of Wiseon- sin (1920-25) and at Yale (1925-39); author of History of the Ancient World (1924-26) and Social and
Economic
History of the Hellenistic World (1941).
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
Verona: I, "the Program of Verona.
" The manifesto written by Musso- lini and adopted in November as the princi- ples of action of his new republic at Salo.
20. Sirmio: [74:50]. On Lake Garda.
78/477-478 21. Foresteria: J, the part of a monastery
where visitors are housed.
22. Salo, Gardone: Place where Mussolini lingered to dream the RepUblic. In establish- ing the "Repubblica Sociale" at Salo, M said that Fascism had made a romantic mistake in not doing away with the monarchy in 1922: "The Fascist Revolution stopped short of the throne. . . . As things have turned out, the Crown has expiated with its fan the dagger it stuck in the back of the Fascist regime and the unpardonable crime it perpetrated upon the nation. But the nation can come to life again only under the auspices of a republic" [Fang, III, 70].
23. San Sepolchro: Town in Arezzo Prov- ince, central Italy, but also the name of the square in Milan (Piazza San Sepolcro) where Mlaunched his Fascist career.
24. four bishops . . . altar: On his long walk north from Rome [77:99], Pound stopped in Milan and saw the results of bombing attacks.
25. la fede: I, "the faith. " An important
slogan of Fascism.
26. Goedel: Carl G. , member of the English
section concerned with radio broadcasting,
1942-1943, and later with the propaganda agencies of the Salo RepUblic.
27. Naxos: [2:14]. Naxos was the island
Dionysus stopped at on his way home.
Before that, Theseus had stopped there on
his return home from slaying the minotaur in Crete, Pound thus sees himself, as did both Dionysus and Theseus, on his way home. The 15 lines concern his walk from Rome to Gais [M de R, 190].
28. Fara Sabina: A locality a little north of
Rome. The lines following in quotes are scraps of phrases people said to him on his walk.
29. minestra: I, "soup. "
30. it zaino: I, "the knapsack. " Pound said this.
78/478-479
31. branda: I, "folding bed" or "camp
bed,"
32. Bologna: City he walked through on his way north.
417 43. Blood: Probably the name of a DTC
"trainee" all of whom had their names
stencilled on their prison garb. Steele says he "could have been 'the cheerful reflective nigger' in the latrine" [Fai, 12-2 & 3, 297].
44. Slaughter: Colonel Steele remembers him as "a black soldier" [ibid].
45. Pallas: Athena [21:53].
46. ! ! . iKlJ: H, "justice. " This epithet is used because of Athena's function at the end of the Oresteia, where the chorus acts as a jury and the goddess casts the determining ballot and finds Orestes innocent in the name ofjustice.
record
33. Gruss Gott
. . .
gekommen:
G, "God
bless us," "The Master! " "Daddy has corne! "
South German dialect [EH]. The first half
was a greeting to Pound when he arrived at
Gais and the last half was said by his daugh- ter Mary.
34. Roma . . . terras: [77:161]. 35. and . . . Latium: These 4
lines are quoted from the Aeneid, translated by the Scottish Bishop Gawin Douglas. In 1917 Pound quoted from the same passage about the trials of Aeneas: "Grete payne in bat- telles, suffered he also / On he his gaddis, brocht in Latio / And belt the ciete, fra quham of nobil fame / The Latyne peopil,
. . .
taken has thare name" [LE,245].
36. bricabrac: Pound said: "Literature that
tries to avoid the consideration of causes
remains silly bric-a-brac" [SF, 272].
37. "each one . . . ": [74:353; 76:60]. A
quote from Micah 4. 5.
38. Gaudier: [77:80].
39. Hulme: [16:27].
40. Wyndham: Percy W. Lewis, 1882-1957, a British writer and painter Pound defended and promoted for a lifetime, Lewis joined with Gaudier-Brzeska and Pound to establish Vorticism and publish Blast. His birth-date is often given as 1884 because he made himself two years younger to enhance his precocity
[HK].
41. Mana aboda: Title of a poem by T. E.
Hulme [F,252].
48. front name . . . : A recurrent axiom of
Fascist thought which Pound repeats often
in his prose: "We are tired of a government in which there is no responsible person having a front name, a hind name and an address" [Exile, no. 4, Autumn 1928, 5;see also FE, 101; Exile, no. 2, 1927, 117; ABCE, 119;SF,261].
