No More Learning

78. "I cannot . . . : In a letter from st. Petersburg dated October 31, 1832, B. wrote: "I fear 1 cannot with truth defend the chastity of the Empress Catherine [the Great]. She was a disciple of the school of the French philosophers, and was therefore wholly destitute of religion-the surest safe? guard of female virtue" [Buchanan, J, 154].
79. Emperor . . . : To the secretary of state, B. wrote, August 7, 1833: "On Monday last. . . I had my audience of leave of the emperor [Nicholas I] . . . . The conduct and conversation of his majesty throughout the interview were highiy gratifying to myself. "
There follows a long account of what was said, in the middle of which we read: "The emperor afterwards observed that the En- glish nation had, in his opinion, been acting very unwisely. They had got tired of a con- stitution under which they had risen to a high degree of greatness, and which had se? cured them many blessings, and he feared they were now about to prostrate their most valuable institutions" [Buchanan, I, 214]. The talk was about the Reform Bill of 1832.
80. The French . . . : In the same letter, B. said he would return to the U. S. via Paris: "I said 1 had no particular desire to visit Paris . . . but it would be considered strange for an American to return from Europe without. . . . He said I was quite right in my intention to visit Paris. The French were a singular people. They were so fickle in their character, and had such a restless desire to disturb the peace of the world that they were always dangerous" [ibid. ].
81. Napoleon's taxe? . . . : On his way home B. stopped at various places in Prussia where the people yearned for the good old days of Napoleon: "The old maitre d' hotel at Ber- gheim, who has kept a public house for years . . . told me that the taxes were not half so heavy under Napoleon as they were at present" [ibid. , 219].
438]. B. was speaking in favor of a bill that would prevent the new Bank of the U. S. in Pa. from circulating notes of the old Bank of the United States, which no longer existed.
84. . English income tax: In 1844 B. wrote about a proposed new income tax: "The income tax of England has never been re- sorted to except in? cases of extreme necessi- ty. That tax at present . . . imposes seven pence per pound upon the annual rent of land and houses, upon the income from ti- tles. " There follows a detailed list. Then: "The income tax has always been odious in England; and it will prove to be so, if carried to anything like the same extent in this country" [ibid. , 527].
85. Vic's character: In 1853 (not 1852), as minister for Pierce to Great Britain, B. wrote a letter to his niece, Miss Lane, in which he described his presentation to the queen: "She has not many personal charms, but is gracious and dignified in her manners, and her character is without blemish" [Bucha-
tion, which since the recent legislation of Congress, is without any legitimate object. It is the evil omen of the times that men have undertaken to calculate the mere material value of the Union" [Buchanan, II, 190].
88. A grant from States: Later in his ad? dress, B. took a firm stand on another ques- tion of great controversy: "The Federal Con- stitution is a grant from the States to Congress of certain specific powers; and the question whether this grant should be liber? ally or strictly construed, has, more or less, divided political parties from the beginning. Without entering into the argument, 1 desire to state, at the commencement of my admi- nistration, that long experience and observa- tion have convinced me that a strict con- struction of the powers of the Government is the only true, as well as the only safe, theory of the Constitution" [Buchanan, II, 192]. Ironically, the emphasis of states rights became one of the specific causes of the Civil War, which loomed darkly ahead.
82. Buchanan . . . hRooshuns:
a series of frustrating negotiations, with ups and downs, to conclude a commercial treaty. On June 22, 1832 he wrote: "I am not with? out hope of succeeding in the negotiation"
[ibid. , 164]. On Dec. 20, 1832 he wrote: "I have now the pleasure of transmitting to you a treaty of commerce and navigation, which was signed on Tuedsay last . . . between the United States and Russia" [ibid. , 171].
83. bank system: In 1838, now a U. S. sena- tor, B. made a lengthy speech on the bank system, in which he referred to an earlier speech he had made: "It is true that at the special session I did endeavor to prove that the present banking system, under its exis~ ting regulations, was one of the very worst which the art of man could devise" [ibid. ,
86. Daily Telegraph: Problems about Cen? tral America, including Panama and the islands of the Caribbean, continued to raise hostile reactions in the British press. In 1856 B. wrote: "The Times is a mighty power in the state; and I have adopted means, through the agency of a friend, to prevent that jour? nal from committing itself. . . . The tone of the other journals has not been satisfactory; and the Daily Telegraph has been evidently bought over, and become hostile to the United States" [Buchanan, II, 119].
