THE POET ON CAPITOL HILL
145
in the strongest possible common sense. Perhaps Montaigne can
supply it at short notice :
85
Seeing, however, the miseries which have overwhelmed us
(and for what we have not done!), I do not forthwith conclude
that we are at the last gasp. The endurance of a state is apt to
surpass our understanding. It is a puissant and mighty thing,
and it often persists despite tyranny, unjust laws, corrupt rulers,
and the license and sedition of its inhabitants. Our government
is very sick indeed, but others have been more so, without dying.
For my part, I do not despair.
Meanwhile let us follow that great teacher Epaminondas,
and boldly declare that there are some things not allowed, even
in fighting an enemy; that the public interest does not require all
things of all men; that all things are not permissible to a man of
honor because he happens to be m the service of his king, his
country, and the laws.
This doctrine is fitting for our times. We have no need to
harden our hearts with steel armor: enough if our shoulders are
hardened. It will do to dip our pens in ink, without dipping
them in blood.
45)
Rolfe Hnmphrleo, ,;Arehibald MacLeioh,"
Modem
Mo~thl:y,
June
1934,
pp.
264·71;
here
267.
46) R. P. Dlackmur, "Mr. MacLei1h'• Predicament,"
The American. Mercury,
April
1934,
pp. 507-8.
47) "Fo· word" to
Poems, 1924·1933.
48)
Th< :iound
and
Horn,
October·December,
1933,
p.
147.
49) In the
Atlsntic Montlaly,
October 1939,
pp.
484-7, and u yet
uncoJlccted;
the other poems are from
Poem1, 1924·1933, Pu.blic Speech,
or the hooks of vene·playt.
SO) The followinc quotations are from the poem
u
it appeared in
The New Republic,
November 8, 1939.
51) "Sentiments for a Dedication,"
Pocm1,
1924-1933,
pp.
76-7.
52)
"The Hamlet of A. MacLeiah,"
Poems, 1924·1933,
p.
25.
53)
The
New RepubUc,
July
1, 1940,
p.
32.
54)
Poetry,
July
1938,
p.
484.
55)
"Nnerthelcu One Debt," Poetry, July
1931, 208·16;
here
215.
56)
Music in
Londo~,
1890·94
(London.
1932),
Jll,
3.
57)
The
NeUJ Republic,
September
20, 1933,
pp.
159·60.
51) Advertiseme"nt for
The R4mparts
JJI'e
Watch
in
Time,
Aucust 26, 1940,
pp.
42·3.
59) A
tpecial cue o£
thi1,
on
which the reader may wish to e:xpreu hit wits, it the review of
Laurence
Stallinra'
The First IJ'orld
lf'•r
in
The New Republic,
September
20, 1933,
pp.
159-60.
Malcolm
Cowley'• effort to
Y:reatle
whh its arcumenu appear• in a subjoined review of the review, pp. 160·1.
60) Edmond Wileon in
The New Republic,
July
1, 19,0,
p.
31.
61) Burton
Rucoe
in
The American Mercury,
November 1940,
p.
372.
62)
C/.
Millay, Jfoke
Bri1ht -the
Arr-1
(New York,
1940).
63) Archibald MacLeish and Lawrence Muon,
04
The Next Philosophy,"
The North American Review,
May 1923,
pp.
698-704. The quotations following are from this.
64) Not in the coiJectiona of the Newberry
J ..
ibrary,
Cbicaco
Public Library, University of Chicago; not
in the New York Public Library or the Widener Library, Harvard Univeuity; also not found in
the Libr,ry of Congreu card-catalogues kept at the New York Public Library and the Univenity of
Chicaco Library. The bibliographical and reff'rence boolce of the Cbicaco and New York libraries.
and particularly of the Slavonic Department of the New York
Public
Library, yie1d
no name of
Sczornik
nor any . po..ible trantllteration thereof.
65) The clotlnc quotation
it
from TAe
Au.tobiotraplay of Montoitn.e,
edited by Marvin Lowe.,•.hal (Boston,
1935),
pp.
306·7.
Since quotation always runt the ritk of leaving the
fur.
context of an author'• ideat unatated,
the reader
It
urced to read the above boolu, articlea,
and
poems complete where,•er he feels that
their complete meanin1 hu been mitrepreaentf'd.
Mr. Maf.Teil!!h'e Jlyle
impo!e~
a
''"'·err
lahor
on any·
one who attempll to ahow hit argument• by means of aelectrd quolation.
