| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: have been said to become the commonplaces of the next; but the paradoxes of
Plato are at least as paradoxical to us as they were to his contemporaries.
The modern world has either sneered at them as absurd, or denounced them as
unnatural and immoral; men have been pleased to find in Aristotle's
criticisms of them the anticipation of their own good sense. The wealthy
and cultivated classes have disliked and also dreaded them; they have
pointed with satisfaction to the failure of efforts to realize them in
practice. Yet since they are the thoughts of one of the greatest of human
intelligences, and of one who had done most to elevate morality and
religion, they seem to deserve a better treatment at our hands. We may
have to address the public, as Plato does poetry, and assure them that we
The Republic |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: some debt at play;--or dirty annuity, the bargain of his lust; Perhaps
Conscience all this time was engaged at home, talking aloud against petty
larceny, and executing vengeance upon some such puny crimes as his fortune
and rank of life secured him against all temptation of committing; so that
he lives as merrily;'--(If he was of our church, tho', quoth Dr. Slop, he
could not)--'sleeps as soundly in his bed;--and at last meets death
unconcernedly;--perhaps much more so, than a much better man.'
(All this is impossible with us, quoth Dr. Slop, turning to my father,--the
case could not happen in our church.--It happens in ours, however, replied
my father, but too often.--I own, quoth Dr. Slop, (struck a little with my
father's frank acknowledgment)--that a man in the Romish church may live as
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: all is over. But to have the head replaced, and daily cut off anew,--
that is agony I could not have borne. Many men take up their business
as if nothing had happened: so much the better for them; they are
stronger than Claude-Joseph Pillerault. If you pay in cash, and you
are obliged to do so, they say that you have kept back part of your
assets; if you are without a penny, it is useless to attempt to
recover yourself. No, give up your property, sell your business, and
find something else to do."
"What could I find?" said Cesar.
"Well," said Pillerault, "look for a situation. You have influential
friends,--the Duc and the Duchesse de Lenoncourt, Madame de Mortsauf,
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
