device, adding to this the
practices
of T'ang, the founder of the dynasty.
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
The context of these words informs the rest of tllis canto page.
I Yin, "having returned the government into the hands of his saver" eign, and being about to announce his retire?
"When the
sover-
? 472
85/547-549
85/549-550
473
ment, set forth admonitions on the subject of virtue. "
67. Ideogram: Ch'en [M339], "present. "
and changed the name of the dynasty to Yin. After the move, he exhorted the people to care for the young and helpless and to make the best of their new home. The fol- lowing 5 characters are a part of that exhor- tation: "Seek everyone long continuance in your new abode. "
82. Ideogram: Ko [M3368], "each, all. "
83. Ideogram: Ch'ang [M213], "long, of space or time. "
84. Ideogram: Yu [M7592], "to proceed. "
85. Ideogram: Chueh [M1680], personal pronoun: "he, she, it, etc. "
86. Ideogram: Chu [MI535], "to dwell. "
87. Baros . . . : P, "barons put up as pawns. " In Near Perigord Pound translates the phrase of Bertrans de Born by, "Pawn your castles, lords'" [P, 152]. The idea was to mortgage to the hllt before a battle so that, if you lost, the mortgage would fall on the man you lost to [SR, 48]. For a detailed and different reading see JW, Seven Trouba- dours, pp. 156-157.
88. Alexander: A. the Great, 356-323 B. C. , king of Macedon. His act of largesse to his troops becomes a recurrent musical figure in the later cantos. Pound believes the fall of the Macedonian empire was as great a loss to Western civilization as was the later fall of Rome [GK, SP, indexes}. Dante placed him among the world's foremost bestowers of largesse [Conv. 4. 11. 14], whlch contrasts him with ,Bertrans de Born [89 :230] .
89. Ideogram: Te [cf. 48 above]: "virtue. "
90. The pusillanimous . . . as core: These 16 lines derive from Grenfell's Unconditonal Hatred [cf. 7 above]. Grenfell says Dexter White was the author of the plan to crush Germany. Roosevelt approved, but the plan to reduce Germany to an agrarian state was never put into action [UH, 207]. In the
1860s Napoleon JII made one claim after another for pieces of Germany, but Grenfell shows that Bismarck agreed to none of them
[UH,50-53].
91. Mr. Roosevelt: [46:53].
92. Dexter White: Harry D. W. After the U. S. joined with the USSR in 1941, he be- came a privileged right-hand man, with the status of assistant secretary, to Morganthau, secretary of the treasury, 1934-1945. A 1955 Senate investigation produced dOCll~ ments that implied that Communists, with the aid of White, were infiltrating the higher branches of the government. According to Eustace Mullins, Old Lampman [97:60], who had worked in the Treasury Depart- ment during the 1930s said: "Men who had been in the Treasury Department all their
1ives were suddenly shunted aside and stripped of their power. We were told to clear everything with new officials, such as Harry Dexter White" [EM, Difficult, 315- 316].
93. Nap III: Napoleon (16:24; 38:59; 74:464].
III,
99. Ideogram: Kao [M3290], "noble"
100. Ideogram: Tsung [M6896], "ances- tor. " The emperor Woo-Ting of the Chang dynasty was known posthumously as Kao Tsung. He ruled from 1324-1265, a total of 59 years, as the text says. He was a good emperor who wanted to restore the values of the dynasty's founder, Ch'eng T'ang.
101. Whetstone . . . clouds: Upon appoint- ing Yueh as prime minister, Kao Tsung outM lined the ways a good minister would serve his emperor, and the way he would make use of his minister: "Suppose me a weapon of steel;-I will use you for a whetstone. Sup? pose me crossing a great stream;-I will use you for a boat with its oars. Suppose me in a year of great drought;-I will use you as a copious rain. "
102. jou tso li: French transliteration of ju [M3142] tso [M6780] Ii [M3909]: "Use
you as a whetstone. "
103. cymba et remis: L, "boat and oar. " The character for lin 2 [M4026],~, which means "long-continued rain," has several components: the lower ones mean "trees"; the upper one means "rain. " Pound sees "trees prop up clouds. "
104. Praecognita . . . moveas: L, "Know (beforehand) the good so that you may move yourself. " Part of Kao Tsung's advice to his minister. The sentence is followed by another which translates, "And act only if the time is right. "
105. Ideogram: French "lill," lu [M4292], "consider. " Ideo: French "cheu," shih [M5780] , "time. "
106. "Fatigare . . . revereri": L, "Immoder- ate sacrifice is called irreverence. " Advice of Prime Minister Yueh to the emperor. He added: "Ceremonies when burdensome lead to disorder. To serve the spirits properly is difficult. " These ideas are repeated in Apol- lonius of Tyana as a subject rhyme . (94:42].