49. "not a right . . . ": A Mussolini state-
ment, "La liberta non e un diritto: e un
dovere" (Liberty is not a right but a duty),
was a part of the Fascist credo Pound
endorsed; he had it printed on his stationery. He used Liberta un Dovere as the epigraph for Carta da Visita [SF,306].
SO. "Presente! ": I, "Present. " A significant word at Fascist gatherings: " I t [Fascism] even has the mystery of Transubstantiation. For members who have died in great ex- ploits . . . . When the roll is called, and the unbreathing lips remain silent, his circle of Fascist comrades reply, 'Presente! ''' The prayer of the Fascist militia says in part: "Oh, God, who lights every flame and strengthens every heart, renew my passion for Italy in me day by day! Make me worthier of our dead, so that they them- selves-ever strongly-shall answer to the living, 'Presente! . ,. Amen'" [Finer, M's
42. Steele . . . : Lt.
manding officer of the DTC. Col. Steele later "could understand" the accusation o f sadism. The record seems to show that he went quite a way beyond express orders to allow Pound privileges [King, "Steele," 50].
Col. John
Steele,
com-
47. "definition
a scene but not define meaning.
": A
camera may
? 418
Italy, 360; quoted Fang, 1II, 83]. M de R
objected to this as a gross overstatement.
51. merrda. . . swine: Presumed accom- plishments of Mussolini Pound mentions often [41/202].
52. Sitalkas . . . Upward: [74:272].
53. Pellegrini: Giampietro P. (b. 1899), finance minister o f Salo Republic. On November 27, 1943 he told M he would allot 125,000 lira a month to him as chief of state. M refused the money, saying that "4000 lira for his family of four would be more than ample. " But Pellegrini insisted and M "agreed to the sum, but on Decem- ber 27, 1944 he had the further payment of the money stopped. " M seemed suspi- cious that that much money should honestly be there [Fang, III, 87-88].
54. Justinian: [65: 126; 77:44; 94:45].
55. Titus: T. Flavius Vespasianus, A. D. 9-79, Roman emperor (69-79) noted for administrative and financial reforms that salvaged the empire from the critical state it was left in by Nero. "He was industrious, and the simplicity of his life was taken as a model. . . . He cultivated a bluff manner, characteristic of the humble origins he liked to recall. His initial appointments . . . reflect his astuteness in building a powerful partyJ
78/479-480
tive column in the Campus Martius" [OCD, 76]. Pound mentions A. often in his prose: "[One] can . . . find the known beginnings of usury entangled with those of marine insurance, sea lawyers, the law of Rhodes, the disputed text of Antoninus Pius on the limits of his jurisdiction" [SP, 272; cf. 58 below].
57. lex Rhodi: L, "the law of Rhodes" [42:4].
58. private misfortune: Said Pound: "the
cultural tradition with regard to money . . .
may be traced . . . from the indignation of Antoninus Pius, that people should attempt to exploit other people's misfortunes (e. g. , shipwrecks . . . )" [SP,311].
59. Rostovseff: Michael Ivanovich Rosto- vtzeff, 1870-1952, American historian; pro- fessor of classical philology and ancient history at St. Petersburg, Fla. (1901-18), professor of ancient history at U.
of Wiseon- sin (1920-25) and at Yale (1925-39); author of History of the Ancient World (1924-26) and Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World (1941).
60. Mencius. . . verse 7: In quoting from
the passage indicated, Pound said in "Mang Tsze" [Mencius]: "'Nothing is worse than a fixed tax. ' A fixed tax on grain is in bad years a tyranny, a tithe proper, no tyranny" [SP,89].
61. T'ang Wan Kung: C, "Duke Wan of T'ang": title of Book III of The Works of Mencius.
62. grillo: I, "cricket,"
63. quattrocento: I, "fifteenth century. "
64. o-hon. . . tout: F, imitation of collo-
quial language: "It is sometimes said in the village / that a helmet has no use / none at all / It is only good to give courage / to those who don't have any at all" [29:30].
65. Salzburg: Austrian city famous for its
annual Mozart festival.
