| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: court of Dionysius are all of them later by several centuries than the
events to which they refer. No extant writer mentions them older than
Cicero and Cornelius Nepos. It does not seem impossible that so attractive
a theme as the meeting of a philosopher and a tyrant, once imagined by the
genius of a Sophist, may have passed into a romance which became famous in
Hellas and the world. It may have created one of the mists of history,
like the Trojan war or the legend of Arthur, which we are unable to
penetrate. In the age of Cicero, and still more in that of Diogenes
Laertius and Appuleius, many other legends had gathered around the
personality of Plato,--more voyages, more journeys to visit tyrants and
Pythagorean philosophers. But if, as we agree with Karsten in supposing,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: monsieur," she said.
"I do not require anything, madame; I simply express what I
desire. If the Duke of Buckingham does not, of his own
accord, discontinue his visits to my apartments I shall
forbid him entrance."
"That is a point you will refer to the king," said Anne of
Austria, her heart swelling as she spoke, and her voice
trembling with emotion.
"But, madame," exclaimed Philip, striking his hands
together, "act as my mother and not as the queen, since I
speak to you as a son; it is simply a matter of a few
Ten Years Later |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde: have no hearts. Heart is not in you. You are bought and sold.
[Sits L.C.]
MRS. ERLYNNE. [Starts, with a gesture of pain. Then restrains
herself, and comes over to where LADY WINDERMERE is sitting. As
she speaks, she stretches out her hands towards her, but does not
dare to touch her.] Believe what you choose about me. I am not
worth a moment's sorrow. But don't spoil your beautiful young life
on my account! You don't know what may be in store for you, unless
you leave this house at once. You don't know what it is to fall
into the pit, to be despised, mocked, abandoned, sneered at - to be
an outcast! to find the door shut against one, to have to creep in
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