op of
Canterbury
(1093?
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
Up till Lei- bniz you can find men who really struggle with thOUght.
After Leibniz the precedent kind of thought ceased to lead men"
[GK,74].
87. phyllotaxis: The biological laws that dictate the arrangement of leaves on a stem. The force that makes the cherry stone be- come a cherry tree, which to Pound is one of the ways divine intelligence works in the world. Its highest expression is through the mind of great thinkers such as those above [ef. Sieburth, Pai, 6-3, 383-384; 109 :49].
coinage-once
. . .
95. Gold
96. El Melek: [97:1-15].
1204:
[89:79].
105.
of dozens of books on dozens of subjects, including history, medicine, and money. Said Pound: "There is a body of sane writing in our time and/or a body of writing by enlightened men . . . Larranaga, McNair Wil- son, Christopher Hollis. . . Economic light in our time has not come from the HIRED . . . It has come from free men . . . Larranaga a builder of roads . . . Rossoni, Por, MeN. Wilson-NONE of them in har- ness" [GK, 245-246]. "In harness" means "men hired by usurocrats to lie for pay. "
98. Del Mar cites
uses "ticket" to mean any piece of paper or chit or legal tender which people will accept in exchange: "money is a general sort of ticket, which is its only difference from a railway or theatre ticket" [SP, 290].
: [96:119].
Pound
r
McNair
Wilson:
Robert
M. W. ,
author
11 S. Monreale: Sicilian town near
site of famous cathedral in Norman-Sicilian style, which contains Byzantine mosaics.
116. Topaz: [88/581]. This jewel is the cli- max in a musical crescendo starting as early as the top of the previous page with, "Gold was in control of the Pontifex. " In Dante's "Thrones," concerned with justice, he
Palermo,
? ? ? ? ? ? 682
104/745
[87/575]; or, "Come let us make joyful noise unto the lord"; or, "Be glad and rejoice for the lord is with you. "
119. curet . . . perennia: L, "he cares about- permanent things. " Beware of "false mid- dles"; the process may be total flux, but a shape in the wave may be eternal.
120. foung . . . i: These four Chinese words in Couvreur are the last phrase of a sentence which follows the sentence given in gloss 118 above. In French, the whole sentence is, "Quand on execute les neuf chants appelee Stao chao, les deux phenix viennent et s'agi- tent avec elegance. " The 4 characters mean "come and dance with elegance. " To accent the religious note, Pound has altered Cou- vreur's "lai i" to "Ii i," so the characters read, "with ceremony" [ibid. ].
121. Varnish . . . tribute: The final 2 lines refer to another part of Couvreur concerned with the Hia dynasty, the first chapter of which is entitled "Tribut de IV. " In sec. 5 we read: "Les habitants offrent en tribut a l'empereur du vernis et de la soie" ("The citizens offer as tribute to the emperor var- nish and silk"). Note: This is a tribute in kind, not an indiscrimnate tax [ibid. , 66].
122. Iu's Weights . . . : The lines in the source concern Iu's efforts to regulate weights and measures so that the people would not be cheated [ibid. ].
105/746 683 Exegeses
EP, ND 17, 173; lW, Later, 156? 166; lW, Pai, 2? 3, 399-407; HM, Caged, 69; Zapatka, Pai, 2? 3, 423; EM, Difficult, 355.
speaks to Cacciaguida overwhelmed by the jeweled light that flows from Beatrice: "I turned to Beatrice, and she heard before I spoke, and smiled to me a sign that made the wings of my desire increase. And I began . . . But I beseech you, living Topaz who are a gem in this precious jewel, that you satisfy me with your name" [Par. XV, 70? 87] . It is appropriate that this note be struck as we approach the climax of the Thrones section of the poem, the special added section, 107?
109, on the Magna Carta.
