| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling: wine. The old man drank, and beckoned behind him, and, before
all the Normans, my Hugh bore away the empty cup, Saxon-
fashion, upon the knee.
"It is Harold!" said De Aquila. "His own stiff-necked blood
kneels to serve him.
"Be it so," said Henry. "Sit, then, thou that hast been Harold
of England."
'The madman sat, and hard, dark Henry looked at him between
half-shut eyes. We others stared like oxen, all but De Aquila, who
watched Rahere as I have seen him watch a far sail on the sea.
'The wine and the warmth cast the old man into a dream. His
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: [18] "We are concerned less with the lists of battle than of love";
"we meditate no furious close of battle but of lips." Lit. "how we
shall kiss some one rather than do battle with."
After such sort the theme of their discourse reached its conclusion.
Then Critobulus spoke: It is now my turn, I think, to state to you the
grounds on which I pride myself on beauty.[19]
[19] See "Hellenica Essays," p. 353.
A chorus of voices rejoined: Say on.
Crit. To begin with, if I am not beautiful, as methinks I be, you will
bring on your own heads the penalty of perjury; for, without waiting
to have the oath administered, you are always taking the gods to
The Symposium |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: In the long try watches of the night it is a common thing for the
seamen to dip their ship-biscuit into the huge oil-pots and let them
fry there awhile. Many a good supper have I thus made.
In the case of a small Sperm Whale the brains are accounted a fine
dish. The casket of the skull is broken into with an axe, and the
two plump, whitish lobes being withdrawn (precisely resembling two
large puddings), they are then mixed with flour, and cooked into a
most delectable mess, in flavor somewhat resembling calves' head,
which is quite a dish among some epicures; and every one knows that
some young bucks among the epicures, by continually dining upon
calves' brains, by and by get to have a little brains of their own,
Moby Dick |
