" Pound wrote that such a man "stands firm in the middle of what whirls without leaning on
anything
ei- ther to one side or the other" [CON, 113] .
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
Randolph has charged him
with having forged or manufactured a paper connected with the Panama miSSion; also, that he has applied to him in debate the epithet of blackleg. " Jesup wanted Ran- dolph to declare that he did not intend to charge Clay "with forging or falsifying any paper . . . and also that the term blackleg was not intended to apply to him" [ibid. ].
10. Charlotte jury: Tattnall replied that Randolph said he used these words in de- bate: "that I thought it would be in my power to show evidence sufficiently pre- sumptive to satisfy a Charlotte (county) jury that this invitation was manufactured here~ that Salazar's letter struck me as bearing a strong likeness in point of style to the other papers. I did not undertake to prove this, but expressed my suspicion that the fact was so. I applied to the administration the epi? thet, puritanic? diplomatic-black-Iegged ad- ministration. " Benton says these words ameliorated the harsh words "forging and falsifying" attributed to Randolph and adds: "The speech was a bitter philippic, and in- tended to be so, taking for its point the alleged coalition between Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams with respect to the election, and their efforts to get up a popular question contrary to our policy of non-entanglement with foreign nations" [ibid. ]. Benton be- lieved that if Clay had been present at the speech he would not have shown resentment at it, but he could not prevent the duel from taking place.
1I. Right bank . . . that: These six lines are taken from the source: "The afternoon of Saturday, the 8th of April, was fixed upon for the time,: the right bank of the Potomac, within the state of Virginia, above the Little Falls bridge, was the place,-pistols the weapons,-distance ten paces. . . . There was a statute of the State against duelling within her limits; but, as he merely went out to receive a fire without returning it, he deemed that no fighting, and consequently no breach of her statute. This reason for choosing Virginia could only be explained to me, as I alone was the depository of his secret" [ibid. , 73-74].
1. It . . . relation: The opening lines of chap. 26, entitled "Duel Between Mr. Clay and Mr. Randolph. " of Thomas Hart Benton's TYV
[Vol. I, 70], except that after the word "ses- sion," the source has some added detail: "that Mr. Randolph came to my room at Brown's Hotel, and (without explaining the reason of the question) asked me if I was a blood relation of Mrs. Clay? " Senator Ben- ton said that he was. His response told Ran- dolph that he would be unable to ask him to act as his second in a duel to which he had just been challenged by Mr. Clay, and that he must apply instead to Colonel Tattnall.
2. Clay's right: Clay issued the challenge because of news reports that Randolph had made incriminating remarks about some of Clay's actions as secretary of state. Ran- dolph insisted Clay had no right to hold him accountable for anything he said in the Sen- ate, but as a private person he would answer for any injury Clay believed he had received. For this reason Randolph confided in Ben- ton that he would not return Clay's fire.
c
Benton summarizes the nuances; "As sena- tor he had a constitutional immunity, given for a wise purpose, and which he would neither surrender nor compromise; as indi- vidual he was ready to give satisfaction for what was deemed as injury. He would re- ceive, but not return a fire. It was as much as to say: Mr. Clay may fire at me for what has offended him; I will not, by returning the fire, admit his right to do so" [TYV, I, 71].
3. Brown's: A Washington hotel frequented by members of the government.
4. Col. Tatnall: Edward F. Tattnall, 1788. 1832, of Savannah, Georgia; state solicitor general, 1816-1817; member of state legisla- ture, 1818? 1819; member of Congress, 1821- 1827. Not to be confused with Josiah Tatt? nail (1795-1871), a naval officer from Georgia who served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War but was not promoted to captain until 1850. (Pound's incorrect spel- ling comes from Benton. )
5. Defiance of Adams: John Quincy Adams [34:passim]. The challenge to duel derived from deep-rooted antipathies between the Federalists and "the party of the people" which came to a climax in the election of 1824. The electoral college, bound by its constituents, could not provide a majority (131 out of 260) for any of the four candi- dates, so "the election devolved upon the House of Representatives" [TYV, I, 44-45].
Jackson [37: passim], with 99 votes, had the highest count (Adams, 84; Crawford 41; Clay 37). Before the House voted Henry Clay [34:47] visited JQA. No one else was present at the meeting. Despite denials that a bargain was made between the two men, the facts suggested otherwise, for when the House voted, Clay switched his allegiance to JQA, who won the election and soon after made Clay secretary of state. Long before Clay's visit to JQA, he told Benton that he planned to support Adams even though they had been political adversaries. Clay, with others, said he preferred JQA's intelligence and experience to that of a military chieftan
[ibid. , 47]. JQA said he made Clay secretary
? 502
12. I went to Clay's . . . : Benton visited Clay on Friday night and Randolph on Sat- urday noon, April 8th, the day of the duel. Pound chooses phrases from the source to give a sense of the people and the scene.
