| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: together. A set of Bixiou's drawings to illustrate life in the
debtors' prison, led the conversation to take this particular turn;
and from debtors' prisons they went to debts.
It was midnight. They had broken up into little knots round the table
and before the fire, and gave themselves up to the burlesque fun which
is only possible or comprehensible in Paris and in that particular
region which is bounded by the Faubourg Montmartre, the Rue Chaussee
d'Antin, the upper end of the Rue de Navarin and the line of the
boulevards.
In ten minutes' time they had come to an end of all the deep
reflections, all the moralizings, small and great, all the bad puns
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: the Black-bellied Tarantula, is identical with the Narbonne Lycosa,
under which name the description is continued in Chapters iii. to
vi., all of which were written at a considerably later date than
the present chapter.--Translator's Note.
{4} Giorgio Baglivi (1669-1707), professor of anatomy and medicine
at Rome.--Translator's Note.
{5} 'When our husbandmen wish to catch them, they approach their
hiding-places, and play on a thin grass pipe, making a sound not
unlike the humming of bees. Hearing which, the Tarantula rushes
out fiercely that she may catch the flies or other insects of this
kind, whose buzzing she thinks it to be; but she herself is caught
The Life of the Spider |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Crito by Plato: Socrates, instead of opening your eyes--you are in the habit of asking and
answering questions. Tell us,--What complaint have you to make against us
which justifies you in attempting to destroy us and the state? In the
first place did we not bring you into existence? Your father married your
mother by our aid and begat you. Say whether you have any objection to
urge against those of us who regulate marriage?' None, I should reply.
'Or against those of us who after birth regulate the nurture and education
of children, in which you also were trained? Were not the laws, which have
the charge of education, right in commanding your father to train you in
music and gymnastic?' Right, I should reply. 'Well then, since you were
brought into the world and nurtured and educated by us, can you deny in the
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