107. Fou iue: French form of Fu Yueh, the name of Kao Tsung's prime minister.
68. Ideogram: nitions,"
Chiai
[M627],
"admo-
69. pivot: NB: "Chung Yung," or "the Un- wobbling Pivot. " The emperor will become such a pivot from which all goods will flow if he follows the precepts of Yin.
70. quam . . . Imperatoris: L, "how [pure] is the soul of the emperor. "
simple
71. III. 6 xi: Couvreur 1II, VI, 9, 11, pp. 130-131 has the Latin and French for the following, but Pound inserts the characters (in his own order) for the expostulation from Legge IV, VI, iv, 9,11, pp. 218-219.
72. Ideogram: Huo [M2412], "to seize" (1st character, right-hand column).
73. Ideogram: Tzu [M6960], "self. " 74. Ideogram: Chin [M! 082], "all. "
75. Ideogram: P'i [M5l70], "an ordinary person. "
76. Ideogram: Fu [MI908], "husband" (lst character, left-hand column).
77. Ideogram: P'i [M5170], "one of a pair; a mate. "
78. Ideogram: Fu [MI963], "wife. "
79. Bill of Rights: In the seven characters, Pound has left Qut a negative in his source. Legge, with the negative condition, gives: "If ordinary men and women do not find the opportunity to give full development to their virtue," The sentence ends: "the peo- ple's lord will be without the proper aids to
complete his merit. "
80. P'an: The name of the reign of the 17th emperor of the Chang dynasty: P'an Keng. Legge says that more than 3 centuries were left blank in the histories between the young king, T'ai Chia, and P'an Keng.
81. Ideogram: P'an Keng [M4903], emper- or, 1401-1373. He moved the capital to Yin
94. Proclamation:
elected as president of the French Republic in 1848, made plans and arrangements to outfox his enemies and successfully became by proclamation, Dec. 1, 1852, emperor of the French. He cultivated different groups in different ways and only a few knew what he was up to before faced with the fait accomM plio This thought leads to a reflection about U. S. university education, by which students are kept off the labor market and never learn anythlng about the economic conspiracy being practiced against them.
T
Louis Napoleon
95. prezzo giusto: I, "just price. " A major concept in Poundian economics in which an important document is 11 Giusto prezzo nel Media Aveo by Sac. L. P. Cairoli [SP,323].
96. UBI JUS VAGUM: L, "Where law is uncertain. " Prob. a variant on the adage, Ubi jus incerturn, ibi jus nullurn ("Where law is uncertain, there is no law"), as well as on Aristotle's maxim, "Good law means good order" [Politics VII, 4] [DJN].
97. Alexander: [cf. 88 above].
98. T'ang: [53:40; 74:29] The "Make it New" emperor.
? 474
85/550-551
85/551-552
475
108. III. viii, II. : Location of the Latin quote in Couvreur.
109. Ideogram: French "tchoung," chung [76:54].
110. in rites not flame-headed: The charac- ter for "burdensome" [106 above] is fan: 'j( ~: the left component is "fire"; the right
component is "head. " Hence, Pound's "Flame? headed. "
111. "Up to then . . . : The emperor, Kao- Tsung, said to his minister Yueh: "Come, 0 Vue. I, the little one, first learned with Kan Pwan. Afterwards, I lived concealed in the rude country. . . and the result has been that I am unenlightened. "
119. Tch'eng T'ang: Ch'eng T'ang [cf. 5 above ] .
120. Ideogram: Chen [M346], "direction. "
121. You will go . . . : Yueh answers Kao's appeal for advice On how to be a good em? peror by defining the proper subjects of study. Pound summarizes by the 1/2- research-l/2? observation? etc.
device, adding to this the practices of T'ang, the founder of the dynasty. He says if Kao Tsong will do these things he will not slip or slop over in his rule.
