| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: the other; my eyes counted the roses on the cushion of the gray and
green sofa which was in the salon.
"This situation is intolerable," I whispered in her ear.
"Did I create it?" she asked. "Dear child," she said aloud, with one
of those cruel levities by which women point their vengeance, "don't
you read history? France and England are enemies, and ever have been.
Madeleine knows that; she knows that a broad sea, and a cold and
stormy one, separates them."
The vases on the mantelshelf had given place to candelabra, no doubt
to deprive me of the pleasure of filling them with flowers; I found
them later in my own room. When my servant arrived I went out to give
The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: favor of the nomination of my client whenever a batch of appointments
is sent in. Monsieur le comte can very well afford to devote the
estate of Lanstrac (which is worth a million) to this purpose. I do
not ask that mademoiselle should contribute an equal sum; that would
not be just. But we can surely apply eight hundred thousand of her
patrimony to this object. There are two domains adjoining Lanstrac now
to be sold, which can be purchased for that sum, which will return in
rentals four and a half per cent. The house in Paris should be
included in the entail. The surplus of the two fortunes, if
judiciously managed, will amply suffice for the fortunes of the
younger children. If the contracting parties will agree to this
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: of this city, so sound and healthy was the spirit of freedom among us, and
the instinctive dislike of the barbarian, because we are pure Hellenes,
having no admixture of barbarism in us. For we are not like many others,
descendants of Pelops or Cadmus or Egyptus or Danaus, who are by nature
barbarians, and yet pass for Hellenes, and dwell in the midst of us; but we
are pure Hellenes, uncontaminated by any foreign element, and therefore the
hatred of the foreigner has passed unadulterated into the life-blood of the
city. And so, notwithstanding our noble sentiments, we were again
isolated, because we were unwilling to be guilty of the base and unholy act
of giving up Hellenes to barbarians. And we were in the same case as when
we were subdued before; but, by the favour of Heaven, we managed better,
|