117. Fetzen Papier: G, "scrap paper. "
118. Where deer's feet . . . edge: The last six lines of the canto return to ceremonial and paradisal themes like those found at the close of earlier paradisal cantos (e. g. , 17,47, 49, 90, 91). The lines here are based on evocative scenes in Couvreur, who says that at a certain moment when musicians are playing a musical background, "lIs s'arretent au signal donne par Ie tigre cauche" [Couvreur, p. 58] Notes on this passage in? clude a drawing of a tiger lying down. A moment later we read, "Les oiseaus et les quadrupedes tressailent de joie" ("The birds and the beasts dance with joy"). Pound adds the specific detail of "deer" and conveys the ideal of dancing by "make dust. " This scene rhymes with Pound's recurrent idea of appropriate religious celebration: "Religion? With no dancing girls at the altar? "
Glossary
CANTOCV
Sources
1. P. Migne, Patrologiae Latina: vol. 158, containing St. Anselm's
Monologium and Proslogion; Chronicon Centulense vol. 174; William ofMalmesbury's The Deeds o f the English Kings, vol. 179.
Background
lW, Seven Troubadours, Pa. State Univ. , 1970; A. Carlini, ed. ,
Compendia di storia della filosofia, Villacchi, Florence, 1921? 24; EP, JIM, 30? 31; EP, SR, 166? 178.
I. Feb. 1956: Date canto was started.
2. Talleyrand: [62:151; 95:13]. He tried to create a peace that would prevent further wars.
3. Bismarck: [86:3]. He believed the Franco-Prussian War was a war to end wars in Europe.
4. rem salvavit: I, "saved the thing. " Phrase applied to Sigismundo [9 :22] , who was said to have saved the Florentine state.
5. il salvabile: I, "the savable. " Reference to M's sending troops to assist Franco in 1936. Each of these three was betrayed by those he tried to help.
6. Ideogram: Chi [M411], "motions and or? igins: moving power of-as the universe. "
7. semina motuum: L, "seeds of motion" [90:24; 89:252].
8. Suhnona: Birthplace of Ovid [103:91].
9. Federico . . . hawk: [97:272; 98:105].
10. n Marescalco: Libro di Marescalco [or Mascaleia] : I, Book of the Marshall. A book of veterinary medicine written by Giordano Ruffo di Calabria, imperial marshall of the Holy Roman Empire, 1250? 1260, and friend, earlier, of Frederico II [JW].
11. Cesena . . . colonne: I, "Cesena, Cesena of the beautiful columns. " Romagnole dia? lect. [II :20].
12. obit aetat [e]: L, "died at the age of. "
13. Christian's . . . : Pseudonym of Herbiet [80:319].
14. the corridor 1/2 . . . : Pound must have had a vital memory of Herbiet's portrait of a lady (? ) with hat and gloves. He asked at 80/510, "What the deuce has . . . [he] done
with . . . [it]? " and says here, "[it] must be somewhere. " If one could find it, quite like? ly it would have in the background a narrow corridor with a window looking out onto a bridge in the far distance [93:162], which suggested to Pound "a bridge over worlds"
[Frags. j802].
IS. "moyens . . . inconnus": F, "means of existence unknown. "
16. Anselm: St. A. , c. l034? 1109, archbish?
op of Canterbury (1093? 1109), an Italian scholar who became a monk in France, where he was befriended by Lanfranc and followed him as prior at Bec in 1062; he later followed him to Canterbury in En? gland. He was made archbishop against his will and became involved in the terrible problems of investiture but held out strongly against Henry I, who finally yielded. In his most notable work, Monologium (1063), he is one of the first theologians to argue the compatibility of faith and reason. Pound found him important, not only because of his rationality in discussing the Mysterium but also because he was a significant figure in the development of democratic freedoms.
In the Bridson interview he said: "You can be damn well thankful to St. Anselm, be? cause all your liberties back before 'Maggie Carter' as they used to call her in the law schools in America-I mean the fight be- tween him and William Rufus, the dirty bandit-all your liberties come out of that"
[ND 17, 173] . The connection Pound makes between Anselm and the Magna Carta is a comment on the structure of The Cantos. Canto 104 prepares the way for the great climax of the Magna Carta cantos, 107? 109.