87. (his "Inaugural"): In his inaugural ad? dress in March 1857, B. devoted much of his text to hopes that the slavery question for new territories seeking to become states had finally been resolved and that, on the ques- tion, the passions of the nation could be quieted. The recently adopted Kansas? Nebraska Act provided that the question would be decided by the people of a state itself. B. appealed to all to let the issue be: "Let every Union-loving man, therefore, ex- ert his best influence to suppress this agita-
B. undertook
? -
nan, II,
lOa].
89. nec Templum
rem: L, "he
neither
. . .
built the temple nor restored anything. "
Prob. a reference to Buchanan, a dedicated man filled with good intentions whose work came to naught.
90. Winter in Pontus: A place at the eastern edge of the Roman Empire, subject to mili? tary raids, to which Ovid was banished by Augustus, perhaps with the thought that he would not survive. His "Letters from Pon- tus" are filled with accounts of the dangers of the place and the miseries of the climate.
91. Sulmona: Town in central Italy, NE of Rome, the birthplace of Ovid. Pound makes several references to the lion sculptures there
[105:8].
92. Federico . . . Falcon: [25:14].
93. Orsi: (I, "I am also an old Syracusan. ") Paolo 0. , 1859? 1935, Italian archaeologist out of Austria who pioneered in excavating and researching sites in Sicily and Italy. As director of the museum at Syracuse from 1888, he devoted himself to discovering and exploring dozens of new sites and estab-
? ? ? ? 674
lished the four? period chronology of the
area's early inhabitants from the prehistoric
to the Byzantine. He published 300 titles and edited the Bullettino di paleontologia italiana and the Archivia storico della Cola? bria e Lucania.
103/736-737
104. Lupus . . . : L, "a wolf companion of the journey" [96:25].
104/738 675 Background
EP, Speaking, 400; George H. Dunne, S. l, Generation of Giants, University of Notre Dame, 1962 [Dunne, Giants] ; Julian Amery, Approach March, A Venture in Autobiography, Hutchinson, Lon? don, 1973; Viscount Templewood, Nine Troubled Years, Collins, London, 1954; Igantius Balla, The Romance of the Rothschilds, Eveleigh Nash, London, 1913; Virginia Cowles, TheRothschilds, A Family of Fortune, Knopf, New York, 1973; J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy, London, 1897? 99; M. von Wolff, Lorenzo Valla, Leipzig, 1893 [Wolff, Valla]; Bernard J. Poli, Ford Madox Ford and the Transatlantic Review, Syracuse, 1967.
Exegeses
John Peck, Agenda, vol. 9, nos. 2? 3, 1971,26? 29; Jamila Ismail, Agenda, vol. 9, nos. 2? 3, 1971,70? 87; CFT,Pai, 3? 1,90? 122; NS, Reading, Ill; MSB, Pai, 3? 3, 332; John Peck, Pai, 2? 1,144; FR, P/J, 216? 221; MB, Trace, 418-423; William Cookson,A Guide to The Cantos, inedit [WC, Guide].
Glossary
94. Arab
. . .
Sweden: Said Del
Mar: "A
106. edicti prologo: L, "with a prologue to the edict" [96:271]. The edict of Leo the Wise.
107. dope . . . use: Not in the source in this
apparent sense. But Paul the Deacon men-
tions a drink that drove the king out of his mind [Migne, 582] [BK].
108. Puteum . . .
: L, "'I shall fill a well with the testicles of clericS,' said Alchis. "
109. Alchis: The Brescian duke Alachis (or Alahis) tried to take power from King Cu? ningpert of Lombardy [96:40]. He uttered the line after he had killed an Arian? heretical prelate who he thought was the king
[Migne, 620].
