| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: we shall. Nay, but our questioner will rejoin with a laugh, if he be one
of the swaggering sort, 'That is too ridiculous, that a man should do what
he knows to be evil when he ought not, because he is overcome by good. Is
that, he will ask, because the good was worthy or not worthy of conquering
the evil'? And in answer to that we shall clearly reply, Because it was
not worthy; for if it had been worthy, then he who, as we say, was overcome
by pleasure, would not have been wrong. 'But how,' he will reply, 'can the
good be unworthy of the evil, or the evil of the good'? Is not the real
explanation that they are out of proportion to one another, either as
greater and smaller, or more and fewer? This we cannot deny. And when you
speak of being overcome--'what do you mean,' he will say, 'but that you
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: their meats and of their drinks before they eat. And they offer
often-times horses and beasts. And they clepe the God of kind
YROGA.
And their emperor also, what name that ever he have, they put
evermore thereto, Chan. And when I was there, their emperor had to
name Thiaut, so that he was clept Thiaut-Chan. And his eldest son
was clept Tossue; and when he shall be emperor, he shall be clept
Tossue-Chan. And at that time the emperor had twelve sons without
him, that were named Cuncy, Ordii, Chadahay, Buryn, Negu, Nocab,
Cadu, [Siban], Cuten, Balacy, Babylan, and Garegan. And of his
three wives, the first and principal, that was Prester John's
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: and hurtful to us.
LACHES: Quite true.
SOCRATES: Whereas courage was acknowledged to be a noble quality.
LACHES: True.
SOCRATES: And now on the contrary we are saying that the foolish
endurance, which was before held in dishonour, is courage.
LACHES: Very true.
SOCRATES: And are we right in saying so?
LACHES: Indeed, Socrates, I am sure that we are not right.
SOCRATES: Then according to your statement, you and I, Laches, are not
attuned to the Dorian mode, which is a harmony of words and deeds; for our
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