122. Nisi . . . regil: L, "Unless he does not rule with the wise. " Kao responds to Yueh's advice and says in effect, "an emperor must rule through ministers who are wise. "
123. "Best you retire: Pound jumps 200 years to the end of the Shang dynasty. The grand tutor, viscount of Ki, tells Wei, son of the emperor Shou, to retire from the court before ruin comes.
124. nunquam ego: L, "not 1. " Ki said: "You go but not 1. "
125. Ideogram: Wang [M7045], "not. "
126. Ideogram: Pou, p'u [M5401] ,"servant. "
127. Ki: The grand tutor to Prince Wei. 128. Corea: Korea.
129. "abire decere": L, "it is best to go. " The passage that ties these lines together is Ki's advice to the prince: "Calamity now befalls the house of Shang. I will arise and share in its ruin; for when Shang has fallen, I will not be servant or minister to another dynasty. I recommend, that for you, the emperor's son, it is best to go away. . . . If the emperor's son does not leave, we (the house of Shang] will perish. " Wei did leave and Ki remained to be imprisoned for a while; but because of his virtue and wisdom he was eventually freed and sent to Corea to govern. Another story has it that he feigned madness and was released by King Wu of the
new Chou dynasty and then fled to Corea.
130. Meng-ford: From the phrase that fol- lows ("t3 houei Meng tsin"), which means "greatly assembled at Meng Ford. " It is part of the first line of the Great Declaration, which consists of three speeches King Wu gave to his officers and people after his con? quest of the Shang dynasty [Pt. IV, Chap. I, Couvreur's Chou King].
131. Heou Tsi . . . Tan Fou: A summary of a Couvreur historical note that traces the history of the royal family of the Chou dynasty, showing the results of the watch- word "our dynasty came in because of a great sensibility," a reprise of the opening of the canto [cf. 2 above]. Grieve has a note that gives much in little: I'Tan Fou . . . was the great-grandfather of Wu Wang, the king who, continuing the rebellion of his father, Wen Wang, defeated the tyrant emperor Chou Hsin [last of the Shang dynasty] and in 1122 B. C. founded the Chou dynasty. It was Tan Fou who first established the Chou state at the foot of Mount Ki in 1326 B. C. King Wan . . . passed on the Chou hereditary dominions to his son . . . Wu Wang. "
132. Les moeurs . . . fleurit: F, "The morals had been reformed; virtue flourished. "
133. Ideogram: Ling [cf. I above]. We re- turn to the ~de0. 991m that opened this canto. While Po~es several other characters to stand for the virtue, humanity, and sensitive. ness of the individual, he uses this one to tie together the processes of heaven with the processes of nature and the Confucian ideals of order in man. Just as the transcendant order of Neoplatonic thought is imaged by the heavens and clouds being reflected in water, so here the sky? cloud components on the top of this character, with the rain in the center and the earth-ceremonies of the bot? tom components, imply in parallel fashion the harmony that results when the processes of heaven's will are reflected in the actions of the emperor who has the good of the people at heart. Note too the way the three components of ling articulate with the three panels of Cosimo Tura [79:25].
134. Ad Meng vadum: L, "At the ford of Meng. "
135. Huang Ho: "Yellow River. "
136. eh' e' ditta dentro: I, "which he dic- tates within me" [Pur. XXIV, 54]. Bona- giunta of Lucca asks Dante if he is the one "who brought forth new rhymes, beginning: Ladies that have understanding of love? " Dante answers him, "I am one who, when Love inspires me, takes note, and goes set? ting it forth after the fashion which he dic- tates within me" [Singleton].
137. Cheou . . . aerumnas: L, "Chou inflicts calamities. " This Chou is the last emperor of the Shang dynasty. In the spring at the ford of Meng, Wu Wang spoke to his officers and people: "Heaven and earth are the parents of all things; and of all things, man alone has reason. He who is most intelligent and per? spicacious becomes the supreme sovereign; and the supreme sovereign becomes the par? ents of the people. Now Chou [Che6u], the emperor of Shang, does not stand in awe of heaven above and inflicts calamities on the people below. " .
