Canto LXIV covers the Stamp Act and other resistance to British taxation of the American colonies . It also shows Adams defending the accused in the Boston Massacre and engaging in agricultural experiments to ascertain the suitability of Old-World crops for American conditions . The phrases '' Cumis ego oculis meis '' , '' tu theleis '' , '' respondebat illa '' and '' apothanein '' are from the passage ( taken from Petronius ' '' Satyricon '' ) that T.S. Eliot used as epigraph to '' The Waste Land '' at Pound 's suggestion . The passage translates as " For with my own eyes I saw the Sibyl hanging in a jar at Cumae , and when the boys said to her , ' Sibyl , what do you want ? ' she replied , ' I want to die . ' " The nomination of Washington as president dominates the opening pages of Canto LXV . The canto shows Adams concerned with the practicalities of waging war , particularly of establishing a navy . Following a passage on the drafting of the Declaration of Independence , the canto returns to Adams ' mission to France , focusing on his dealings with the American legation in that country , consisting of Franklin , Silas Deane and Edward Bancroft and with the French foreign minister , the Comte de Vergennes . Intertwined with this is the fight to save the rights of Americans to fish the Atlantic coastline . A passage on Adams ' opposition to American involvement in European wars is highlighted , echoing Pound 's position on his own times . In Canto LXVI , we see Adams in London serving as minister to the Court of St. James 's . The body of the canto consists of quotations from Adams ' writings on the legal basis for the Revolution , including citations from Magna Carta and Coke and on the importance of trial by jury ( '' per pares et legem terrae '' )
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
The Cantos