| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: dishonourable to others. And if we wish to enquire why a house is valuable
to us but not to the Scythians, or why the Carthaginians value leather
which is worthless to us, or the Lacedaemonians find wealth in iron and we
do not, can we not get an answer in some such way as this: Would an
Athenian, who had a thousand talents weight of the stones which lie about
in the Agora and which we do not employ for any purpose, be thought to be
any the richer?
ERASISTRATUS: He certainly would not appear so to me.
SOCRATES: But if he possessed a thousand talents weight of some precious
stone, we should say that he was very rich?
ERASISTRATUS: Of course.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: by poor Lake, as well as the odd haze we had ourselves perceived
around the rampart-crowned peak, might not be caused by the tortuous-channeled
rising of some such vapor from the unfathomed regions of earth’s
core.
Entering the tunnel, we saw that its outline was - at
least at the start - about fifteen feet each way - sides, floor,
and arched roof composed of the usual megalithic masonry. The
sides were sparsely decorated with cartouches of conventional
designs in a late, decadent style; and all the construction and
carving were marvelously well-preserved. The floor was quite clear,
except for a slight detritus bearing outgoing penguin tracks and
At the Mountains of Madness |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: able to discourse of Olympus or Thamyras or Orpheus, or Phemius the
rhapsode of Ithaca, but was at a loss when he came to speak of Ion of
Ephesus, and had no notion of his merits or defects?
ION: I cannot deny what you say, Socrates. Nevertheless I am conscious in
my own self, and the world agrees with me in thinking that I do speak
better and have more to say about Homer than any other man. But I do not
speak equally well about others--tell me the reason of this.
SOCRATES: I perceive, Ion; and I will proceed to explain to you what I
imagine to be the reason of this. The gift which you possess of speaking
excellently about Homer is not an art, but, as I was just saying, an
inspiration; there is a divinity moving you, like that contained in the
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