17. scripsit: L, "wrote. "
18. "non . . . sapientia": L, "not in space, but in knowing. " A part of Anselm's ontolo~
? ? ? ? 684
105/746-748
gical argument: "our ability to conceive of an Infinite Being necessarily entails the exis~ tence of that being. " Pound mentions this not because of some minor historical interest but because it is a vital part of his own religion, as is the idea of the compatibility of faith and reason. By the end of the 19th century, many had concluded it was "either/or": faith or reason. This conclusion is a false dichotomy. No "false middles," please! [104:109J. [Migne, vol. 158, chap. 2, col. 146-147; JW,Pai, 2? 3, 400J.
19. non pares: L, "not equaL" From a state- ment in the Monologium which says that members of the Trinity are not equal in worth [ibid. J.
20. rerum naturas: L, "nature of things. " Taken from a passage in the Monologium which translates: "every created nature takes its place in a higher grade of the worth of essence, the more it seems to approach there" [ibid. J. That is, all things are not, as they are in pantheism, equally beautiful, valuable, or good: differences exist.
poems 687ff. J.
[Migne,
V ol.
158, chap.
2, col.
mind mirrors the image but in itself is not the image. " This construction aligns Anselm with antecedent Neoplatonic light- philosophers.
38. Sapor . . . pulchritudo: L, "flavor . . . beauty. " Anselm'sProslogion [chaps. 17 and 18J says that a nonknower "looks around him and doesn't see beauty" and "tastes, yet doesn't know savour [saporem]" [Migne, vol. )58, cols. 236-237; JW, Pai, 2? 3, 402J.
39. ne . . . intellectu: L, "that it not be divisible in the intellect. " An amalgam of phrases from several places in Anselm, who makes the point that wisdom is whole and entire in itself and cannot be reached by logic alone [JW, Pai, 2-3, 402J .
40. (insulis fortunatis): L, "to the blessed isles. "
. . .
42. Puteus Cantauriensis: L, "Canterbury Well. " Legend says that when, as archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm visited Uberi, 9 mi. E of Capua, to write Cur Deus Homo (Why Did God Live), there was a drought. The monks dug a weIl where Anselm told them to and it produced water with healing pro? perties. Thereafter, the well was, named after him [Migne, vol. 158, cols. 100? 101J.
43. a partridge: Anselm fell ill and wouldn't eat. The monks protested that he must until he finally said he might eat a partridge. The monks couldn't find one, but a stable boy found a martyram [marten: a kind of weasel ("martin" is a misprint)J with a partridge in its mouth. Anselm ate it and was cured
[ibid. , I12-I13J.
44. Ideograms: Kuei [M3634J, "spirits"; chao [M239] , "to appeal to. "
220: "Saca & Socne, on strande & on Streame, on wudan & on feldan . . . " [JEJ. But "Sake et sake appears to be a formulaic phrase denoting certain manorial privileges, derived from Domesday Bk [I. 225 b/2J : "Gitda tenuit cum saca & soca. "; e. g. , Stow says, HI . . . will and command, that they shall inioy the same well and quietly and honourably with sake and sake" [Surv. 36J . The words came to mean a district within a shire that could comprise a number of towns: "Coningsburg in Yorkshire . . . had twenty eight Towns and hamIets within its sake" [Blount, Anc. Tenures 91. But the words carne to have other meanings: "You send a sack of corn to the soakmiIl, and you get back half a sack of flour" [OEDJ. Says Donald Davie: "Sake persists in placenames; e. g. . . . Thorpe-Ie-Soken, and Kirby. le-Soken, both villages in Essex near where I lived between 1964 and 1968, which figure in the Essex Poems I wrote during those years". "Strande" is a variant of "strande": "beach" or "broad traffic way. " The last two words are translated in the next line.
46. liberates: L, "liberties. "
47. consuetudines: L, "habitual rights. " Such rights ultimately determined legal rights in English law [Migne, vol. 159, cols. 336,337,352, 375, 383J .
48. Rochester: City in Kent, SE England, site of 12th? century cathedral built at place where St. Augustine founded a mission in 604.
49. Rufus: William II, "the Red," king of England (1087? 1100). Opposed Anselm's stand on investiture on the grounds of state rights. He raised rents 8 times their original value (5 to 40) for use of the land ("usu terrae"). Usu suggests usury [JW, Pai, 2? 3, 402J.
