| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: Yes.
Then if hearing hears itself, it must hear a voice; for there is no other
way of hearing.
Certainly.
And sight also, my excellent friend, if it sees itself must see a colour,
for sight cannot see that which has no colour.
No.
Do you remark, Critias, that in several of the examples which have been
recited the notion of a relation to self is altogether inadmissible, and in
other cases hardly credible--inadmissible, for example, in the case of
magnitudes, numbers, and the like?
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: "And God alone knows how dearly he paid for it," said Lord Dudley.
"Nowadays princes have lady-like wives, obliged to share their opera-
box with other ladies; royal favor could not raise them higher by a
hair's breadth; they glide unremarkable between the waters of the
citizen class and those of the nobility--not altogether noble nor
altogether /bourgeoises/," said the Marquise de Rochegude acridly.
"The press has fallen heir to the Woman," exclaimed Rastignac. "She no
longer has the quality of a spoken /feuilleton/--delightful calumnies
graced by elegant language. We read /feuilletons/ written in a dialect
which changes every three years, society papers about as mirthful as
an undertaker's mute, and as light as the lead of their type. French
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: his men and exhorting them to keep on fighting, for Phoebus
Apollo had spread a great panic among them. He ran up to him and
said, "Ajax, my good friend, come with me at once to dead
Patroclus, if so be that we may take the body to Achilles--as for
his armour, Hector already has it."
These words stirred the heart of Ajax, and he made his way among
the front ranks, Menelaus going with him. Hector had stripped
Patroclus of his armour, and was dragging him away to cut off his
head and take the body to fling before the dogs of Troy. But Ajax
came up with his shield like wall before him, on which Hector
withdrew under shelter of his men, and sprang on to his chariot,
The Iliad |
