Well, Justin, then tell me who wrote what follows & explain what the poet meant & what Confucius meant for the poet. A midterm exam for "The Western Civilization" 101. Anyone who wants to take it -- not just Justin -- can.
***** Said now YUENCHANG
suis fils d'un pauvre laboureur In a village of Ssetcheou in the province of Kiangnan at seventeen was made shaveling
then enrolled under Tsehing the capitain This is called Destiny
Schicksal to bring peace to the Empire Li, Su, Tong and I
were four musketeers We were workmen in the same village
we were plain sojers together If we can take Chantong province, we can take Pekin
(and did so, 1368) He said to Su Ta: Do as you deem
CHANG, CHOU, and HAN rose by talents Once we four were lucky to have even canvas coats Mongols are fallen
from losing the law of Chung Ni
(Confucius) HAN came from the people How many fathers and husbands are fallen Make census Give rise to their families Give them money for rites Let rich folk keep their goods by them Let the poor be provided I came not against YUEN
but against grafters and rebels I rebelled not against KUBLAI, not against Ghengizkhan
but against lice that ate their descendants. *****
And who is the author of the following observation?
***** There is only one religion in the world that has never been sullied by fanaticism, that of the Chinese men of letters. The schools of philosophers were not only free from this pest, they were its remedy; for the effect of philosophy is to make the soul tranquil, and fanaticism is incompatible with tranquility. If our holy religion has so often been corrupted by this infernal delirium, it is the madness of men who is at fault. *****
Now, the author of the next quotation is easy to identify, but what does the text mean?
***** All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz, and by and by I learned that most appropriately the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs had entrusted him with the making of a report for its future guidance. And he had written it too. I've seen it. I've read it. It was eloquent, vibrating with eloquence, but too high-strung I think. Seventeen pages of close writing. He had found time for it. But this must have been before his -- let us say -- nerves went wrong and caused him to preside at certain midnight dances ending with unspeakable rites, which -- as far as I reluctantly gathered from what I heard at various times -- were offered up to him -- do you understand -- to Mr. Kurtz himself. But it was a beautiful piece of writing. The opening paragraph however, in the light of later information, strikes me as ominous. He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, 'must necessarily appear to them with the might as of a deity,' and so on, and so on. 'By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded,' etc. etc. From that point he soared and took me with him. The peroration was magnificent, though difficult to remember, you know. It gave me the notion of an exotic Immensity ruled by an august Benevolence. It made me tingle with enthusiasm. This was the unbounded power of eloquence -- of words -- of burning noble words. There were no practical hints to interrupt the magic current of phrases, unless a kind of note at the foot of the last page, scrawled evidently much later in an unsteady hand, may be regarded as the exposition of a method. It was very simple and at the end of that moving appeal to every altruistic sentiment it blazed at you luminous and terrifying like a flash of lightning in a serene sky: 'Exterminate all the brutes!' The curious part was that he had apparently forgotten all about that valuable postscriptum because later on when he in a sense came to himself, he repeatedly entreated me to take good care of 'my pamphlet' (he called it) as it was sure to have in the future a good influence upon his career....
...I like to think my summing-up would not have been a word of careless contempt. Better his cry -- much better. It was an affirmation, a moral victory paid for by innumerable defeats, by abominable terrors, by abominable satisfactions. But it was a victory. That is why I have remained loyal to Kurtz to the last, and even beyond....
...I kept the bundle of papers given me by Kurtz not knowing exactly what to do with it....A clean shaved man with an official manner and wearing gold-rimmed spectacles called on me one day and made inquiries, at first circuitous, afterward suavely pressing, about what he was pleased to denominate certain 'documents.'...He became darkly menacing at last and with much heat argued that the Company had the right to every bit of information about its 'territories.'...I assured him Mr. Kurtz's knowledge however extensive did not bear upon the problems of commerce or administration. He invoked then the name of science. 'It would be an incalculable loss if,' etc. etc. I offered him the report on the 'Suppression of Savage Customs' with the postscriptum torn off. He took it up eagerly but ended by sniffing at it with an air of contempt. 'This is not what we had a right to expect,' he remarked. 'Expect nothing else,' I said....Ultimately a journalist anxious to know something of the fate of his 'dear colleague' turned up. This visitor informed me Kurtz's proper sphere ought to have been politics 'on the popular side.' He...confessed his opinion that Kurtz really couldn't write a bit -- 'but Heavens! how that man could talk! He electrified large meetings. He had the faith -- don't you see -- he had the faith. He could get himself to believe anything -- anything. He would have been a splendid leader of an extreme party.' 'What party?' I asked. 'Any party,' answered the other. 'He was an -- an -- extremist.' Did I know, he asked, with a sudden flash of curiosity, 'what it was that had induced him to go out there?' 'Yes,' said I and forthwith handed him the famous Report for publication if he thought fit. He glanced through it hurriedly, mumbling all the time, judged 'it would do,' and took himself off with this plunder.... *****
Yoshie