110. Das Leihkapital: G, "the loan? capital. "
I l l . Mensdorf letter: A letter written by Count Albert Mensdorf [19:22] to Nicholas Murray Butler, 28 June, 1928, who was then Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. Mensdorf recommended a study of the causes of wars and included a list as a starter [EH,Pai, 1? 2, 273? 275; IMP, 281? 283]. A note in Impact says that Pound helped draft the letter.
barbaric imitation o f Byzantine coin o f the
fifth century was found in Mallgard, Got? land" [HMS, 119]. Gotland is an island of SE Sweden in the Baltic Sea.
95. Fortuna: [96/656].
96. Raleigh . . . usury: [97:191].
97. Wodan . . . : L, "Wodan has charge of power" [Migne, 95, 447? 448].
98. Frieo: [Fricco]: A major Lombardic
god who presided over peace and sexual
pleasures [ibid. ].
99. voluptatem: L, "pleasure" [ibid. ].
100. Agelmund: [97:268].
101. quae . . . sacrificiis: L, "which from frankincense they were accustomed in their sacrifices" [96:3].
102. Roma: [96:5]. 103. Brennus: [96:7].
1. Na Khi . . . game: Source in Rock [110:54] : "The region here is wild, and not a breath of air is stirring in the forest. . . Not a human soul dwells here" [Rock, II,
235? 6n. ;Pai, 3? 1,105].
2. Mihailovitch: Draja Mikhailovitch, 1893? ? 1946, Serbian revolutionary who fought on the monarchist side against the axis, as did Croatian underground leader Marshall Josef Tito, who sided with the Communists. But M. 's guerilla group, the Chetniks, was in every way ? antithetical to Tito's Partisans. The ideological crosS- purposes and confusions of all WWII alii? ances were played out in microcosm by the struggles of these two. Although M:s force did not want to fight for any totalitarian power, it did sign up with the Communists to fight the Nazis. The situation behind the- canto lines is complicated. In 1941 some people in the British Foreign Office ("F. O. ") wanted to support M. rather than Tito be? cause he had been pro? British in the Balkan Wars and in WWI and would be more reliable to deal with after the war than Tito would be. But the pro? Communist forces in the
government won out and support went to
Tito rather than M. M. was by all his acts an Allied hero, but after the war he was tried by Tito in a glare of pUblicity. In spite of worldwide protest, he was found guilty and executed. The world concluded that internal political considerations dictated the sentence rather than his guilt. Julian Amery in his autobiography, Approach March, has a po? lite but detailed statement of the affair [see "Mihailovitch, General Draja" in the index]. - The "young lout" could be any member of the Communist party then high up in the British government (Burgess and Blunt come to mind); the "old lout" is prob. someone close to the foreign secretary or even to Churchill himself.
3. young S. : Unidentified, but pass. young
Jan Smuts who is mentioned by Amery as pro-Mihailovitch. The connection between the "Na-Khi" lines and the "F. O. " lines is one of time and theme: Dr. Rock in 1941 is exploring the paradisal scene of peace in the Mekon,g mountains; meanwhile, back in Eu- rope, etc.
CANTO CIY
Sources
Joseph Rock, The Ancient Na-Khi Kingdom ofSouthwest China, 2 vols. , Harvard University Press, 1947 [Rock, vol. , p. ]; Seraphin Couvreur, Chou King, Cathasia, 1950; Ovid, Fasti, VoL I, V; Allen Upward, The Divine Mystery, London, New York, 1910 [Upward, Mystery]; L A. Waddell, Indo? Summertan Seals Deci? phered, London, 1925 [Seals]; Dante, Par. XV, 70? 87.
lOS. Rothar . . . : L, heresy" [96:27,28].
"Rothar
of the
Arian
? ? 676
104/738-739
104/739-740
4. Lepanto: The naval battle in 1571 at which the Christian powers defeated the Turkish fleet and prevented the Ottoman Empire from controlling the Mediterranean and the Balkans. Pound's contention is that the banks in power (after the battle) con- trolled the outlets of money and depreciated the value of the printed currency. The con- nection between Lepanto and the WWII Bal- kans is "the same old story. "
5. Ling: [85:1]. C, "sensibility. " If the ethics of the West were grounded in ling, we would not have the conditions suggested by the preceding glosses.
