| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Crito by Plato: 'the world,' but the 'one wise man,' is still the paradox of Socrates in
his last hours. He must be guided by reason, although her conclusions may
be fatal to him. The remarkable sentiment that the wicked can do neither
good nor evil is true, if taken in the sense, which he means, of moral
evil; in his own words, 'they cannot make a man wise or foolish.'
This little dialogue is a perfect piece of dialectic, in which granting the
'common principle,' there is no escaping from the conclusion. It is
anticipated at the beginning by the dream of Socrates and the parody of
Homer. The personification of the Laws, and of their brethren the Laws in
the world below, is one of the noblest and boldest figures of speech which
occur in Plato.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: each other. The first arrivals wore long cloaks, in whose
drapery they were carefully enveloped; one of them, shorter
than the rest, remained pertinaciously in the background.
When the sergeant on entering the room announced that in all
probability he was bringing in two Mazarinists, it appeared
to be the unanimous opinion of the officers on guard that
they ought not to pass.
"Be it so," said Athos; "yet it is probable, on the
contrary, that we shall enter, because we seem to have to do
with sensible people. There seems to be only one thing to
do, which is, to send our names to Her Majesty the Queen of
Twenty Years After |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: capable of arriving upon the most indisputable evidence, it must be this
very thing,--whether he has a good conscience or no.'
(I am positive I am right, quoth Dr. Slop.)
'If a man thinks at all, he cannot well be a stranger to the true state of
this account:--he must be privy to his own thoughts and desires;--he must
remember his past pursuits, and know certainly the true springs and
motives, which, in general, have governed the actions of his life.'
(I defy him, without an assistant, quoth Dr. Slop.)
'In other matters we may be deceived by false appearances; and, as the wise
man complains, hardly do we guess aright at the things that are upon the
earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before us. But here
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