66. Qui . . . gamba: I,
the cricket / Piano (softly), the bass viol. "
78/480-481
67. Wolfgang: W. Amadeus Mozart. 68. Lake Garda: [76:90].
69. Tailhade: Laurent T. , 1854-1919, French poet.
70. "Willy": Henri Gauthier-Villars, 1859- 1931, a French novelist, essayist, and biographer, nicknamed "Willy. "
71. Mockel: Albert Henri Louis M. , 1866- 1945, Belgian-French poet and critic, the founder (1886) and editor of La Wallonie, a magazine o f the Belgian symbolists. His strange aesthetic came to a climax in The
Immortal Flame (1924).
72. en casque . . . : F, "in pink crystal
helmets the mountebanks," from Ballet, by Stuart Merrill [cf. "Essay on French Poets," MIN, 232], a poem first published in La Wallonie.
73. cakeshops . . . Nevsky: [16:42; 74:183]. 74. Sirdar: [74:175].
75. Armenonville: [74:236].
76. Kashmiri: I, "of Kashmir. " [19:34].
77. Mozart's house: Not the house in which he was born but the Mozart-Haus in the Schwarz-Strasse (Salzburg), "built in 1912- 14 by the international 'Stiftung mozar-
419
Guelph-Ghibelline factions. When he became the head of his house in 1239, he became the leading Ghibelline and in 1248 took part in the expUlsion of the Guelphs. The Guelphs returned and in 1258 expelled the Ghibel- lines. But with the help of the Sienese, Farinata led his men to the battle of Monta- perti (1260) and crushed the Guelphs. At the council at EmpoH afterwards, it was proposed that Florence be completely destroyed and reduced to the status of a village. According to Villani, "When this proposal was made, the valiant and wise knight, Messer Farinata degli Uberti, arose and opposed it . . . saying . . . that such talk was madness . . . . So long as there was life in his body, he said, he would defend the city with sword in hand. " He prevailed. But because he was posthumously condemned as a heretic, Dante places him in the 6th circle of Hell. When F. rises up out of his tomb in Hell to speak with Dante, his arrogance is described by his attitude: "Com' avesse I' inferno a gran dispitto" ("As if he had a great scorn of Hell"). The lines here prob.
refer to a statue of Farinata in the courtyard
("cortile") at San Zeno. "Ubaldo" refers to Pound's friend, a descendant of the Farinata, Ubaldo degli Uberti, an admiral in the Italian Navy [ef. "Ezra Pound and Ubaldo degli Uberti: History of a Friendship," by Riccardo M. degli Uberti (his son), Italian Quarterly, XVI, 64, Spring 1973, 95-107]. Pound refers to him occasionally in his prose [SR,
120,160].
80. cortile: I, "court, patio. "Prob. a statue o f Farinata kneeling which Pound remem- bered in a church at San Zeno, Verona.
81. Ubaldo: [77:99].
82. Can Grande: C. G. della Scala, 1291- 1329, lord of Verona and greatest member of the Ghibelline family that ruled Verona from 1277-1387. He was a friend and protector of Dante. The face on an eques- trian statue surmounting his tomb outside the Church of Santa Maria Antica in Verona is striking because of a broad grin [Ivancich,
Ezra Pound in Italy, has picture] .
o f
which the core
was his own
family"
with two
concert-rooms, an
[OCD, 1116]. Prob. Pound believed M was a 20th-century Vespasian [94:118].
56. Antoninus: A. Pius, 86-161, Roman
emperor; adopted son of Hadrian, whom
he succeeded in 138. He was followed by
Marcus Aurelius, whom Hadrian persuaded
him to adopt. The reign of Antoninus was
marked by reason, restraint, fiscal wisdom,
and vastly improved administrative tech-
niques. "The general tone of harmony and
well-being under Antoninus is well expressed by Aristides . . . [who] pictures the Empire as a congery of happy, peaceful, and pros- perous city-states under the aegis of Rome's beneficent hegemony and protection. . _. Deified by universal accord, he received all the usual honours, including a commemora-
"Here
sings
Wolfgang
1
teum' . . .
academy of music, and archives" [Baedeker's Austria, 1929, 251;Fang, III, 118].