13. Georgetown: A section of NW Washing? ton one passed through "to cross the Poto~ mac into Virginia at the Little Falls bridge"
88/578-579
points up the struggle against the bank which is the main theme of Cantos 88 and 89. The bank's lies about its gold holdings, its desire to substitute its own notes in pay- ment and its readiness to back down when chall~nged by a powerful politician, repre- sents in miniature the war that Benton, Ran-
19. His (R's) stepfather: St. George Tucker, 1752-1827, revolutionary soldier, constitu- tional delegate, lawyer, and judge. The book was entitled Blackstone's Commentan'es: with Notes ofReference, to the Constitution and Laws, o f the Federal Government o f the United States; and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1803.
88/579-580
specie, which drained the colonies of so much of it that too little was left to carryon trade. Another act in 1763, even more strin- gent, became a primary cause of the Revolu- tion [Overholser, History ofMoney, 21. 29].
24. Lexington: A reference to a letter of John Adams to Thomas Jefferson which Pound often quotes [33:18; 50:1]: "The Revolution was in the Minds of the peo- pIe . . . IS years before a drop of blood was drawn at Lexington. " Adams made the point elsewhere in his correspondence [32: I].
2S. '64 "greatest blessing": Lincoln, in a letter to Col. Edmund Taylor, Dec. 1864, wrote about the greenbacks the government issued to help pay the Civil War debt: "Chase thought it a hazardous thing, but we finally accomplished it and gave to the peo- ple of this Republic THE GREA TEST BLESSING THEY EVER HAD-THEIR OWN PAPER TO PAY THEIR OWN DEBTS" [Overholser, History ofMoney, 44; GK, 354;SP, 159].
26. 1878: Pound discovered in 1928 that his grandfather, Thaddeus Coleman Pound, "had already in 1878 been writing about, or urging among his fellow Congressmen, the same essential of monetary and statal eco- nomics" that he was for in the 1920s" [IMP, 65]. Elsewhere Pound wrote: "In 1878 a Congressman expressed or explained his po- sition by saying that he wanted to keep at least part of the non-interest bearing nation- al debt in circulation as qurency" [IMP,
33].
27. sangue, fatica: I, "blood, fatigue. " In describing war Pound wrote: "Sangue, mer- da e fatica, was the definition given me by an officer in the last European war. Blood, dung and fatigue" [IMP, 252].
28. blood . . . surveillance: Exact source un- known, but the idea is everywhere present in Pound's writings about money and banking (usury) as causes of war: "A financial system wherein it is more profitable to sell guns than to sell farm machinery, textiles or food stuff is fundamentally vicious" [IMP, 252].
503 29. peerage: " . P. C. 377: These 12 lines
are taken from Tucker's edition of Black- stone's Commentaries, Chap. V, entitled "Public Wrongs. " Peers of the realm were once allowed to plea benefit of clergy, which resulted in lesser sentences. The distinction was abolished for a time but was "virtually restored by statute I Edward. VI, c. 12 [Book VI, caput (or chapter) 12 of the laws enacted during the reign of King Edward the First] which statute also enacts that lords of parliament and peers of the realm . . . etc" [Tucker, 365-368].
30. The books . . . villein: In Tucker's edi- tion Blackstone has a note that quotes Lord Coke [107:3]: "contenement signifieth his countenance, as the armour of a soldier in his countenance, and the like," and adds, "the wainagium [Anglo-Latin source of wainage] is the countenance of the villein, and it was great reason to save his wainage, for otherwise the miserable creature was to carry the burden on his back" [Tucker, 379].
31. the Histories: The next six lines list a number of occasions in history when kings, emperors, or other rulers understood the dis- tributive function of money and tried to use public credit for the public good.
32. T'ang: Pound wrote of T'ang [53:40]: "The emperor opened a copper mine and issued round coins with square holes and gave them to the poor. . . . That story is 3000 years old, but it helps one to under? stand what money is and what it can do. For the purpose of good government it is a ticket for the order! y distribution of WHAT IS
[ibid. , 74].
. . .
14. Could not
ask Randolph directly if he had changed his mind about not firing, as that would have been to doubt his previous word. So he decided to get at the point indirectly by mentioning his visit, the tranquillity of Mrs. Clay and the sleeping child, "and added, I could not help reflecting how different all that might be the next night. He understood me perfectly, and immediately said, with a quietude of look and expression which seemed to rebuke an unworthy doubt, 'I shall do nothing to disturb the sleep . of the child or the repose of the mother,' and went
value: Benton
could not
on with his employment. . . WhICh was, making codicils to his will, all in the way of remembrance to friends; the bequests slight in value, but invaluable in tenderness of feel~ ing and beauty of expression" [ibid. ].
IS. Macon: Nathaniel M. , 1758-1837, American statesman who served in the Revo? lution and became a political leader in N. C. , a champion of states' rights, an ardent Jef? fersonian, and an opponent of the reestab- lishment of the Bank of the United States. Macon, Ga. , bears his name, as does Ran- dolph-Macon College, along with that of his good friend John Randolph.
