Canto XLV Sex Quotes

In case we didn't get his point loud and clear, Pound helps close Canto XLV by yelling that usura is against nature in all caps and in Latin. He's definitely trying to give us a sense of how beautiful human nature can be, and of how brutally our obsession with money can warp our true nature.

For starters, Eleusis was the name of a town in Ancient Greece where people got together and celebrated fertility—or in other words, people's ability to sexually reproduce. But instead of fertility being a beautiful and sacred thing, Pound suggests here that people who practice usura end up bringing dishonor to the most sacred aspects of our lives. It's a shame that Pound chooses to symbolize dishonor with the image of prostitutes, but that's basically the point he's trying to make here.