78. San Zeno: [74:483]. A romanesque
church in Verona which Pound visited with
Edgar Williams (W. C. Williams's brother), which had a signed column [45: 14] . In his "Paris Letter" [Dial, vol. 74, 1923, 89], Pound ends his tale of the visit with: "Williams looked at the two simple spirals of red marble cut in one block, and burst out, 'How the hell do you expect us to get any buildings when we have to order OUr columns by the gross? ' "
79. Farinata: F. degli Uberti. The great Ghibelline leader of Florence. He was born in Florence at the beginning of the 13th century and saw the development of the
? 420
78/481
78/481-482
421
83. Tommy Cochran: Said Pound: "just a nice kid I knew in Wyncote" [ibid. ].
84. "E fa . . . tremare": I, "And makes the air tremble with light" [74:425].
85. we sat there: The "we" included Pound, T. S. Eliot, and D. M. G. Adams [RO; DG]. The visit took place in the early 20s [Pai, 5-1,47].
86. Thiy: Bride Scratton. Pound called her Thiy after an early Egyptian queen [NS, Life,243].
87. il decaduto: I, "the decadent one. " T. S. Eliot [EH].
88. Rochefoucauld: La R. Perhaps a mem- ory of the Eliot poem that ends, "I mount the steps and ring the bell, turning / Wearily, as one would turn to nod good-bye to Rochefoucauld / If the street were time and he at the end of the street, / And I say, 'Cousin Harriet, here is the Boston Evening Transcript. ' "
89. Cafe Dante: A cafe in Verona. Pound recalls with fondness the great literary plans they made there by the arena, even though they came to naught.
90. Griffith: [19:10].
91. Aram vult nemus: [74:441].
92. under . . . (confusions): Analects XXI, 1: "Fan Ch'ih walking with him below the rain altars . . . said: Venture to ask how to lift one's conscience in action; to correct the hidden tare, and separate one's errors? " [CON, 247].
93. "Chose . . . off": Analects XXII, 3-6: "He said: Promote the straight, and grind the crooked. . . . Shun had the Empire, picked out Kao-Yao [53:29] from the multitude, promoted him, and wrong 'uns departed. T'ang . . . picked out I Yin [85:5] from all the hordes, promoted him, and the wrong 'uns departed" [CON, 248] .
94. One hell of a fight . . . : The next dozen lines concern U. S. Senate fights over the League of Nations and the 18th amendment.
Pound turned against the League because it voted sanctions against Italy for invading Ethiopia: "America (the U. S. ) has not paid its debt even in thought to the men who kept the U. S. OUT of the league at Geneva. If we have' Susan B. Anthony . . . shoved onto our postage stamps, we shd. think up something better. . .
20. Sirmio: [74:50]. On Lake Garda.
78/477-478 21. Foresteria: J, the part of a monastery
where visitors are housed.
22. Salo, Gardone: Place where Mussolini lingered to dream the RepUblic. In establish- ing the "Repubblica Sociale" at Salo, M said that Fascism had made a romantic mistake in not doing away with the monarchy in 1922: "The Fascist Revolution stopped short of the throne. . . . As things have turned out, the Crown has expiated with its fan the dagger it stuck in the back of the Fascist regime and the unpardonable crime it perpetrated upon the nation. But the nation can come to life again only under the auspices of a republic" [Fang, III, 70].
23. San Sepolchro: Town in Arezzo Prov- ince, central Italy, but also the name of the square in Milan (Piazza San Sepolcro) where Mlaunched his Fascist career.
24. four bishops . . . altar: On his long walk north from Rome [77:99], Pound stopped in Milan and saw the results of bombing attacks.
25. la fede: I, "the faith. " An important
slogan of Fascism.
26. Goedel: Carl G. , member of the English
section concerned with radio broadcasting,
1942-1943, and later with the propaganda agencies of the Salo RepUblic.
27. Naxos: [2:14]. Naxos was the island
Dionysus stopped at on his way home.
Before that, Theseus had stopped there on
his return home from slaying the minotaur in Crete, Pound thus sees himself, as did both Dionysus and Theseus, on his way home. The 15 lines concern his walk from Rome to Gais [M de R, 190].
28. Fara Sabina: A locality a little north of
Rome. The lines following in quotes are scraps of phrases people said to him on his walk.
29. minestra: I, "soup. "
30. it zaino: I, "the knapsack. " Pound said this.
78/478-479
31. branda: I, "folding bed" or "camp
bed,"
32. Bologna: City he walked through on his way north.
417 43. Blood: Probably the name of a DTC
"trainee" all of whom had their names
stencilled on their prison garb. Steele says he "could have been 'the cheerful reflective nigger' in the latrine" [Fai, 12-2 & 3, 297].