16. Y oung Bryan: John Randolph
his namesake, "then at school in Balti- more . . . had been sent for to see him, but sent off before the hour for going out, to save the boy from a possible shock at seeing him brought back" [ibid. ].
17. Johnny: Randolph's "faithful man," a black manservant.
18. Branch bank: The anecdote that Pound summarizes from his source [ibid. , 74-75]
21. Bellum perenne: L, "everlasting war" [86/568; 87/569].
22. 1694: The year William Paterson and others founded the Bank of England with the deliberate intention of creating great profit out of nothing [46:26].
23. 17S0: In 1751 Parliament passed an act that forbade the issue of paper money in the colonies. The act caused great misery as En- gland required payment for goods in metal
Bryan,
A V AILABLE" ["What is Money 1939; reprinted, SP, 295].
For,"
dolph, Macon,
many others conducted against the bank throughout the Jackson era. They deplored the fact that a private company was autho- rized to issue bank notes so that the "power to issue" money was transferred from the public to a private agency.
Jackson,
V an
. . .
of the
20. The place
spot where the duel took place. Benton uses the phrase "depression or basin," rather than "basis. " Pound leaves the duelists here. Two shots were fired but neither Clay nor Ran- dolph was injured. Clay insisted on the sec- ond shot, which ripped Randolph's coat. The duelists shook hands and Randolph said, "You owe me a coat, Mr. Clay. " Clay promptly replied, "I am glad the debt is no greater" [ibid. , 74]. This minor fracas was merely a symptom of the continuous war between the antibank forces represented by Randolph and the probank forces repre- sented by Clay.
: A
description
Buren and
33. the chuntze: C, chun tzu [MI715-18], "the princely man. " A gentleman, the wise man, a man of complete virtue, the beau ideal of Confucianism.
" Pound wrote that such a man "stands firm in the middle of what whirls without leaning on anything ei- ther to one side or the other" [CON, 113] .
34. monopoly: Pound wrote) "The usual
? 504
88/580-581
88/581-582
505
frauds of bookkeeping, monopoly, etc. , have been known since the beginning of his~ tory . . . . Aristotle . . . relates how Thales, wishing to show that a philospher could eas- ily 'make money' if he had nothing better tu do, foreseeing a bumper crop of olives, hired by paying a small deposit, all the olive presses on the islands of Miletus and Chios. When the abundant harvest arrived, every~ body went to see Thales. Aristotle remarks that this is a common business practice"
[92:74;SP ,I72].
35. Thales: One of the seven sages. Aristotle called him the founder of physical science and attributed to him the view that every- thing comes from and returns to water, which is thus both eternal and divine. Said Thales: "All things are full of gods. "
36. Antoninus: A. Pius, Roman emperor A. D. 137-161, b. A. D. 86 near Rome. Adopted by Hadrian, he became his succes- sor. During his moderate reign he cut taxes, decreased the public debt, left a surplus in the treasury [42:4; 46:42], and lowered in- terest rates [78:56].
37. "Trying", he said: The "he" is Thad- deus Coleman Pound, who said this in 1878 [cf. 26 above]. But Pound suggests Antoni? nus had similar policies.
38. Mencius: [87:80]. Tithing every year so that the good years would prepare for the bad years was better than taxing, according to Mencius.
43. Carolus Calvus: Charles the Bald, 823- 877, holy Roman emperor, who died the same year believed to be the year of Eri- gena's death [74: 103].
44. "Captans . . . sit! ": L, "Hoggers of har- vest, cursed among the people. " So Pound translates the phrase of St. Ambrose [GK, 45, 47]. He associates him with the age-old fight against usury and monopoly.
45. Ambrose: St. A. (3407-397), bishop of Milan, doctor of the church, popular with the people, known for his eloquent preach- ing. Said Pound: "St Ambrose didn't rise suddenly and without forebears. A transition from self-centered lust after eternal salvation into a sense of public order occurred some- where and sometime" [GK, 43]. Pound sees St. Ambrose as one of a number of great leaders from Antoninus Pius [cf. 36 above] on who were concerned with justice, the just
price, and the welfare of the people.
46. DeIcroix: Carlo D. A veteran, blinded in the Fascist revolution, who was admired by Mussolini. Describing a time of violence in 1925, Mussolini wrote: "Finally on June 6th Delcroix with his lyric speech, full of life and passion, broke that storm-charged ten- sion" [Auto, 228]. Later Delcroix became president of the Association of War Wounded and Invalids [92:49; 95:12; 98/690]. Pound said that De1croix thought poets should be concerned with "credit, the nature of money, monetary issue etc. " [GK, 249]. The problem, from Antoninus Pius to the present, is thus "always the same. "
47. Get . . .
the Analects, we read: "He [Confucius] said: Problems of style? Get the meaning across and then STOP" [CON, 269].
continuous, renewable resource, which is dif- ferent from nonproduc! ive gold.