50. Unitas Charitatis: L, "Unity of Charity. "
51. consuetudo diversa: L, "diverse in cus- toms. " Anselm argued that people might be united as one in Christ under God and king, but they were diverse in their operations or
21. Lanfranci . . . : L, "They feared wisdom of Lanfranci" [cf. 16 aboveJ .
22. old Gallagher: [87:134J.
the
23. Sodom . . . Napoleon: Ref. to the
the Rothschilds pulled on Napoleon to get gold to Arthur Wellesley during the pennino sula campaign [86:56J.
24. Ideograms: "Hou Chi," name of the minister of agriculture under Shun, later worshipped as the god of agriculture.
25. stando . . . Terrestre: I, "standing in the Earthly Paradise. " In Dante's cosmography, on top of Mt. Purgatory.
26. sheep on Rham . . . : Some
very difficult because the word for a "willte dog" may have no etymologic connection at all with the word for "black dog," etc.
27. "Meas nugas": L, "my trifles. " Taken from Catullus's dedicatory poem 1. 4. St. An- selm quotes the phrase to describe ills own more frivolous writings: prob. his own
dialects
are
trick
28. "L'adoravano . . . Lucia": I, "They adore it . . . like St. Lucy" (a town in SE Italy). The anecdote concerns a stone statue of the pagan god Cupid. Because the people adored it, the church official had to put it out of sight. Pound tells elsewhere the same story as taking place at Terracina [JIM, 30? 31J.
29. Barocco, anima: I, "baroque, soul. "
30. anima . . . vagula, tenula: L, "soul wandering, tenuous. " Line from Hadrian's poem to his soul which Pound played with in one of his own early poems [P, 39J.
31. "non genitus" Caput 57, "discenden~ do": L, " 'not born' Chapter 57, 'descend- ing. ' " In chapters 56 and 57 of the Monolo- gium, the point is made that the Father and Son, the Highest Nature, do not give birth to the Spirit of Love (Third Person of the Tri- nity): that spirit is inborn, a mysterious breathing? forth from the Highest Nature. Pound has changed the Latin discedendo ("removing") to a hybrid Latin-Italian word to suggest "descending" [JW, ibid.
[GK,74].
87. phyllotaxis: The biological laws that dictate the arrangement of leaves on a stem. The force that makes the cherry stone be- come a cherry tree, which to Pound is one of the ways divine intelligence works in the world. Its highest expression is through the mind of great thinkers such as those above [ef. Sieburth, Pai, 6-3, 383-384; 109 :49].
coinage-once
. . .
95. Gold
96. El Melek: [97:1-15].
1204:
[89:79].
105.
of dozens of books on dozens of subjects, including history, medicine, and money. Said Pound: "There is a body of sane writing in our time and/or a body of writing by enlightened men . . . Larranaga, McNair Wil- son, Christopher Hollis. . . Economic light in our time has not come from the HIRED . . . It has come from free men . . . Larranaga a builder of roads . . . Rossoni, Por, MeN. Wilson-NONE of them in har- ness" [GK, 245-246]. "In harness" means "men hired by usurocrats to lie for pay. "
98. Del Mar cites
uses "ticket" to mean any piece of paper or chit or legal tender which people will accept in exchange: "money is a general sort of ticket, which is its only difference from a railway or theatre ticket" [SP, 290].
: [96:119].
Pound
r
McNair
Wilson:
Robert
M. W. ,
author
11 S. Monreale: Sicilian town near
site of famous cathedral in Norman-Sicilian style, which contains Byzantine mosaics.
116. Topaz: [88/581]. This jewel is the cli- max in a musical crescendo starting as early as the top of the previous page with, "Gold was in control of the Pontifex. " In Dante's "Thrones," concerned with justice, he
Palermo,
? ? ? ? ? ? 682
104/745
[87/575]; or, "Come let us make joyful noise unto the lord"; or, "Be glad and rejoice for the lord is with you. "
119. curet . . . perennia: L, "he cares about- permanent things. " Beware of "false mid- dles"; the process may be total flux, but a shape in the wave may be eternal.