44. Slaughter: Colonel Steele remembers him as "a black soldier" [ibid].
45. Pallas: Athena [21:53].
46. ! ! . iKlJ: H, "justice. " This epithet is used because of Athena's function at the end of the Oresteia, where the chorus acts as a jury and the goddess casts the determining ballot and finds Orestes innocent in the name ofjustice.
record
33. Gruss Gott
. . .
gekommen:
G, "God
bless us," "The Master! " "Daddy has corne! "
South German dialect [EH]. The first half
was a greeting to Pound when he arrived at
Gais and the last half was said by his daugh- ter Mary.
34. Roma . . . terras: [77:161]. 35. and . . . Latium: These 4
lines are quoted from the Aeneid, translated by the Scottish Bishop Gawin Douglas. In 1917 Pound quoted from the same passage about the trials of Aeneas: "Grete payne in bat- telles, suffered he also / On he his gaddis, brocht in Latio / And belt the ciete, fra quham of nobil fame / The Latyne peopil,
. . .
taken has thare name" [LE,245].
36. bricabrac: Pound said: "Literature that
tries to avoid the consideration of causes
remains silly bric-a-brac" [SF, 272].
37. "each one . . . ": [74:353; 76:60]. A
quote from Micah 4. 5.
38. Gaudier: [77:80].
39. Hulme: [16:27].
40. Wyndham: Percy W. Lewis, 1882-1957, a British writer and painter Pound defended and promoted for a lifetime, Lewis joined with Gaudier-Brzeska and Pound to establish Vorticism and publish Blast. His birth-date is often given as 1884 because he made himself two years younger to enhance his precocity
[HK].
41. Mana aboda: Title of a poem by T. E.
Hulme [F,252].
48. front name . . . : A recurrent axiom of
Fascist thought which Pound repeats often
in his prose: "We are tired of a government in which there is no responsible person having a front name, a hind name and an address" [Exile, no. 4, Autumn 1928, 5;see also FE, 101; Exile, no. 2, 1927, 117; ABCE, 119;SF,261].
49. "not a right . . . ": A Mussolini state-
ment, "La liberta non e un diritto: e un
dovere" (Liberty is not a right but a duty),
was a part of the Fascist credo Pound
endorsed; he had it printed on his stationery. He used Liberta un Dovere as the epigraph for Carta da Visita [SF,306].
SO. "Presente! ": I, "Present. " A significant word at Fascist gatherings: " I t [Fascism] even has the mystery of Transubstantiation. For members who have died in great ex- ploits . . . . When the roll is called, and the unbreathing lips remain silent, his circle of Fascist comrades reply, 'Presente! ''' The prayer of the Fascist militia says in part: "Oh, God, who lights every flame and strengthens every heart, renew my passion for Italy in me day by day! Make me worthier of our dead, so that they them- selves-ever strongly-shall answer to the living, 'Presente! . ,. Amen'" [Finer, M's
42. Steele . . . : Lt.
manding officer of the DTC. Col. Steele later "could understand" the accusation o f sadism. The record seems to show that he went quite a way beyond express orders to allow Pound privileges [King, "Steele," 50].
Col. John
Steele,
com-
47. "definition
a scene but not define meaning.
": A
camera may
? 418
Italy, 360; quoted Fang, 1II, 83]. M de R
objected to this as a gross overstatement.
51. merrda. . . swine: Presumed accom- plishments of Mussolini Pound mentions often [41/202].
52. Sitalkas . . . Upward: [74:272].
53. Pellegrini: Giampietro P. (b. 1899), finance minister o f Salo Republic. On November 27, 1943 he told M he would allot 125,000 lira a month to him as chief of state. M refused the money, saying that "4000 lira for his family of four would be more than ample. " But Pellegrini insisted and M "agreed to the sum, but on Decem- ber 27, 1944 he had the further payment of the money stopped. " M seemed suspi- cious that that much money should honestly be there [Fang, III, 87-88].