SO. saecular: Derived from L, saeculum, "long period of time. " Thus, "going. an from age to age. "
51. ad majorem: L, "to the greater. "
52. Dum . . . scandet: L, "Now to Ambrosia [Ambrose? ] he ascends. " Perhaps Pound is recalling Baccin walking up the salita ("hill? side") to Sant' Ambrogio, the place above Rapallo where Pound lived with Dorothy, Olga Rudge, and his daughter Mary during
the last part of WWII.
53. sacro nemori: L, "to the sacred grove. "
54. aItro che tacita: I, "another who quiets. "
55. iY. rppf! rwp . . . : H, "Without brother- hood, lawless, hearthless. " A luminous detail of Homer's "Out of all brotherhood, out- lawed, homeless shall be that man who longs for all the horror of fighting among his own people" [Iliad IX, 63].
56. To . . . Emperor: The end of the passage Pound often cited from the Great Digest reads: "From the Emperor, Son of Heaven, down to the common man, singly and all together, this self-discipline is the root"
[CON, 27? 33].
57. Antoninus: [cf. 36 above]. In his own time Antoninus was a model for humane and reasoned action.
. . .
59. Estlin: Edward Estlin Cummings, 1894- 1963. His poem 14 of "1 xl" has these lines: "pity this busy monster, manunkind, /
intelligence that enables grass seed to grow grass; the cherry-stone to make cherries" [CON, 193]. Hence "respect the vegetal
powers" [85:167].
61. Hindoustani: The Hindu practice of nur- turing all living things, including vermin as well as the sacred cows.
62. Make . . . springs": Early Chinese gious rites for the burial of the dead involved making figures of straw to place with the corpse. In the Chou dynasty, the straw fig? ures were replaced by more and more sophis- ticated humanoid figures, a practice Kung was against for good reason. In Mencius 1,1, iv, 6, we read that Chung-ne said: "Was he not without posterity who first made wood- en images to bury with the dead? " Legge's note reads in part: "In ancient times bundles of straw were made to represent men imper- fectly . . . and carried to the grave, and bur- ied with the dead, as attendants upon them. In middle antiquity . . . for those bundles of straw, wooden figures of men were used, having springs in them, by which they could move. . . . By and by, came the practice of burying living persons with the dead, which Confucius thought was an effect of this in- vention, and therefore he branded the inven- tor as in the text" [Legge, 442]. (During the time this canto was being written, Pound was working with David Gordon on a trans- lation of B. I of Mencius. This item pro- voked lively discussion at St. Elizabeths. DG's work was copyright Harvard in 1954 and published in a limited edition copyright David Gordon in 1964. )
63. Ideogram: A composite character in- vented by Pound from elements of shih, p
[M5756], and yin, 1" [M7439]. ln a discus? sion of whether more reverence is due to a near relation or to someone who is "person- ating a dead ancestor," a conflict of rules developed. Thus, some disciples went to Mencius for the answer; he said, in effect, although more respect is ordinarily given to the elder, it would be given to one younger, or even a villager, during the season in which he is personating the dead [Mencius VI, I, v, 4]. Legge has a note: "In sacrificing to the departed, some one-a certain one of the
39. Perenne . . . everlastingly. "
: L,
"Everlastingly.
I sing
58. slavery and
actions were counterbalanced in his time by inhumane and destructive practices: "By great wisdom sodomy and usury were seen coupled together" [SP, 265]. [14:3; In! XI, 46-66].
40. Dai Gaku: J, "The Great Digest. " Japa? nese name for the Confucian text Ta Hsio. In "Date Line" Pound said: "as to what I believe: 1 believe the Ta Hio" [LE,86].
41. Belascio: 1, "balascio. " A kind of ruby [36:8]. A leitmotif linking the paradisal theme of love in Canto 36 and the major theme of thrones as justice in Cantos 96-109
[104: 116].
42. Erigena: Johannes Scotus Erigena, or Eriugina, 815? -877? , medieval theologian
[36:9].
quit: In
Pound's translation
of
[79:40; HK, Era, 13]. 48. Baccin: [87:90].
49. Under the olives
"Happy the man born to rich acres, a saecu- lar vine bearing good grapes, olive trees spreading with years" [GK, 243]. Such a man's wealth is based (as with the grasslands of the Sienese Bank [42, 43:passim]) on a
. . . :
not. Progress is a comfortable
[Collected Poems, 397].
clisease:
. . .
"
Pound
wrote:
bhoogery:
Antoninus's
60. ching . . . : [MI138]. "To reverence; to respect; to honour. " In the Analects Pound defines chinr as "respect for the kind of
reli-
? 506
88/582
88/583
507
descendants, if possible,-was made the j J , or 'corpse,' into whose body the spirit of the other was supposed to descend to receive the worship" [Legge, 858].
