| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: deep valleys, one on each side, another in front, and the fourth in
the rear. At the base of the citadel, crowding against one another, a
group of houses stood within the circle of a wall, whose outlines
undulated with the unevenness of the soil. A zigzag road, cutting
through the rocks, joined the city to the fortress, the walls of which
were about one hundred and twenty cubits high, having numerous angles
and ornamental towers that stood out like jewels in this crown of
stone overhanging an abyss.
Within the high walls stood a palace, adorned with many richly carved
arches, and surrounded by a terrace that on one side of the building
spread out below a wide balcony made of sycamore wood, upon which tall
Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: praeter se denos ad conloquium adducerent postulavit. Ubi eo ventum est,
Caesar initio orationis sua senatusque in eum beneficia commemoravit, quod
rex appellatus esset a senatu, quod amicus, quod munera amplissime missa;
quam rem et paucis contigisse et pro magnis hominum officiis consuesse
tribui docebat; illum, cum neque aditum neque causam postulandi iustam
haberet, beneficio ac liberalitate sua ac senatus ea praemia consecutum.
Docebat etiam quam veteres quamque iustae causae necessitudinis ipsis cum
Haeduis intercederent, quae senatus consulta quotiens quamque honorifica
in eos facta essent, ut omni tempore totius Galliae principatum Haedui
tenuissent, prius etiam quam nostram amicitiam adpetissent. Populi Romani
hanc esse consuetudinem, ut socios atque amicos non modo sui nihil
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: shapely arms above her head, and gathered up the treasures of her
tresses. She was never backward to admire herself; that kind of modesty
was a stranger to her nature; and she paused, struck with a pleased
wonder at the sight. "Ye daft auld wife!" she said, answering a thought
that was not; and she blushed with the innocent consciousness of a
child. Hastily she did up the massive and shining coils, hastily donned
a wrapper, and with the rushlight in her hand, stole into the hall.
Below stairs she heard the clock ticking the deliberate seconds, and
Frank jingling with the decanters in the dining-room. Aversion rose in
her, bitter and momentary. "Nesty, tippling puggy!" she thought; and
the next moment she had knocked guardedly at Archie's door and was
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