54. Justinian: [65: 126; 77:44; 94:45].
55. Titus: T. Flavius Vespasianus, A. D. 9-79, Roman emperor (69-79) noted for administrative and financial reforms that salvaged the empire from the critical state it was left in by Nero. "He was industrious, and the simplicity of his life was taken as a model. . . . He cultivated a bluff manner, characteristic of the humble origins he liked to recall. His initial appointments . . . reflect his astuteness in building a powerful partyJ
78/479-480
tive column in the Campus Martius" [OCD, 76]. Pound mentions A. often in his prose: "[One] can . . . find the known beginnings of usury entangled with those of marine insurance, sea lawyers, the law of Rhodes, the disputed text of Antoninus Pius on the limits of his jurisdiction" [SP, 272; cf. 58 below].
57. lex Rhodi: L, "the law of Rhodes" [42:4].
58. private misfortune: Said Pound: "the
cultural tradition with regard to money . . .
may be traced . . . from the indignation of Antoninus Pius, that people should attempt to exploit other people's misfortunes (e. g. , shipwrecks . . . )" [SP,311].
59. Rostovseff: Michael Ivanovich Rosto- vtzeff, 1870-1952, American historian; pro- fessor of classical philology and ancient history at St. Petersburg, Fla. (1901-18), professor of ancient history at U.
of Wiseon- sin (1920-25) and at Yale (1925-39); author of History of the Ancient World (1924-26) and Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World (1941).
60. Mencius. . . verse 7: In quoting from
the passage indicated, Pound said in "Mang Tsze" [Mencius]: "'Nothing is worse than a fixed tax. ' A fixed tax on grain is in bad years a tyranny, a tithe proper, no tyranny" [SP,89].
61. T'ang Wan Kung: C, "Duke Wan of T'ang": title of Book III of The Works of Mencius.
62. grillo: I, "cricket,"
63. quattrocento: I, "fifteenth century. "
64. o-hon. . . tout: F, imitation of collo-
quial language: "It is sometimes said in the village / that a helmet has no use / none at all / It is only good to give courage / to those who don't have any at all" [29:30].
65. Salzburg: Austrian city famous for its
annual Mozart festival.
66. Qui . . . gamba: I,
the cricket / Piano (softly), the bass viol. "
78/480-481
67. Wolfgang: W. Amadeus Mozart. 68. Lake Garda: [76:90].
69. Tailhade: Laurent T. , 1854-1919, French poet.
70. "Willy": Henri Gauthier-Villars, 1859- 1931, a French novelist, essayist, and biographer, nicknamed "Willy. "
71. Mockel: Albert Henri Louis M. , 1866- 1945, Belgian-French poet and critic, the founder (1886) and editor of La Wallonie, a magazine o f the Belgian symbolists. His strange aesthetic came to a climax in The
Immortal Flame (1924).
72. en casque . . . : F, "in pink crystal
helmets the mountebanks," from Ballet, by Stuart Merrill [cf. "Essay on French Poets," MIN, 232], a poem first published in La Wallonie.
73. cakeshops . . . Nevsky: [16:42; 74:183]. 74. Sirdar: [74:175].
75. Armenonville: [74:236].
76. Kashmiri: I, "of Kashmir. " [19:34].
77. Mozart's house: Not the house in which he was born but the Mozart-Haus in the Schwarz-Strasse (Salzburg), "built in 1912- 14 by the international 'Stiftung mozar-
419
Guelph-Ghibelline factions. When he became the head of his house in 1239, he became the leading Ghibelline and in 1248 took part in the expUlsion of the Guelphs. The Guelphs returned and in 1258 expelled the Ghibel- lines. But with the help of the Sienese, Farinata led his men to the battle of Monta- perti (1260) and crushed the Guelphs. At the council at EmpoH afterwards, it was proposed that Florence be completely destroyed and reduced to the status of a village. According to Villani, "When this proposal was made, the valiant and wise knight, Messer Farinata degli Uberti, arose and opposed it . . . saying . . . that such talk was madness . . . . So long as there was life in his body, he said, he would defend the city with sword in hand. " He prevailed. But because he was posthumously condemned as a heretic, Dante places him in the 6th circle of Hell. When F. rises up out of his tomb in Hell to speak with Dante, his arrogance is described by his attitude: "Com' avesse I' inferno a gran dispitto" ("As if he had a great scorn of Hell"). The lines here prob.
refer to a statue of Farinata in the courtyard
("cortile") at San Zeno. "Ubaldo" refers to Pound's friend, a descendant of the Farinata, Ubaldo degli Uberti, an admiral in the Italian Navy [ef. "Ezra Pound and Ubaldo degli Uberti: History of a Friendship," by Riccardo M. degli Uberti (his son), Italian Quarterly, XVI, 64, Spring 1973, 95-107]. Pound refers to him occasionally in his prose [SR,
120,160].