120. foung . . . i: These four Chinese words in Couvreur are the last phrase of a sentence which follows the sentence given in gloss 118 above. In French, the whole sentence is, "Quand on execute les neuf chants appelee Stao chao, les deux phenix viennent et s'agi- tent avec elegance. " The 4 characters mean "come and dance with elegance. " To accent the religious note, Pound has altered Cou- vreur's "lai i" to "Ii i," so the characters read, "with ceremony" [ibid. ].
121. Varnish . . . tribute: The final 2 lines refer to another part of Couvreur concerned with the Hia dynasty, the first chapter of which is entitled "Tribut de IV. " In sec. 5 we read: "Les habitants offrent en tribut a l'empereur du vernis et de la soie" ("The citizens offer as tribute to the emperor var- nish and silk"). Note: This is a tribute in kind, not an indiscrimnate tax [ibid. , 66].
122. Iu's Weights . . . : The lines in the source concern Iu's efforts to regulate weights and measures so that the people would not be cheated [ibid. ].
105/746 683 Exegeses
EP, ND 17, 173; lW, Later, 156? 166; lW, Pai, 2? 3, 399-407; HM, Caged, 69; Zapatka, Pai, 2? 3, 423; EM, Difficult, 355.
speaks to Cacciaguida overwhelmed by the jeweled light that flows from Beatrice: "I turned to Beatrice, and she heard before I spoke, and smiled to me a sign that made the wings of my desire increase. And I began . . . But I beseech you, living Topaz who are a gem in this precious jewel, that you satisfy me with your name" [Par. XV, 70? 87] . It is appropriate that this note be struck as we approach the climax of the Thrones section of the poem, the special added section, 107?
109, on the Magna Carta.
117. Fetzen Papier: G, "scrap paper. "
118. Where deer's feet . . . edge: The last six lines of the canto return to ceremonial and paradisal themes like those found at the close of earlier paradisal cantos (e. g. , 17,47, 49, 90, 91). The lines here are based on evocative scenes in Couvreur, who says that at a certain moment when musicians are playing a musical background, "lIs s'arretent au signal donne par Ie tigre cauche" [Couvreur, p. 58] Notes on this passage in? clude a drawing of a tiger lying down. A moment later we read, "Les oiseaus et les quadrupedes tressailent de joie" ("The birds and the beasts dance with joy"). Pound adds the specific detail of "deer" and conveys the ideal of dancing by "make dust. " This scene rhymes with Pound's recurrent idea of appropriate religious celebration: "Religion? With no dancing girls at the altar? "
Glossary
CANTOCV
Sources
1. P. Migne, Patrologiae Latina: vol. 158, containing St. Anselm's
Monologium and Proslogion; Chronicon Centulense vol. 174; William ofMalmesbury's The Deeds o f the English Kings, vol. 179.
Background
lW, Seven Troubadours, Pa. State Univ. , 1970; A. Carlini, ed. ,
Compendia di storia della filosofia, Villacchi, Florence, 1921? 24; EP, JIM, 30? 31; EP, SR, 166? 178.
I. Feb. 1956: Date canto was started.
2. Talleyrand: [62:151; 95:13]. He tried to create a peace that would prevent further wars.
3. Bismarck: [86:3]. He believed the Franco-Prussian War was a war to end wars in Europe.
4. rem salvavit: I, "saved the thing. " Phrase applied to Sigismundo [9 :22] , who was said to have saved the Florentine state.
5. il salvabile: I, "the savable. " Reference to M's sending troops to assist Franco in 1936. Each of these three was betrayed by those he tried to help.
6. Ideogram: Chi [M411], "motions and or? igins: moving power of-as the universe. "
7. semina motuum: L, "seeds of motion" [90:24; 89:252].
8. Suhnona: Birthplace of Ovid [103:91].
9. Federico . . . hawk: [97:272; 98:105].
10. n Marescalco: Libro di Marescalco [or Mascaleia] : I, Book of the Marshall. A book of veterinary medicine written by Giordano Ruffo di Calabria, imperial marshall of the Holy Roman Empire, 1250? 1260, and friend, earlier, of Frederico II [JW].
