| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: the account? How should he pay in full to the last farthing all the
moneys of all whom he has robbed? with what chains laid upon him make
requital to all those he has thrust into felons' quarters?[21] how
proffer lives enough to die in compensation of the dead men he has
slain? how die a thousand deaths?
[20] Holden aptly cf. Plut. "Sol." 14, {kalon men einai ten torannida
khorion, ouk ekhein de apobasin}, "it was true a tyrrany was a
very fair spot, but it had no way down from it" (Clough, i. p.
181).
[21] Or, "how undergo in his own person the imprisonments he has
inflicted?" Reading {antipaskhoi}, or if {antiparaskhoi}, transl.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: comparison of the sheet of glass. Yet it was not altogether a precise
comparison, because, as the reader will speedily see, there were
interruptions of this generally impermeable resistance, means of
getting through the barrier to the material world again. But,
naturally, there is a very great difficulty in expressing these
unprecedented impressions in the language of everyday experience.
A thing that impressed him instantly, and which weighed upon him
throughout all this experience, was the stillness of this place--he
was in a world without sound.
At first Mr. Bessel's mental state was an unemotional wonder.
His thought chiefly concerned itself with where he might be. He was
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: your misfortunes and forced sale of property, added to the revenue
of some thirty-odd thousand on the Grand-livre which these cats
already possess.
The endorsement of your wife was not needed; for this morning the
said Sieur Lecuyer came to offer me a return of the sum I had lent
you in exchange for a legal transfer of my rights. The vintage of
1825 which your mother-in-law keeps in the cellars at Lanstrac
will suffice to pay me.
These two women have calculated, evidently, that you are now upon
the ocean; but I send this letter by courier, so that you may have
time to follow the advice I now give you.
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