| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: houses? why hale men and women captive and make slaves of them? Is it
not from want? Nay, there are monarchs who at one fell swoop destroy
whole houses, make wholesale massacre, and oftentimes reduce entire
states to slavery, and all for the sake of wealth. These I must needs
pity for the cruel malady which plagues them. Their condition, to my
mind, resembles that poor creature's who, in spite of all he has[58]
and all he eats, can never stay the wolf that gnaws his vitals.
[55] Cf. "Cyrop." VIII. ii. 21; Hor. "Epist." i. 2. 26, "semper avarus
eget."
[56] Is Antisthenes thinking of Callias and Hermogenes? (presuming
these are sons of Hipponicus and brothers). Cf. "Mem." II. x. 3.
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: all, we have been always good friends and all our lot here liked
you very much. Listen. You know a certain Captain Blunt, don't
you?"
Monsieur George owned to knowing Captain Blunt but only very
slightly. His friend then informed him that this Captain Blunt was
apparently well acquainted with Madame de Lastaola, or, at any
rate, pretended to be. He was an honourable man, a member of a
good club, he was very Parisian in a way, and all this, he
continued, made all the worse that of which he was under the
painful necessity of warning Monsieur George. This Blunt on three
distinct occasions when the name of Madame de Lastaola came up in
The Arrow of Gold |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: hopes and the fears of the poor woman. The letter was from her son. He
had returned to France to share in Granville's expedition, and was
taken prisoner. The letter was written from his cell, but it told her
to hope. He did not doubt his means of escape, and he named to her
three days, on one of which he expected to be with her in disguise.
But in case he did not reach Carentan by the third day, she might know
some fatal difficulty had occurred, and the letter contained his last
wishes and a sad farewell. The paper trembled in the old man's hand.
"This is the third day," cried the countess, rising and walking
hurriedly up and down.
"You have been very imprudent," said the merchant. "Why send Brigitte
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