11. Cesena . . . colonne: I, "Cesena, Cesena of the beautiful columns. " Romagnole dia? lect. [II :20].
12. obit aetat [e]: L, "died at the age of. "
13. Christian's . . . : Pseudonym of Herbiet [80:319].
14. the corridor 1/2 . . . : Pound must have had a vital memory of Herbiet's portrait of a lady (? ) with hat and gloves. He asked at 80/510, "What the deuce has . . . [he] done
with . . . [it]? " and says here, "[it] must be somewhere. " If one could find it, quite like? ly it would have in the background a narrow corridor with a window looking out onto a bridge in the far distance [93:162], which suggested to Pound "a bridge over worlds"
[Frags. j802].
IS. "moyens . . . inconnus": F, "means of existence unknown. "
16. Anselm: St. A. , c. l034? 1109, archbish?
op of Canterbury (1093? 1109), an Italian scholar who became a monk in France, where he was befriended by Lanfranc and followed him as prior at Bec in 1062; he later followed him to Canterbury in En? gland. He was made archbishop against his will and became involved in the terrible problems of investiture but held out strongly against Henry I, who finally yielded. In his most notable work, Monologium (1063), he is one of the first theologians to argue the compatibility of faith and reason. Pound found him important, not only because of his rationality in discussing the Mysterium but also because he was a significant figure in the development of democratic freedoms.
In the Bridson interview he said: "You can be damn well thankful to St. Anselm, be? cause all your liberties back before 'Maggie Carter' as they used to call her in the law schools in America-I mean the fight be- tween him and William Rufus, the dirty bandit-all your liberties come out of that"
[ND 17, 173] . The connection Pound makes between Anselm and the Magna Carta is a comment on the structure of The Cantos. Canto 104 prepares the way for the great climax of the Magna Carta cantos, 107? 109.
17. scripsit: L, "wrote. "
18. "non . . . sapientia": L, "not in space, but in knowing. " A part of Anselm's ontolo~
? ? ? ? 684
105/746-748
gical argument: "our ability to conceive of an Infinite Being necessarily entails the exis~ tence of that being. " Pound mentions this not because of some minor historical interest but because it is a vital part of his own religion, as is the idea of the compatibility of faith and reason. By the end of the 19th century, many had concluded it was "either/or": faith or reason. This conclusion is a false dichotomy. No "false middles," please! [104:109J. [Migne, vol. 158, chap. 2, col. 146-147; JW,Pai, 2? 3, 400J.
19. non pares: L, "not equaL" From a state- ment in the Monologium which says that members of the Trinity are not equal in worth [ibid. J.
20. rerum naturas: L, "nature of things. " Taken from a passage in the Monologium which translates: "every created nature takes its place in a higher grade of the worth of essence, the more it seems to approach there" [ibid. J. That is, all things are not, as they are in pantheism, equally beautiful, valuable, or good: differences exist.
poems 687ff. J.
[Migne,
V ol.
158, chap.
2, col.
mind mirrors the image but in itself is not the image. " This construction aligns Anselm with antecedent Neoplatonic light- philosophers.
38. Sapor . . . pulchritudo: L, "flavor . . . beauty. " Anselm'sProslogion [chaps. 17 and 18J says that a nonknower "looks around him and doesn't see beauty" and "tastes, yet doesn't know savour [saporem]" [Migne, vol. )58, cols. 236-237; JW, Pai, 2? 3, 402J.
39. ne . . . intellectu: L, "that it not be divisible in the intellect. " An amalgam of phrases from several places in Anselm, who makes the point that wisdom is whole and entire in itself and cannot be reached by logic alone [JW, Pai, 2-3, 402J .
40. (insulis fortunatis): L, "to the blessed isles. "
. . .
42. Puteus Cantauriensis: L, "Canterbury Well. " Legend says that when, as archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm visited Uberi, 9 mi. E of Capua, to write Cur Deus Homo (Why Did God Live), there was a drought. The monks dug a weIl where Anselm told them to and it produced water with healing pro? perties. Thereafter, the well was, named after him [Migne, vol. 158, cols. 100? 101J.
