| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: prowess[16] in the field of battle, bravery in war; prizes for
uprightness[17] in fulfilment of engagements, contracts, covenants. If
so, I say it is to be expected that these several matters, thanks to
emulous ambition, will one and all be vigorously cultivated.
Vigorously! why, yes, upon my soul, and what a rush there would be!
How in the pursuit of honour they would tear along where duty called:
with what promptitude pour in their money contributions[18] at a time
of crisis.
[15] See "Revenues," iii. 3; A. Zurborg, "de. Xen. Lib. qui {Poroi}
inscribitur," p. 42.
[16] Cf. "Hell." III. iv. 16; IV. ii. 5 foll.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: added these words, from which I have eliminated the corrupt Latinity
of the Middle Ages:--
"Where, think you, may a man find these fruitful truths if not in the
heart of God Himself?--What am I?--The humble interpreter of a single
line left to us by the greatest of the Apostles--a single line out of
thousands all equally full of light. Before us, Saint Paul said, '/In
Deo vivimus movemur et sumus/.' In our day, less believing and more
learned, or better instructed and more sceptical, we should ask the
Apostle, 'To what end this perpetual motion? Whither leads this life
divided into zones? Wherefore an intelligence that begins with the
obscure perfection of marble and proceeds from sphere to sphere up to
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: teaching of the gospel. Among the eastern Delawares, living on the other side
of the Allegheny Mountains, the missionaries had succeeded in converting many;
and it was chiefly through the western explorations of Frederick Post that his
Church decided the Indians of the west could as well be taught to lead
Christian lives. The first attempt to convert the western redmen took place
upon the upper Allegheny, where many Indians, including Allemewi, a blind
Delaware chief, accepted the faith. The mission decided, however, it would be
best to move farther west, where the Delawares had migrated and were more
numerous.
In April, 1770, more than ten years before, sixteen canoes, filled with
converted Indians and missionaries, drifted down the Allegheny to Fort Pitt;
The Spirit of the Border |
