will of the gods; he also divided the handicraftsmen into nine gilds" [EB]. It seems that the wisdom, rea- son, civil compassion, and religious motiva-
tion of Pompilius rhyme with that of other early statesmen: the nine heavens of Dante also rhyme with the nine gilds. But histo- rians assert that the accomplishments of Pompilius, essentially Italian in nature, should be attributed to some of his followers as well as to him [JW, Pai, 2-2, 186].