43. a partridge: Anselm fell ill and wouldn't eat. The monks protested that he must until he finally said he might eat a partridge. The monks couldn't find one, but a stable boy found a martyram [marten: a kind of weasel ("martin" is a misprint)J with a partridge in its mouth. Anselm ate it and was cured
[ibid. , I12-I13J.
44. Ideograms: Kuei [M3634J, "spirits"; chao [M239] , "to appeal to. "
220: "Saca & Socne, on strande & on Streame, on wudan & on feldan . . . " [JEJ. But "Sake et sake appears to be a formulaic phrase denoting certain manorial privileges, derived from Domesday Bk [I. 225 b/2J : "Gitda tenuit cum saca & soca. "; e. g. , Stow says, HI . . . will and command, that they shall inioy the same well and quietly and honourably with sake and sake" [Surv. 36J . The words came to mean a district within a shire that could comprise a number of towns: "Coningsburg in Yorkshire . . . had twenty eight Towns and hamIets within its sake" [Blount, Anc. Tenures 91. But the words carne to have other meanings: "You send a sack of corn to the soakmiIl, and you get back half a sack of flour" [OEDJ. Says Donald Davie: "Sake persists in placenames; e. g. . . . Thorpe-Ie-Soken, and Kirby. le-Soken, both villages in Essex near where I lived between 1964 and 1968, which figure in the Essex Poems I wrote during those years". "Strande" is a variant of "strande": "beach" or "broad traffic way. " The last two words are translated in the next line.
46. liberates: L, "liberties. "
47. consuetudines: L, "habitual rights. " Such rights ultimately determined legal rights in English law [Migne, vol. 159, cols. 336,337,352, 375, 383J .
48. Rochester: City in Kent, SE England, site of 12th? century cathedral built at place where St. Augustine founded a mission in 604.
49. Rufus: William II, "the Red," king of England (1087? 1100). Opposed Anselm's stand on investiture on the grounds of state rights. He raised rents 8 times their original value (5 to 40) for use of the land ("usu terrae"). Usu suggests usury [JW, Pai, 2? 3, 402J.
50. Unitas Charitatis: L, "Unity of Charity. "
51. consuetudo diversa: L, "diverse in cus- toms. " Anselm argued that people might be united as one in Christ under God and king, but they were diverse in their operations or
21. Lanfranci . . . : L, "They feared wisdom of Lanfranci" [cf. 16 aboveJ .
22. old Gallagher: [87:134J.
the
23. Sodom . . . Napoleon: Ref. to the
the Rothschilds pulled on Napoleon to get gold to Arthur Wellesley during the pennino sula campaign [86:56J.
24. Ideograms: "Hou Chi," name of the minister of agriculture under Shun, later worshipped as the god of agriculture.
25. stando . . . Terrestre: I, "standing in the Earthly Paradise. " In Dante's cosmography, on top of Mt. Purgatory.
26. sheep on Rham . . . : Some
very difficult because the word for a "willte dog" may have no etymologic connection at all with the word for "black dog," etc.
27. "Meas nugas": L, "my trifles. " Taken from Catullus's dedicatory poem 1. 4. St. An- selm quotes the phrase to describe ills own more frivolous writings: prob. his own
dialects
are
trick
28. "L'adoravano . . . Lucia": I, "They adore it . . . like St. Lucy" (a town in SE Italy). The anecdote concerns a stone statue of the pagan god Cupid. Because the people adored it, the church official had to put it out of sight. Pound tells elsewhere the same story as taking place at Terracina [JIM, 30? 31J.
29. Barocco, anima: I, "baroque, soul. "
30. anima . . . vagula, tenula: L, "soul wandering, tenuous. " Line from Hadrian's poem to his soul which Pound played with in one of his own early poems [P, 39J.
31. "non genitus" Caput 57, "discenden~ do": L, " 'not born' Chapter 57, 'descend- ing. ' " In chapters 56 and 57 of the Monolo- gium, the point is made that the Father and Son, the Highest Nature, do not give birth to the Spirit of Love (Third Person of the Tri- nity): that spirit is inborn, a mysterious breathing? forth from the Highest Nature. Pound has changed the Latin discedendo ("removing") to a hybrid Latin-Italian word to suggest "descending" [JW, ibid.
