| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: imagined mind or wisdom to be in aught unseemly, at any time, past,
present, or future.
SOCRATES: Right.
PROTARCHUS: But when we see some one indulging in pleasures, perhaps in
the greatest of pleasures, the ridiculous or disgraceful nature of the
action makes us ashamed; and so we put them out of sight, and consign them
to darkness, under the idea that they ought not to meet the eye of day.
SOCRATES: Then, Protarchus, you will proclaim everywhere, by word of mouth
to this company, and by messengers bearing the tidings far and wide, that
pleasure is not the first of possessions, nor yet the second, but that in
measure, and the mean, and the suitable, and the like, the eternal nature
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: carefully by the side of the chemise in the sun, laid herself
down on the sand, and burst into tears.
I tried to comfort her. I patted her shoulder and took her hand
in mine.
"Don't worry, Mermaid dear," I said."Trust me- I'll think of
something. I know. I'll swim round to my cove and dress, and
then go and get you some fresh clothes before anyone's the wiser.
See? I'll go now,"I added, getting up and licking the blood off
my hand. "You wait here and- "
I broke off abruptly, and one of the more violent expletives,
indicative of combined horror and amazement, escaped my lips
The Brother of Daphne |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato: intelligible to every one, but to the etymologist there is no difficulty in
seeing the meaning, for whether you think of him as ateires the stubborn,
or as atrestos the fearless, or as ateros the destructive one, the name is
perfectly correct in every point of view. And I think that Pelops is also
named appropriately; for, as the name implies, he is rightly called Pelops
who sees what is near only (o ta pelas oron).
HERMOGENES: How so?
SOCRATES: Because, according to the tradition, he had no forethought or
foresight of all the evil which the murder of Myrtilus would entail upon
his whole race in remote ages; he saw only what was at hand and immediate,
--or in other words, pelas (near), in his eagerness to win Hippodamia by
|