138. Ideogram: Ts'oung, ts'ung [M6916], "astute. "
139. Ideogram: Tan [M6048]'''sincere. ''
140. Ideogram: Ming [M4534], "intelli- gent. " This character is central to Pound's idea of divinity manifesting itself through the intelligence of man [CON, 20].
141. tso iuen heou: French for tso [M6780], "to make"; yuan [M7707], 'Ichief, great"; hou [M2144J, "king. " "To be a great sovereign. "
142. "Gentlemen . . . : King Wu (chief ruler of the West) went On to tell his people (from the western states) more reasons why heaven desired him to overthrow the emperor and become ruler of all the Middle Kingdom. Legge translates: "Oh' my valiant men of the West, Heaven has enjoined the illustrious courses of duty, of which the several charac? ters are quite plain. "
112. chung . . . : Chung
result"; wang [M70451, "in vain"; hsien
[M2692], "seems. " "The result seems to have been in vain. "
113. Imperator . . .
peror. Just as wine and must" [see 115 below].
114. directio: L, "direction," Evokes "di? rection of the will," a major theme of the poem. The word does not occur in Cou- vreur's Latin. Instead of combining it with "voluntatis," as he usually does [77:57], Pound combines it here with a Chinese word for will: "tcheu," or chih [M971], "determi- nation; will. "
115. fennentum . . . : L, "fermentation and fruit [seeds/grain]. " These words, along with the Latin in 113 above, are fragments of a whole sentence of Kao Tsung to Vueh which says: "Be to me as the yeast and the malt in making sweet spirits; as the salt and the prunes in making agreeable soup. "
116. study . . . hawk: More ofYueh's advice to the emperor.
117. tao tsi: French translation for tao [M6136], "truth" and chi [M500], "store up. "
118. T? xv7]: H [context of 49 above], "skill in an art. "
[MI500],
"the end
mustum: L,
"The ern?
? 476
85/552-554
85/554-555
477
143. Ideogram: Hsien [M2692], "mani- fest. " Legge translates as "quite plain"; Pound says "perfectly clear. "
144. Ideogram: Wu [M7195], "warlike; fierce. " The title of the first ruler of the Chou dynasty. One day Wu came to the borders of Shang and addressed his army: "In his left had he carried a battle-axe, yel- low with gold, and in his right he held a white ensign, which he brandished, saying, 'Far are ye come; ye men of the Western regions. ' "
145. "e canta la gallina"; I, "and the hen crows. " Couvreur's Latin gives "Gallinae rna? tutinus cantus est domus exinanitio. " In French, "Le chant de la paule Ie matin an- nonce la ruine de la famille" ("The crowing of a hen in the morning indicates the ruin of the family"). King Wu [in the speech in 144 above] is showing that Emperor Chou ("Cheou" in the canto) erred in following the counsel of his women rather than at? tempting to follow the will of heaven. Pound may have put it in Italian because the phrase recalled an old "skipping rope song": "trene? ta, quaranta / la gallina canta / e canta nel pollaio, / e cana nel cortile" [Mondolfo, Pai,
3-2, 286].
146. ganged up: Wu accuses Chou of having for ministers and officers men "who are only the vagabonds of the empire, loaded with crimes . . . making them great officers and nobles. "
147. "6 steps . . . fugitives": Wu's speech to the army continues with instructions on how to fight: "In today's business, do not ad- vance more than six blows, or seven blows; and then stop and adjust your ranks. . . . Do not rush on those who fly to us in sllb~ mission. "
concern the 'decisive battle at which King Wu defeated the forces of Cheou: "[Cheou] led forward his hosts like a forest, and as~ sembled them in the wilderness of Muh. "
151. quasi silvam convenit: L, "like a forest assembled. "
152. jo lin: Jo [M3126], "like. " Ideogram: lin [M4022], "forest. " "Like a forest. "
153. "Liking . . . no man. ": The sources not provide this precise sentence, which may be Pound's summary judgment of the ac~ tions ofWu.
154. The 4th part: Refers to Book IV, Part IV of Couvreur's Chou King, which is called "The Great Plan. " The chapter con- cerns details, "marginalia," about the duties of government.
