| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Apology by Plato: been much the worse. But I have none, and therefore I must ask you to
proportion the fine to my means. Well, perhaps I could afford a mina, and
therefore I propose that penalty: Plato, Crito, Critobulus, and
Apollodorus, my friends here, bid me say thirty minae, and they will be the
sureties. Let thirty minae be the penalty; for which sum they will be
ample security to you.
...
Not much time will be gained, O Athenians, in return for the evil name
which you will get from the detractors of the city, who will say that you
killed Socrates, a wise man; for they will call me wise, even although I am
not wise, when they want to reproach you. If you had waited a little
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: affection and remembrance of one another. The friend can do for his friend
what he cannot do for himself. He can give him counsel in time of
difficulty; he can teach him 'to see himself as others see him'; he can
stand by him, when all the world are against him; he can gladden and
enlighten him by his presence; he 'can divide his sorrows,' he can 'double
his joys;' he can anticipate his wants. He will discover ways of helping
him without creating a sense of his own superiority; he will find out his
mental trials, but only that he may minister to them. Among true friends
jealousy has no place: they do not complain of one another for making new
friends, or for not revealing some secret of their lives; (in friendship
too there must be reserves;) they do not intrude upon one another, and they
Lysis |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: It appears that the fountain of water was enchanted, and that
the dragon had been set to guard it, so that no mortal might
ever quench his thirst there. As the neighboring inhabitants
carefully avoided the spot, it was now a long time (not less
than a hundred years or thereabouts) since the monster had
broken his fast; and, as was natural enough, his appetite had
grown to be enormous, and was not half satisfied by the poor
people whom he had just eaten up. When he caught sight of
Cadmus, therefore, he set up another abominable hiss, and flung
back his immense jaws, until his mouth looked like a great red
cavern, at the farther end of which were seen the legs of his
Tanglewood Tales |
