| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: diked, and cultivated by Spanish sugar-planters; and now familiar
chiefly as a bathing-resort. Since the war the ocean reclaimed
its own;--the cane-fields have degenerated into sandy plains,
over which tramways wind to the smooth beach;--the
plantation-residences have been converted into rustic hotels, and
the negro-quarters remodelled into villages of cozy cottages for
the reception of guests. But with its imposing groves of oak,
its golden wealth of orange-trees, its odorous lanes of oleander.
its broad grazing-meadows yellow-starred with wild camomile,
Grande Isle remains the prettiest island of the Gulf; and its
loveliness is exceptional. For the bleakness of Grand Terre is
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: [52] For phrases filed by Gorgias, see Aristot. "Rhet." iii. 3;
"faults of taste in the use of metaphors," Longin. "de Subl." 3.
See also Plat. "Symp." 198 C.
[53] Cf. Aristoph. "Peace," 1141; Theophr. "Lap." 13; Lucian, xvii.,
"De merc. cond." 27; Cic. "Cat. m." 14, transl. "pocula . . .
minuta atque rorantia."
The proposition was unanimously carried, with a rider appended by
Philippus: The cup-bearers should imitate good charioteers, and push
the cups round, quickening the pace each circuit.[54]
[54] Or, "at something faster than a hand-gallop each round." See the
drinking song in "Antony and Cl." i. 7. 120.
The Symposium |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: the nobility, and the clergy of their powers of government. In
throwing into the hands of the bourgeoisie and the large
numbers of peasantry the wealth and the employments of the old
privileged classes it had at the same stroke turned them into
obstinate supporters of the revolutionary system. All those who
had acquired the property of which the nobles and clergy had been
despoiled had obtained lands and chateaux at low prices, and
were terrified lest the restoration of the monarchy should force
them to make general restitution.
It was largely for these reasons that a Government which, at any
normal period, would never have been endured, was able to survive
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