| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: but I am in some doubt as to how I shall be able to kill these
wicked suitors single handed, seeing what a number of them there
always are. And there is this further difficulty, which is still
more considerable. Supposing that with Jove's and your
assistance I succeed in killing them, I must ask you to consider
where I am to escape to from their avengers when it is all
over."
"For shame," replied Minerva, "why, any one else would trust a
worse ally than myself, even though that ally were only a mortal
and less wise than I am. Am I not a goddess, and have I not
protected you throughout in all your troubles? I tell you
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: indigestion produced by his nephew's biography. Some shocks affect the
heart, others the head; but in this case the cousin's blow fell on the
digestive organs and did little harm, for the old man's stomach was
sound. Like a true disciple of Saint Thomas, Monsieur de Bourbonne
came to Paris, unknown to Octave, resolved to make full inquiries as
to his nephew's insolvency. Having many acquaintances in the faubourg
Saint-Germain, among the Listomeres, the Lenoncourts, and the
Vandenesses, he heard so much gossip, so many facts and falsities,
about Madame Firmiani that he resolved to be presented to her under
the name of de Rouxellay, that of his estate in Touraine. The astute
old gentleman was careful to choose an evening when he knew that
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: of the universe.
YOUNG SOCRATES: How is that the cause?
STRANGER: Of all changes of the heavenly motions, we may consider this to
be the greatest and most complete.
YOUNG SOCRATES: I should imagine so.
STRANGER: And it may be supposed to result in the greatest changes to the
human beings who are the inhabitants of the world at the time.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Such changes would naturally occur.
STRANGER: And animals, as we know, survive with difficulty great and
serious changes of many different kinds when they come upon them at once.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true.
Statesman |