80. cortile: I, "court, patio. "Prob. a statue o f Farinata kneeling which Pound remem- bered in a church at San Zeno, Verona.
81. Ubaldo: [77:99].
82. Can Grande: C. G. della Scala, 1291- 1329, lord of Verona and greatest member of the Ghibelline family that ruled Verona from 1277-1387. He was a friend and protector of Dante. The face on an eques- trian statue surmounting his tomb outside the Church of Santa Maria Antica in Verona is striking because of a broad grin [Ivancich,
Ezra Pound in Italy, has picture] .
o f
which the core
was his own
family"
with two
concert-rooms, an
[OCD, 1116]. Prob. Pound believed M was a 20th-century Vespasian [94:118].
56. Antoninus: A. Pius, 86-161, Roman
emperor; adopted son of Hadrian, whom
he succeeded in 138. He was followed by
Marcus Aurelius, whom Hadrian persuaded
him to adopt. The reign of Antoninus was
marked by reason, restraint, fiscal wisdom,
and vastly improved administrative tech-
niques. "The general tone of harmony and
well-being under Antoninus is well expressed by Aristides . . . [who] pictures the Empire as a congery of happy, peaceful, and pros- perous city-states under the aegis of Rome's beneficent hegemony and protection. . _. Deified by universal accord, he received all the usual honours, including a commemora-
"Here
sings
Wolfgang
1
teum' . . .
academy of music, and archives" [Baedeker's Austria, 1929, 251;Fang, III, 118].
78. San Zeno: [74:483]. A romanesque
church in Verona which Pound visited with
Edgar Williams (W. C. Williams's brother), which had a signed column [45: 14] . In his "Paris Letter" [Dial, vol. 74, 1923, 89], Pound ends his tale of the visit with: "Williams looked at the two simple spirals of red marble cut in one block, and burst out, 'How the hell do you expect us to get any buildings when we have to order OUr columns by the gross? ' "
79. Farinata: F. degli Uberti. The great Ghibelline leader of Florence. He was born in Florence at the beginning of the 13th century and saw the development of the
? 420
78/481
78/481-482
421
83. Tommy Cochran: Said Pound: "just a nice kid I knew in Wyncote" [ibid. ].
84. "E fa . . . tremare": I, "And makes the air tremble with light" [74:425].
85. we sat there: The "we" included Pound, T. S. Eliot, and D. M. G. Adams [RO; DG]. The visit took place in the early 20s [Pai, 5-1,47].
86. Thiy: Bride Scratton. Pound called her Thiy after an early Egyptian queen [NS, Life,243].
87. il decaduto: I, "the decadent one. " T. S. Eliot [EH].
88. Rochefoucauld: La R. Perhaps a mem- ory of the Eliot poem that ends, "I mount the steps and ring the bell, turning / Wearily, as one would turn to nod good-bye to Rochefoucauld / If the street were time and he at the end of the street, / And I say, 'Cousin Harriet, here is the Boston Evening Transcript. ' "
89. Cafe Dante: A cafe in Verona. Pound recalls with fondness the great literary plans they made there by the arena, even though they came to naught.
90. Griffith: [19:10].
91. Aram vult nemus: [74:441].
92. under . . . (confusions): Analects XXI, 1: "Fan Ch'ih walking with him below the rain altars . . . said: Venture to ask how to lift one's conscience in action; to correct the hidden tare, and separate one's errors? " [CON, 247].
93. "Chose . . . off": Analects XXII, 3-6: "He said: Promote the straight, and grind the crooked. . . . Shun had the Empire, picked out Kao-Yao [53:29] from the multitude, promoted him, and wrong 'uns departed. T'ang . . . picked out I Yin [85:5] from all the hordes, promoted him, and the wrong 'uns departed" [CON, 248] .
94. One hell of a fight . . . : The next dozen lines concern U. S. Senate fights over the League of Nations and the 18th amendment.
Pound turned against the League because it voted sanctions against Italy for invading Ethiopia: "America (the U. S. ) has not paid its debt even in thought to the men who kept the U. S. OUT of the league at Geneva. If we have' Susan B. Anthony . . . shoved onto our postage stamps, we shd. think up something better. . .