. . .
156. T'oung .
"When the
sover-
? 472
85/547-549
85/549-550
473
ment, set forth admonitions on the subject of virtue. "
67. Ideogram: Ch'en [M339], "present. "
and changed the name of the dynasty to Yin. After the move, he exhorted the people to care for the young and helpless and to make the best of their new home. The fol- lowing 5 characters are a part of that exhor- tation: "Seek everyone long continuance in your new abode. "
82. Ideogram: Ko [M3368], "each, all. "
83. Ideogram: Ch'ang [M213], "long, of space or time. "
84. Ideogram: Yu [M7592], "to proceed. "
85. Ideogram: Chueh [M1680], personal pronoun: "he, she, it, etc. "
86. Ideogram: Chu [MI535], "to dwell. "
87. Baros . . . : P, "barons put up as pawns. " In Near Perigord Pound translates the phrase of Bertrans de Born by, "Pawn your castles, lords'" [P, 152]. The idea was to mortgage to the hllt before a battle so that, if you lost, the mortgage would fall on the man you lost to [SR, 48]. For a detailed and different reading see JW, Seven Trouba- dours, pp. 156-157.
88. Alexander: A. the Great, 356-323 B. C. , king of Macedon. His act of largesse to his troops becomes a recurrent musical figure in the later cantos. Pound believes the fall of the Macedonian empire was as great a loss to Western civilization as was the later fall of Rome [GK, SP, indexes}. Dante placed him among the world's foremost bestowers of largesse [Conv. 4. 11. 14], whlch contrasts him with ,Bertrans de Born [89 :230] .
89. Ideogram: Te [cf. 48 above]: "virtue. "
90. The pusillanimous . . . as core: These 16 lines derive from Grenfell's Unconditonal Hatred [cf. 7 above]. Grenfell says Dexter White was the author of the plan to crush Germany. Roosevelt approved, but the plan to reduce Germany to an agrarian state was never put into action [UH, 207]. In the
1860s Napoleon JII made one claim after another for pieces of Germany, but Grenfell shows that Bismarck agreed to none of them
[UH,50-53].
91. Mr. Roosevelt: [46:53].
92. Dexter White: Harry D. W. After the U. S. joined with the USSR in 1941, he be- came a privileged right-hand man, with the status of assistant secretary, to Morganthau, secretary of the treasury, 1934-1945. A 1955 Senate investigation produced dOCll~ ments that implied that Communists, with the aid of White, were infiltrating the higher branches of the government. According to Eustace Mullins, Old Lampman [97:60], who had worked in the Treasury Depart- ment during the 1930s said: "Men who had been in the Treasury Department all their
1ives were suddenly shunted aside and stripped of their power. We were told to clear everything with new officials, such as Harry Dexter White" [EM, Difficult, 315- 316].
93. Nap III: Napoleon (16:24; 38:59; 74:464].
III,
99. Ideogram: Kao [M3290], "noble"
100. Ideogram: Tsung [M6896], "ances- tor. " The emperor Woo-Ting of the Chang dynasty was known posthumously as Kao Tsung. He ruled from 1324-1265, a total of 59 years, as the text says. He was a good emperor who wanted to restore the values of the dynasty's founder, Ch'eng T'ang.
101. Whetstone . . . clouds: Upon appoint- ing Yueh as prime minister, Kao Tsung outM lined the ways a good minister would serve his emperor, and the way he would make use of his minister: "Suppose me a weapon of steel;-I will use you for a whetstone. Sup? pose me crossing a great stream;-I will use you for a boat with its oars. Suppose me in a year of great drought;-I will use you as a copious rain. "
102. jou tso li: French transliteration of ju [M3142] tso [M6780] Ii [M3909]: "Use
you as a whetstone. "
103. cymba et remis: L, "boat and oar. " The character for lin 2 [M4026],~, which means "long-continued rain," has several components: the lower ones mean "trees"; the upper one means "rain. " Pound sees "trees prop up clouds. "
104. Praecognita . . . moveas: L, "Know (beforehand) the good so that you may move yourself. " Part of Kao Tsung's advice to his minister. The sentence is followed by another which translates, "And act only if the time is right. "
105. Ideogram: French "lill," lu [M4292], "consider. " Ideo: French "cheu," shih [M5780] , "time. "
106. "Fatigare . . . revereri": L, "Immoder- ate sacrifice is called irreverence. " Advice of Prime Minister Yueh to the emperor. He added: "Ceremonies when burdensome lead to disorder. To serve the spirits properly is difficult. " These ideas are repeated in Apol- lonius of Tyana as a subject rhyme . (94:42].