64. Pere Henri Jacques: A ]esuit missionary [4:35].
65. Sennin: J, "genies or spirits" [4:36]. ["Sennin Poem," P, 139-140].
66. Rokku: J, "a mountain" [4:37]. Not a translation but a phonetic transcription.
67. Mr Tcheou: An Oriental Poond once knew.
with having forged or manufactured a paper connected with the Panama miSSion; also, that he has applied to him in debate the epithet of blackleg. " Jesup wanted Ran- dolph to declare that he did not intend to charge Clay "with forging or falsifying any paper . . . and also that the term blackleg was not intended to apply to him" [ibid. ].
10. Charlotte jury: Tattnall replied that Randolph said he used these words in de- bate: "that I thought it would be in my power to show evidence sufficiently pre- sumptive to satisfy a Charlotte (county) jury that this invitation was manufactured here~ that Salazar's letter struck me as bearing a strong likeness in point of style to the other papers. I did not undertake to prove this, but expressed my suspicion that the fact was so. I applied to the administration the epi? thet, puritanic? diplomatic-black-Iegged ad- ministration. " Benton says these words ameliorated the harsh words "forging and falsifying" attributed to Randolph and adds: "The speech was a bitter philippic, and in- tended to be so, taking for its point the alleged coalition between Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams with respect to the election, and their efforts to get up a popular question contrary to our policy of non-entanglement with foreign nations" [ibid. ]. Benton be- lieved that if Clay had been present at the speech he would not have shown resentment at it, but he could not prevent the duel from taking place.
1I. Right bank . . . that: These six lines are taken from the source: "The afternoon of Saturday, the 8th of April, was fixed upon for the time,: the right bank of the Potomac, within the state of Virginia, above the Little Falls bridge, was the place,-pistols the weapons,-distance ten paces. . . . There was a statute of the State against duelling within her limits; but, as he merely went out to receive a fire without returning it, he deemed that no fighting, and consequently no breach of her statute. This reason for choosing Virginia could only be explained to me, as I alone was the depository of his secret" [ibid. , 73-74].
1. It . . . relation: The opening lines of chap. 26, entitled "Duel Between Mr. Clay and Mr. Randolph. " of Thomas Hart Benton's TYV
[Vol. I, 70], except that after the word "ses- sion," the source has some added detail: "that Mr. Randolph came to my room at Brown's Hotel, and (without explaining the reason of the question) asked me if I was a blood relation of Mrs. Clay? " Senator Ben- ton said that he was. His response told Ran- dolph that he would be unable to ask him to act as his second in a duel to which he had just been challenged by Mr. Clay, and that he must apply instead to Colonel Tattnall.
2. Clay's right: Clay issued the challenge because of news reports that Randolph had made incriminating remarks about some of Clay's actions as secretary of state. Ran- dolph insisted Clay had no right to hold him accountable for anything he said in the Sen- ate, but as a private person he would answer for any injury Clay believed he had received. For this reason Randolph confided in Ben- ton that he would not return Clay's fire.
c
Benton summarizes the nuances; "As sena- tor he had a constitutional immunity, given for a wise purpose, and which he would neither surrender nor compromise; as indi- vidual he was ready to give satisfaction for what was deemed as injury. He would re- ceive, but not return a fire. It was as much as to say: Mr. Clay may fire at me for what has offended him; I will not, by returning the fire, admit his right to do so" [TYV, I, 71].
3. Brown's: A Washington hotel frequented by members of the government.
4. Col. Tatnall: Edward F. Tattnall, 1788. 1832, of Savannah, Georgia; state solicitor general, 1816-1817; member of state legisla- ture, 1818? 1819; member of Congress, 1821- 1827. Not to be confused with Josiah Tatt? nail (1795-1871), a naval officer from Georgia who served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War but was not promoted to captain until 1850. (Pound's incorrect spel- ling comes from Benton. )
5. Defiance of Adams: John Quincy Adams [34:passim]. The challenge to duel derived from deep-rooted antipathies between the Federalists and "the party of the people" which came to a climax in the election of 1824. The electoral college, bound by its constituents, could not provide a majority (131 out of 260) for any of the four candi- dates, so "the election devolved upon the House of Representatives" [TYV, I, 44-45].
Jackson [37: passim], with 99 votes, had the highest count (Adams, 84; Crawford 41; Clay 37). Before the House voted Henry Clay [34:47] visited JQA. No one else was present at the meeting. Despite denials that a bargain was made between the two men, the facts suggested otherwise, for when the House voted, Clay switched his allegiance to JQA, who won the election and soon after made Clay secretary of state. Long before Clay's visit to JQA, he told Benton that he planned to support Adams even though they had been political adversaries. Clay, with others, said he preferred JQA's intelligence and experience to that of a military chieftan
[ibid. , 47]. JQA said he made Clay secretary
? 502
12. I went to Clay's . . . : Benton visited Clay on Friday night and Randolph on Sat- urday noon, April 8th, the day of the duel. Pound chooses phrases from the source to give a sense of the people and the scene.
