| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: was. So I turned to Prodicus and called him. Prodicus, I said, Simonides
is a countryman of yours, and you ought to come to his aid. I must appeal
to you, like the river Scamander in Homer, who, when beleaguered by
Achilles, summons the Simois to aid him, saying:
'Brother dear, let us both together stay the force of the hero (Il.).'
And I summon you, for I am afraid that Protagoras will make an end of
Simonides. Now is the time to rehabilitate Simonides, by the application
of your philosophy of synonyms, which enables you to distinguish 'will' and
'wish,' and make other charming distinctions like those which you drew just
now. And I should like to know whether you would agree with me; for I am
of opinion that there is no contradiction in the words of Simonides. And
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.
The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.
But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.
XXXIII
The Swing
A Child's Garden of Verses |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: hold it there. Still gripping the steering wheel with one
hand, he climbed over the left-hand door to the running
board. As the front wheels of the car ran up onto the bridge
Barney gave the steering wheel a sudden turn to the right,
and jumped.
The car veered toward the wooden handrail, there was a
splintering of stanchions, as, with a crash, the big machine
plunged through them headforemost into the river. Without
waiting to give even a glance at his handiwork Barney Cus-
ter ran across the bridge, leaped the fence upon the right-
hand side and plunged into the shelter of the wood.
The Mad King |