107. Fou iue: French form of Fu Yueh, the name of Kao Tsung's prime minister.
68. Ideogram: nitions,"
Chiai
[M627],
"admo-
69. pivot: NB: "Chung Yung," or "the Un- wobbling Pivot. " The emperor will become such a pivot from which all goods will flow if he follows the precepts of Yin.
70. quam . . . Imperatoris: L, "how [pure] is the soul of the emperor. "
simple
71. III. 6 xi: Couvreur 1II, VI, 9, 11, pp. 130-131 has the Latin and French for the following, but Pound inserts the characters (in his own order) for the expostulation from Legge IV, VI, iv, 9,11, pp. 218-219.
72. Ideogram: Huo [M2412], "to seize" (1st character, right-hand column).
73. Ideogram: Tzu [M6960], "self. " 74. Ideogram: Chin [M! 082], "all. "
75. Ideogram: P'i [M5l70], "an ordinary person. "
76. Ideogram: Fu [MI908], "husband" (lst character, left-hand column).
77. Ideogram: P'i [M5170], "one of a pair; a mate. "
78. Ideogram: Fu [MI963], "wife. "
79. Bill of Rights: In the seven characters, Pound has left Qut a negative in his source. Legge, with the negative condition, gives: "If ordinary men and women do not find the opportunity to give full development to their virtue," The sentence ends: "the peo- ple's lord will be without the proper aids to
complete his merit. "
80. P'an: The name of the reign of the 17th emperor of the Chang dynasty: P'an Keng. Legge says that more than 3 centuries were left blank in the histories between the young king, T'ai Chia, and P'an Keng.
81. Ideogram: P'an Keng [M4903], emper- or, 1401-1373. He moved the capital to Yin
94. Proclamation:
elected as president of the French Republic in 1848, made plans and arrangements to outfox his enemies and successfully became by proclamation, Dec. 1, 1852, emperor of the French. He cultivated different groups in different ways and only a few knew what he was up to before faced with the fait accomM plio This thought leads to a reflection about U. S. university education, by which students are kept off the labor market and never learn anythlng about the economic conspiracy being practiced against them.
T
Louis Napoleon
95. prezzo giusto: I, "just price. " A major concept in Poundian economics in which an important document is 11 Giusto prezzo nel Media Aveo by Sac. L. P. Cairoli [SP,323].
96. UBI JUS VAGUM: L, "Where law is uncertain. " Prob. a variant on the adage, Ubi jus incerturn, ibi jus nullurn ("Where law is uncertain, there is no law"), as well as on Aristotle's maxim, "Good law means good order" [Politics VII, 4] [DJN].
97. Alexander: [cf. 88 above].
98. T'ang: [53:40; 74:29] The "Make it New" emperor.
? 474
85/550-551
85/551-552
475
108. III. viii, II. : Location of the Latin quote in Couvreur.
109. Ideogram: French "tchoung," chung [76:54].
110. in rites not flame-headed: The charac- ter for "burdensome" [106 above] is fan: 'j( ~: the left component is "fire"; the right
component is "head. " Hence, Pound's "Flame? headed. "
111. "Up to then . . . : The emperor, Kao- Tsung, said to his minister Yueh: "Come, 0 Vue. I, the little one, first learned with Kan Pwan. Afterwards, I lived concealed in the rude country. . . and the result has been that I am unenlightened. "
119. Tch'eng T'ang: Ch'eng T'ang [cf. 5 above ] .
120. Ideogram: Chen [M346], "direction. "
121. You will go . . . : Yueh answers Kao's appeal for advice On how to be a good em? peror by defining the proper subjects of study. Pound summarizes by the 1/2- research-l/2? observation? etc.
device, adding to this the practices of T'ang, the founder of the dynasty. He says if Kao Tsong will do these things he will not slip or slop over in his rule.