13. Georgetown: A section of NW Washing? ton one passed through "to cross the Poto~ mac into Virginia at the Little Falls bridge"
88/578-579
points up the struggle against the bank which is the main theme of Cantos 88 and 89. The bank's lies about its gold holdings, its desire to substitute its own notes in pay- ment and its readiness to back down when chall~nged by a powerful politician, repre- sents in miniature the war that Benton, Ran-
19. His (R's) stepfather: St. George Tucker, 1752-1827, revolutionary soldier, constitu- tional delegate, lawyer, and judge. The book was entitled Blackstone's Commentan'es: with Notes ofReference, to the Constitution and Laws, o f the Federal Government o f the United States; and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1803.
88/579-580
specie, which drained the colonies of so much of it that too little was left to carryon trade. Another act in 1763, even more strin- gent, became a primary cause of the Revolu- tion [Overholser, History ofMoney, 21. 29].
24. Lexington: A reference to a letter of John Adams to Thomas Jefferson which Pound often quotes [33:18; 50:1]: "The Revolution was in the Minds of the peo- pIe . . . IS years before a drop of blood was drawn at Lexington. " Adams made the point elsewhere in his correspondence [32: I].
2S. '64 "greatest blessing": Lincoln, in a letter to Col. Edmund Taylor, Dec. 1864, wrote about the greenbacks the government issued to help pay the Civil War debt: "Chase thought it a hazardous thing, but we finally accomplished it and gave to the peo- ple of this Republic THE GREA TEST BLESSING THEY EVER HAD-THEIR OWN PAPER TO PAY THEIR OWN DEBTS" [Overholser, History ofMoney, 44; GK, 354;SP, 159].
26. 1878: Pound discovered in 1928 that his grandfather, Thaddeus Coleman Pound, "had already in 1878 been writing about, or urging among his fellow Congressmen, the same essential of monetary and statal eco- nomics" that he was for in the 1920s" [IMP, 65]. Elsewhere Pound wrote: "In 1878 a Congressman expressed or explained his po- sition by saying that he wanted to keep at least part of the non-interest bearing nation- al debt in circulation as qurency" [IMP,
33].
27. sangue, fatica: I, "blood, fatigue. " In describing war Pound wrote: "Sangue, mer- da e fatica, was the definition given me by an officer in the last European war. Blood, dung and fatigue" [IMP, 252].
28. blood . . . surveillance: Exact source un- known, but the idea is everywhere present in Pound's writings about money and banking (usury) as causes of war: "A financial system wherein it is more profitable to sell guns than to sell farm machinery, textiles or food stuff is fundamentally vicious" [IMP, 252].
503 29. peerage: " . P. C. 377: These 12 lines
are taken from Tucker's edition of Black- stone's Commentaries, Chap. V, entitled "Public Wrongs. " Peers of the realm were once allowed to plea benefit of clergy, which resulted in lesser sentences. The distinction was abolished for a time but was "virtually restored by statute I Edward. VI, c. 12 [Book VI, caput (or chapter) 12 of the laws enacted during the reign of King Edward the First] which statute also enacts that lords of parliament and peers of the realm . . . etc" [Tucker, 365-368].
30. The books . . . villein: In Tucker's edi- tion Blackstone has a note that quotes Lord Coke [107:3]: "contenement signifieth his countenance, as the armour of a soldier in his countenance, and the like," and adds, "the wainagium [Anglo-Latin source of wainage] is the countenance of the villein, and it was great reason to save his wainage, for otherwise the miserable creature was to carry the burden on his back" [Tucker, 379].
31. the Histories: The next six lines list a number of occasions in history when kings, emperors, or other rulers understood the dis- tributive function of money and tried to use public credit for the public good.
32. T'ang: Pound wrote of T'ang [53:40]: "The emperor opened a copper mine and issued round coins with square holes and gave them to the poor. . . . That story is 3000 years old, but it helps one to under? stand what money is and what it can do. For the purpose of good government it is a ticket for the order! y distribution of WHAT IS
[ibid. , 74].
. . .
14. Could not
ask Randolph directly if he had changed his mind about not firing, as that would have been to doubt his previous word. So he decided to get at the point indirectly by mentioning his visit, the tranquillity of Mrs. Clay and the sleeping child, "and added, I could not help reflecting how different all that might be the next night. He understood me perfectly, and immediately said, with a quietude of look and expression which seemed to rebuke an unworthy doubt, 'I shall do nothing to disturb the sleep . of the child or the repose of the mother,' and went
value: Benton
could not
on with his employment. . . WhICh was, making codicils to his will, all in the way of remembrance to friends; the bequests slight in value, but invaluable in tenderness of feel~ ing and beauty of expression" [ibid. ].
IS. Macon: Nathaniel M. , 1758-1837, American statesman who served in the Revo? lution and became a political leader in N. C. , a champion of states' rights, an ardent Jef? fersonian, and an opponent of the reestab- lishment of the Bank of the United States. Macon, Ga. , bears his name, as does Ran- dolph-Macon College, along with that of his good friend John Randolph.
