| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: consequently, the ground in one case is thickly saturated all along
with scent, in the other sparsely and superficially. So, too, scent
lies better in woody than on barren ground, since, whilst running to
and fro or sitting up, the creature comes in contact with a variety of
objects. Everything that earth produces or bears upon her bosom will
serve as puss's resting-place. These are her screen, her couch, her
canopy;[16] apart, it may be, or close at hand, or at some middle
point, among them she lies ensconced. At times, with an effort taxing
all her strength, she will spring across to where some jutting point
or clinging undergrowth on sea or freshet may attract her.
[15] "The form tracks are made by the hare leisurely proceeding and
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: Agreed (proceeded Callias); and for my part I proclaim at once what I
am proudest of. My firm belief is, I have got the gift to make my
fellow-mortals better.
Make men better! (cried Antisthenes); and pray how? by teaching them
some base mechanic art? or teaching them nobility of soul?[4]
[4] Or, "beauty and nobility of soul" ({kalokagathia}). See "Mem." I.
vi. 14.
The latter (he replied), if justice[5] be synonymous with that high
type of virtue.
[5] i.e. "social uprightness."
Of course it is (rejoined Antisthenes) the most indisputable specimen.
The Symposium |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: eyes of real jacinth, and in the romantic history of Alexander,
the Conqueror of Emathia was said to have found in the vale of Jordan
snakes "with collars of real emeralds growing on their backs."
There was a gem in the brain of the dragon, Philostratus told us,
and "by the exhibition of golden letters and a scarlet robe"
the monster could be thrown into a magical sleep and slain.
According to the great alchemist, Pierre de Boniface, the diamond
rendered a man invisible, and the agate of India made him eloquent.
The cornelian appeased anger, and the hyacinth provoked sleep,
and the amethyst drove away the fumes of wine. The garnet cast
out demons, and the hydropicus deprived the moon of her colour.
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
