| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: soul while her dilated eyes stared at him in sheer
horror of the suggestion which the jewels had roused.
She drew a deep breath and strangled the idea by
her will.
"I'll at least be as fair as a jury," she thought
grimly. "I'll not condemn him without a hearing."
Jim suddenly became aware of the menace of her
silence. She had not moved a muscle, spoken or made
the slightest sound since he had entered. He had
merely taken in the room at a glance and had seen her
standing in precisely the same place beside the table.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: are here named (J. of Philol.) We have no right to connect statements
which are only accidentally similar. Nor is it safe for the author of a
theory about ancient philosophy to argue from what will happen if his
statements are rejected. For those consequences may never have entered
into the mind of the ancient writer himself; and they are very likely to be
modern consequences which would not have been understood by him. 'I cannot
think,' says Dr. Jackson, 'that Plato would have changed his opinions, but
have nowhere explained the nature of the change.' But is it not much more
improbable that he should have changed his opinions, and not stated in an
unmistakable manner that the most essential principle of his philosophy had
been reversed? It is true that a few of the dialogues, such as the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: undisturbed. He has to entertain largely, as of course he must,
considering his position as a magistrate, {92} and how every one
invites him; your father remains at his old place in the country
and never goes near the town. He has no comfortable bed nor
bedding; in the winter he sleeps on the floor in front of the
fire with the men and goes about all in rags, but in summer,
when the warm weather comes on again, he lies out in the
vineyard on a bed of vine leaves thrown any how upon the ground.
He grieves continually about your never having come home, and
suffers more and more as he grows older. As for my own end it
was in this wise: heaven did not take me swiftly and painlessly
The Odyssey |