16. Y oung Bryan: John Randolph
his namesake, "then at school in Balti- more . . . had been sent for to see him, but sent off before the hour for going out, to save the boy from a possible shock at seeing him brought back" [ibid. ].
17. Johnny: Randolph's "faithful man," a black manservant.
18. Branch bank: The anecdote that Pound summarizes from his source [ibid. , 74-75]
21. Bellum perenne: L, "everlasting war" [86/568; 87/569].
22. 1694: The year William Paterson and others founded the Bank of England with the deliberate intention of creating great profit out of nothing [46:26].
23. 17S0: In 1751 Parliament passed an act that forbade the issue of paper money in the colonies. The act caused great misery as En- gland required payment for goods in metal
Bryan,
A V AILABLE" ["What is Money 1939; reprinted, SP, 295].
For,"
dolph, Macon,
many others conducted against the bank throughout the Jackson era. They deplored the fact that a private company was autho- rized to issue bank notes so that the "power to issue" money was transferred from the public to a private agency.
Jackson,
V an
. . .
of the
20. The place
spot where the duel took place. Benton uses the phrase "depression or basin," rather than "basis. " Pound leaves the duelists here. Two shots were fired but neither Clay nor Ran- dolph was injured. Clay insisted on the sec- ond shot, which ripped Randolph's coat. The duelists shook hands and Randolph said, "You owe me a coat, Mr. Clay. " Clay promptly replied, "I am glad the debt is no greater" [ibid. , 74]. This minor fracas was merely a symptom of the continuous war between the antibank forces represented by Randolph and the probank forces repre- sented by Clay.
: A
description
Buren and
33. the chuntze: C, chun tzu [MI715-18], "the princely man. " A gentleman, the wise man, a man of complete virtue, the beau ideal of Confucianism.
" Pound wrote that such a man "stands firm in the middle of what whirls without leaning on anything ei- ther to one side or the other" [CON, 113] .
34. monopoly: Pound wrote) "The usual
? 504
88/580-581
88/581-582
505
frauds of bookkeeping, monopoly, etc. , have been known since the beginning of his~ tory . . . . Aristotle . . . relates how Thales, wishing to show that a philospher could eas- ily 'make money' if he had nothing better tu do, foreseeing a bumper crop of olives, hired by paying a small deposit, all the olive presses on the islands of Miletus and Chios. When the abundant harvest arrived, every~ body went to see Thales. Aristotle remarks that this is a common business practice"
[92:74;SP ,I72].
35. Thales: One of the seven sages. Aristotle called him the founder of physical science and attributed to him the view that every- thing comes from and returns to water, which is thus both eternal and divine. Said Thales: "All things are full of gods. "
36. Antoninus: A. Pius, Roman emperor A. D. 137-161, b. A. D. 86 near Rome. Adopted by Hadrian, he became his succes- sor. During his moderate reign he cut taxes, decreased the public debt, left a surplus in the treasury [42:4; 46:42], and lowered in- terest rates [78:56].
37. "Trying", he said: The "he" is Thad- deus Coleman Pound, who said this in 1878 [cf. 26 above]. But Pound suggests Antoni? nus had similar policies.
38. Mencius: [87:80]. Tithing every year so that the good years would prepare for the bad years was better than taxing, according to Mencius.
43. Carolus Calvus: Charles the Bald, 823- 877, holy Roman emperor, who died the same year believed to be the year of Eri- gena's death [74: 103].
44. "Captans . . . sit! ": L, "Hoggers of har- vest, cursed among the people. " So Pound translates the phrase of St. Ambrose [GK, 45, 47]. He associates him with the age-old fight against usury and monopoly.
45. Ambrose: St. A. (3407-397), bishop of Milan, doctor of the church, popular with the people, known for his eloquent preach- ing. Said Pound: "St Ambrose didn't rise suddenly and without forebears. A transition from self-centered lust after eternal salvation into a sense of public order occurred some- where and sometime" [GK, 43]. Pound sees St. Ambrose as one of a number of great leaders from Antoninus Pius [cf. 36 above] on who were concerned with justice, the just
price, and the welfare of the people.
46. DeIcroix: Carlo D. A veteran, blinded in the Fascist revolution, who was admired by Mussolini. Describing a time of violence in 1925, Mussolini wrote: "Finally on June 6th Delcroix with his lyric speech, full of life and passion, broke that storm-charged ten- sion" [Auto, 228]. Later Delcroix became president of the Association of War Wounded and Invalids [92:49; 95:12; 98/690]. Pound said that De1croix thought poets should be concerned with "credit, the nature of money, monetary issue etc. " [GK, 249]. The problem, from Antoninus Pius to the present, is thus "always the same. "
47. Get . . .
the Analects, we read: "He [Confucius] said: Problems of style? Get the meaning across and then STOP" [CON, 269].
continuous, renewable resource, which is dif- ferent from nonproduc! ive gold.