122. Nisi . . . regil: L, "Unless he does not rule with the wise. " Kao responds to Yueh's advice and says in effect, "an emperor must rule through ministers who are wise. "
123. "Best you retire: Pound jumps 200 years to the end of the Shang dynasty. The grand tutor, viscount of Ki, tells Wei, son of the emperor Shou, to retire from the court before ruin comes.
124. nunquam ego: L, "not 1. " Ki said: "You go but not 1. "
125. Ideogram: Wang [M7045], "not. "
126. Ideogram: Pou, p'u [M5401] ,"servant. "
127. Ki: The grand tutor to Prince Wei. 128. Corea: Korea.
129. "abire decere": L, "it is best to go. " The passage that ties these lines together is Ki's advice to the prince: "Calamity now befalls the house of Shang. I will arise and share in its ruin; for when Shang has fallen, I will not be servant or minister to another dynasty. I recommend, that for you, the emperor's son, it is best to go away. . . . If the emperor's son does not leave, we (the house of Shang] will perish. " Wei did leave and Ki remained to be imprisoned for a while; but because of his virtue and wisdom he was eventually freed and sent to Corea to govern. Another story has it that he feigned madness and was released by King Wu of the
new Chou dynasty and then fled to Corea.
130. Meng-ford: From the phrase that fol- lows ("t3 houei Meng tsin"), which means "greatly assembled at Meng Ford. " It is part of the first line of the Great Declaration, which consists of three speeches King Wu gave to his officers and people after his con? quest of the Shang dynasty [Pt. IV, Chap. I, Couvreur's Chou King].
131. Heou Tsi . . . Tan Fou: A summary of a Couvreur historical note that traces the history of the royal family of the Chou dynasty, showing the results of the watch- word "our dynasty came in because of a great sensibility," a reprise of the opening of the canto [cf. 2 above]. Grieve has a note that gives much in little: I'Tan Fou . . . was the great-grandfather of Wu Wang, the king who, continuing the rebellion of his father, Wen Wang, defeated the tyrant emperor Chou Hsin [last of the Shang dynasty] and in 1122 B. C. founded the Chou dynasty. It was Tan Fou who first established the Chou state at the foot of Mount Ki in 1326 B. C. King Wan . . . passed on the Chou hereditary dominions to his son . . . Wu Wang. "
132. Les moeurs . . . fleurit: F, "The morals had been reformed; virtue flourished. "
133. Ideogram: Ling [cf. I above]. We re- turn to the ~de0. 991m that opened this canto. While Po~es several other characters to stand for the virtue, humanity, and sensitive. ness of the individual, he uses this one to tie together the processes of heaven with the processes of nature and the Confucian ideals of order in man. Just as the transcendant order of Neoplatonic thought is imaged by the heavens and clouds being reflected in water, so here the sky? cloud components on the top of this character, with the rain in the center and the earth-ceremonies of the bot? tom components, imply in parallel fashion the harmony that results when the processes of heaven's will are reflected in the actions of the emperor who has the good of the people at heart. Note too the way the three components of ling articulate with the three panels of Cosimo Tura [79:25].
134. Ad Meng vadum: L, "At the ford of Meng. "
135. Huang Ho: "Yellow River. "
136. eh' e' ditta dentro: I, "which he dic- tates within me" [Pur. XXIV, 54]. Bona- giunta of Lucca asks Dante if he is the one "who brought forth new rhymes, beginning: Ladies that have understanding of love? " Dante answers him, "I am one who, when Love inspires me, takes note, and goes set? ting it forth after the fashion which he dic- tates within me" [Singleton].
137. Cheou . . . aerumnas: L, "Chou inflicts calamities. " This Chou is the last emperor of the Shang dynasty. In the spring at the ford of Meng, Wu Wang spoke to his officers and people: "Heaven and earth are the parents of all things; and of all things, man alone has reason. He who is most intelligent and per? spicacious becomes the supreme sovereign; and the supreme sovereign becomes the par? ents of the people. Now Chou [Che6u], the emperor of Shang, does not stand in awe of heaven above and inflicts calamities on the people below. " .
