| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: choregoi[9] is assigned the duty of assembling the members of the
band;[10] and to others[11] that of teaching and applying force to
those who come behindhand in their duties. There, then, you have the
principle at once: The gracious and agreeable devolves on him who
rules, the archon; the repellent counterpart[12] on others. What is
there to prevent the application of the principle to matters politic
in general?[13]
[5] Or, "current incidents bear witness to the beauty of the
principle."
[6] {emin}. The author makes Simonides talk as an Athenian.
[7] Lit. "when we wish our sacred choirs to compete."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: him in the marriage he contracted. He did right, but then he
had done wrong before; it was, as I said, one of those
relations in life which it seems equally wrong to break or to
perpetuate. He neither loved nor respected his wife. "God
knows," he writes, "my choice was as random as blind man's
buff." He consoles himself by the thought that he has acted
kindly to her; that she "has the most sacred enthusiasm of
attachment to him;" that she has a good figure; that she has
a "wood-note wild," "her voice rising with ease to B
natural," no less. The effect on the reader is one of
unmingled pity for both parties concerned. This was not the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: prisoner in my cabin, and expecting nothing less than to be
murdered, as they often threatened me.
Upon the 9th day of May, 1711, one James Welch came down to my
cabin, and said, "he had orders from the captain to set me
ashore." I expostulated with him, but in vain; neither would he
so much as tell me who their new captain was. They forced me
into the long-boat, letting me put on my best suit of clothes,
which were as good as new, and take a small bundle of linen, but
no arms, except my hanger; and they were so civil as not to
search my pockets, into which I conveyed what money I had, with
some other little necessaries. They rowed about a league, and
Gulliver's Travels |
