| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: but I praise his wisdom, and proclaim what I have learned from him. And
now I cannot agree in what you are saying, but I strongly disagree. Well,
I know that this is my own fault, and is a defect in my character, but I
will not pretend to be more than I am; and my opinion, Hippias, is the very
contrary of what you are saying. For I maintain that those who hurt or
injure mankind, and speak falsely and deceive, and err voluntarily, are
better far than those who do wrong involuntarily. Sometimes, however, I am
of the opposite opinion; for I am all abroad in my ideas about this matter,
a condition obviously occasioned by ignorance. And just now I happen to be
in a crisis of my disorder at which those who err voluntarily appear to me
better than those who err involuntarily. My present state of mind is due
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: MSS. with various proposed emendations. See Schneider, n. ad loc.
{exesti de to neo kai kekrimeno eis makhen sunienai kai phaidron
einai kai eudokimon. kai parakeleuontai de k.t.l.} Zeune,
{kekrimeno komen}, after Plut. "Lycurg." 22. Weiske, {kai komen
diakekrimeno}. Cobet, {exesti de to neo liparo kai tas komas
diakekrimeno eis makhen ienai}.
[18] Lit. "to the enomotarch."
When the right moment for encamping has come, the king is responsible
for that, and has to point out the proper place. The despatch of
emissaries, however, whether to friends or to foes, is [not][19] the
king's affair. Petitioners in general wishing to transact anything
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: India.
"Ye-es," he said, between his teeth. "Thou art altogether
right, Buldeo. Thou wilt never give me one anna of the reward.
There is an old war between this lame tiger and myself--a very
old war, and--I have won."
To do Buldeo justice, if he had been ten years younger he
would have taken his chance with Akela had he met the wolf in the
woods, but a wolf who obeyed the orders of this boy who had
private wars with man-eating tigers was not a common animal. It
was sorcery, magic of the worst kind, thought Buldeo, and he
wondered whether the amulet round his neck would protect him. He
The Jungle Book |
