| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: interest to beguile the journey.
They were now falling so gently that the trip
was proving entirely comfortable, as the Jinjin
had promised it would be; but this meant a
longer journey and the only way they could
make time pass was to engage in conversation.
The dragon seemed a willing and persistent
talker and he was of so much interest to them
that they encouraged him to chatter. His voice
was a little gruff but not unpleasant when one
became used to it.
Tik-Tok of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: ERYXIAS: Unjustly.
CRITIAS: And if the wicked man has wealth and is willing to spend it, he
will carry out his evil purposes? whereas he who is short of means cannot
do what he fain would, and therefore does not sin? In such a case, surely,
it is better that a person should not be wealthy, if his poverty prevents
the accomplishment of his desires, and his desires are evil? Or, again,
should you call sickness a good or an evil?
ERYXIAS: An evil.
CRITIAS: Well, and do you think that some men are intemperate?
ERYXIAS: Yes.
CRITIAS: Then, if it is better for his health that the intemperate man
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: north by mountains; it was oblong, and where falling out of the straight
line followed the circular ditch, which was of an incredible depth. This
depth received the streams which came down from the mountains, as well as
the canals of the interior, and found a way to the sea. The entire country
was divided into sixty thousand lots, each of which was a square of ten
stadia; and the owner of a lot was bound to furnish the sixth part of a
war-chariot, so as to make up ten thousand chariots, two horses and riders
upon them, a pair of chariot-horses without a seat, and an attendant and
charioteer, two hoplites, two archers, two slingers, three stone-shooters,
three javelin-men, and four sailors to make up the complement of twelve
hundred ships.
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