6. semina: L, "seeds. " A part of the musical figure semina motuum [90:24]: "seeds in qIotion. " Paraphrase: Only by a great human sensibility will the seeds that might blossom into a paradisio terrestre be put into motion.
7. Ideogram: Wu [M7164], "ritual," the bottom component of ling.
8. And a $ . . . : The results of a managed and calculated depreciation of the currency.
9. Procope: [102: 15].
10. Dondo: Mathurin Marius D. , 1884-? , French playwright and poet who made adap- tations of medieval pieces. Pound wrote in a letter to WCW, Dec. 1913: "Dondo has turned up again after years of exile. He is in Paris, has met De Gourmont. We printed a page of his stuff, verse, in The N. F. last
week. I think he will do something" [L,28]. 11. Tabarin: [80:26]. French restaurant
and nightclub.
12. Moulin Rouge: A nightclub favored by a number of the modernist painters as well as the beau monde.
13. Degas: H. G. EdgarD. , 1834-1917, one of the most important of the impressionist painters.
14. La Concorde: The Degas painting Place de la Concorde (paris, c. 1875) has a per- spective from the center of the square to the Chamber of Deputies in the distance. A fam- ily group is in the right foreground. The
painting shows only what the eye catches at a glimpse.
. . .
nephew of Sir Samuel Hoare), an employee
of the Bank of Egypt who got from Addis Ababa all the gold Haile Selassie had hidden under his bed [80: 307] . The Bank of Egypt was in effect a branch of the Bank of En- gland, whose interest in the Lion of Judah dintinished after they had the gold [BK, Pai, 12-2 &3]. Sir Samuel Hoare, British foreign secretary 1835-1836, was given the job of forestalling the Italian occupation of Ethi- opa. Hoare said of Haile Selassie's rule: "The Amharic Government of Addis Ababa had little authority over the tribes and races of the south and west, Gallas, Somalis, Leiba and Shifta wandering gangs, disloyal Rases, anti-Christian Moslems, Arab slave traders and intriguing adventurers, who one and all did much as they liked in this remnant of Medieval Africa. However good the inten- tions of the Emperor, his writ scarcely ran beyond the limits of his palace" [Temple- wood, Nine Troubled Years, ISO].
25. Londres' books . . . : Albert L. during the 20s and 30s published a series of well- written exposes of oppression and corrup- tion, dealing with: black oppression (Terre d'Ebene, 1929); prison conditions (Au Bague, 1932); white slavery (Le Chemin de Buenos Aires, 1927); mental institutions (Chez les fous, 1925); drug traffic in China (La Chine enfolie, 1925). "His Le juif errant est arrive (1930) is a sympathetic treatment of the Zionist cause which denounces the persecution of Jews in Central Europe" [Sie- burth, Pai, 5-2, 293].
26. pine-needles: [101:46].
27. 2mua"u Ibpo: C, "sacrifice to heaven. "
15. Seurat's":
French post~impressionist painter whose pointillism (tiny dots of pure color) suggest "splintered light. "
16. Pitagora: Pythagoras, the well-spring of Neoplatonic light-philosophy.
17. Disraeli. . Parliament: [48:19; 89:156]. In one of his broadcasts Pound said: "Subversion was not invented in the days of Disraeli" [Speaking, 400]. But Pound believes that under his leadership and with his example it was brought to a point of perfection. The "bitching England"con- cerns D's deals with the house of Roth- schild to buy the controlling interest of the Suez Canal [86:61].
18. Wolff: Henry Wolff (b. 1931), poet, writer, and perennial student (in 1982 at UC Berkeley). Sometime during the mid-fifties H. W. allowed John Kaspar, a close friend, to use his apartment in N. Y. Since Pound was writing to Kaspar often and addressing his
letters c/o Henry Wolff, the name became familiar to him. Prob. the "double ff' indi- cated Jewish descent to Pound, even though the spelling does not indicate anything for certain. The association is prob. because of Pound's idea of Disraeli as a Jewish "Wolfman. "
19.