SO. saecular: Derived from L, saeculum, "long period of time. " Thus, "going. an from age to age. "
51. ad majorem: L, "to the greater. "
52. Dum . . . scandet: L, "Now to Ambrosia [Ambrose? ] he ascends. " Perhaps Pound is recalling Baccin walking up the salita ("hill? side") to Sant' Ambrogio, the place above Rapallo where Pound lived with Dorothy, Olga Rudge, and his daughter Mary during
the last part of WWII.
53. sacro nemori: L, "to the sacred grove. "
54. aItro che tacita: I, "another who quiets. "
55. iY. rppf! rwp . . . : H, "Without brother- hood, lawless, hearthless. " A luminous detail of Homer's "Out of all brotherhood, out- lawed, homeless shall be that man who longs for all the horror of fighting among his own people" [Iliad IX, 63].
56. To . . . Emperor: The end of the passage Pound often cited from the Great Digest reads: "From the Emperor, Son of Heaven, down to the common man, singly and all together, this self-discipline is the root"
[CON, 27? 33].
57. Antoninus: [cf. 36 above]. In his own time Antoninus was a model for humane and reasoned action.
. . .
59. Estlin: Edward Estlin Cummings, 1894- 1963. His poem 14 of "1 xl" has these lines: "pity this busy monster, manunkind, /
intelligence that enables grass seed to grow grass; the cherry-stone to make cherries" [CON, 193]. Hence "respect the vegetal
powers" [85:167].
61. Hindoustani: The Hindu practice of nur- turing all living things, including vermin as well as the sacred cows.
62. Make . . . springs": Early Chinese gious rites for the burial of the dead involved making figures of straw to place with the corpse. In the Chou dynasty, the straw fig? ures were replaced by more and more sophis- ticated humanoid figures, a practice Kung was against for good reason. In Mencius 1,1, iv, 6, we read that Chung-ne said: "Was he not without posterity who first made wood- en images to bury with the dead? " Legge's note reads in part: "In ancient times bundles of straw were made to represent men imper- fectly . . . and carried to the grave, and bur- ied with the dead, as attendants upon them. In middle antiquity . . . for those bundles of straw, wooden figures of men were used, having springs in them, by which they could move. . . . By and by, came the practice of burying living persons with the dead, which Confucius thought was an effect of this in- vention, and therefore he branded the inven- tor as in the text" [Legge, 442]. (During the time this canto was being written, Pound was working with David Gordon on a trans- lation of B. I of Mencius. This item pro- voked lively discussion at St. Elizabeths. DG's work was copyright Harvard in 1954 and published in a limited edition copyright David Gordon in 1964. )
63. Ideogram: A composite character in- vented by Pound from elements of shih, p
[M5756], and yin, 1" [M7439]. ln a discus? sion of whether more reverence is due to a near relation or to someone who is "person- ating a dead ancestor," a conflict of rules developed. Thus, some disciples went to Mencius for the answer; he said, in effect, although more respect is ordinarily given to the elder, it would be given to one younger, or even a villager, during the season in which he is personating the dead [Mencius VI, I, v, 4]. Legge has a note: "In sacrificing to the departed, some one-a certain one of the
39. Perenne . . . everlastingly. "
: L,
"Everlastingly.
I sing
58. slavery and
actions were counterbalanced in his time by inhumane and destructive practices: "By great wisdom sodomy and usury were seen coupled together" [SP, 265]. [14:3; In! XI, 46-66].
40. Dai Gaku: J, "The Great Digest. " Japa? nese name for the Confucian text Ta Hsio. In "Date Line" Pound said: "as to what I believe: 1 believe the Ta Hio" [LE,86].
41. Belascio: 1, "balascio. " A kind of ruby [36:8]. A leitmotif linking the paradisal theme of love in Canto 36 and the major theme of thrones as justice in Cantos 96-109
[104: 116].
42. Erigena: Johannes Scotus Erigena, or Eriugina, 815? -877? , medieval theologian
[36:9].
quit: In
Pound's translation
of
[79:40; HK, Era, 13]. 48. Baccin: [87:90].
49. Under the olives
"Happy the man born to rich acres, a saecu- lar vine bearing good grapes, olive trees spreading with years" [GK, 243]. Such a man's wealth is based (as with the grasslands of the Sienese Bank [42, 43:passim]) on a
. . . :
not. Progress is a comfortable
[Collected Poems, 397].
clisease:
. . .
"
Pound
wrote:
bhoogery:
Antoninus's
60. ching . . . : [MI138]. "To reverence; to respect; to honour. " In the Analects Pound defines chinr as "respect for the kind of
reli-
? 506
88/582
88/583
507
descendants, if possible,-was made the j J , or 'corpse,' into whose body the spirit of the other was supposed to descend to receive the worship" [Legge, 858].
64. Pere Henri Jacques: A ]esuit missionary [4:35].
65. Sennin: J, "genies or spirits" [4:36]. ["Sennin Poem," P, 139-140].
66. Rokku: J, "a mountain" [4:37]. Not a translation but a phonetic transcription.
67. Mr Tcheou: An Oriental Poond once knew.