138. Ideogram: Ts'oung, ts'ung [M6916], "astute. "
139. Ideogram: Tan [M6048]'''sincere. ''
140. Ideogram: Ming [M4534], "intelli- gent. " This character is central to Pound's idea of divinity manifesting itself through the intelligence of man [CON, 20].
141. tso iuen heou: French for tso [M6780], "to make"; yuan [M7707], 'Ichief, great"; hou [M2144J, "king. " "To be a great sovereign. "
142. "Gentlemen . . . : King Wu (chief ruler of the West) went On to tell his people (from the western states) more reasons why heaven desired him to overthrow the emperor and become ruler of all the Middle Kingdom. Legge translates: "Oh' my valiant men of the West, Heaven has enjoined the illustrious courses of duty, of which the several charac? ters are quite plain. "
112. chung . . . : Chung
result"; wang [M70451, "in vain"; hsien
[M2692], "seems. " "The result seems to have been in vain. "
113. Imperator . . .
peror. Just as wine and must" [see 115 below].
114. directio: L, "direction," Evokes "di? rection of the will," a major theme of the poem. The word does not occur in Cou- vreur's Latin. Instead of combining it with "voluntatis," as he usually does [77:57], Pound combines it here with a Chinese word for will: "tcheu," or chih [M971], "determi- nation; will. "
115. fennentum . . . : L, "fermentation and fruit [seeds/grain]. " These words, along with the Latin in 113 above, are fragments of a whole sentence of Kao Tsung to Vueh which says: "Be to me as the yeast and the malt in making sweet spirits; as the salt and the prunes in making agreeable soup. "
116. study . . . hawk: More ofYueh's advice to the emperor.
117. tao tsi: French translation for tao [M6136], "truth" and chi [M500], "store up. "
118. T? xv7]: H [context of 49 above], "skill in an art. "
[MI500],
"the end
mustum: L,
"The ern?
? 476
85/552-554
85/554-555
477
143. Ideogram: Hsien [M2692], "mani- fest. " Legge translates as "quite plain"; Pound says "perfectly clear. "
144. Ideogram: Wu [M7195], "warlike; fierce. " The title of the first ruler of the Chou dynasty. One day Wu came to the borders of Shang and addressed his army: "In his left had he carried a battle-axe, yel- low with gold, and in his right he held a white ensign, which he brandished, saying, 'Far are ye come; ye men of the Western regions. ' "
145. "e canta la gallina"; I, "and the hen crows. " Couvreur's Latin gives "Gallinae rna? tutinus cantus est domus exinanitio. " In French, "Le chant de la paule Ie matin an- nonce la ruine de la famille" ("The crowing of a hen in the morning indicates the ruin of the family"). King Wu [in the speech in 144 above] is showing that Emperor Chou ("Cheou" in the canto) erred in following the counsel of his women rather than at? tempting to follow the will of heaven. Pound may have put it in Italian because the phrase recalled an old "skipping rope song": "trene? ta, quaranta / la gallina canta / e canta nel pollaio, / e cana nel cortile" [Mondolfo, Pai,
3-2, 286].
146. ganged up: Wu accuses Chou of having for ministers and officers men "who are only the vagabonds of the empire, loaded with crimes . . . making them great officers and nobles. "
147. "6 steps . . . fugitives": Wu's speech to the army continues with instructions on how to fight: "In today's business, do not ad- vance more than six blows, or seven blows; and then stop and adjust your ranks. . . . Do not rush on those who fly to us in sllb~ mission. "
concern the 'decisive battle at which King Wu defeated the forces of Cheou: "[Cheou] led forward his hosts like a forest, and as~ sembled them in the wilderness of Muh. "
151. quasi silvam convenit: L, "like a forest assembled. "
152. jo lin: Jo [M3126], "like. " Ideogram: lin [M4022], "forest. " "Like a forest. "
153. "Liking . . . no man. ": The sources not provide this precise sentence, which may be Pound's summary judgment of the ac~ tions ofWu.
154. The 4th part: Refers to Book IV, Part IV of Couvreur's Chou King, which is called "The Great Plan. " The chapter con- cerns details, "marginalia," about the duties of government.
. . .
156. T'oung .
