| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Apology by Plato: against that hour. For the speech breathes throughout a spirit of
defiance, (ut non supplex aut reus sed magister aut dominus videretur esse
judicum' (Cic. de Orat.); and the loose and desultory style is an imitation
of the 'accustomed manner' in which Socrates spoke in 'the agora and among
the tables of the money-changers.' The allusion in the Crito may, perhaps,
be adduced as a further evidence of the literal accuracy of some parts.
But in the main it must be regarded as the ideal of Socrates, according to
Plato's conception of him, appearing in the greatest and most public scene
of his life, and in the height of his triumph, when he is weakest, and yet
his mastery over mankind is greatest, and his habitual irony acquires a new
meaning and a sort of tragic pathos in the face of death. The facts of his
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: The error was noble, the vanity fine!
Shall we blame it because we survive it? ah, no;
'Twas the youth of our youth, my lord, is it not so?"
XII.
Lord Alfred was mute. He remember'd her yet
A child--the weak sport of each moment's regret,
Blindly yielding herself to the errors of life,
The deceptions of youth, and borne down by the strife
And the tumult of passion; the tremulous toy
Of each transient emotion of grief or of joy.
But to watch her pronounce the death-warrant of all
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: as she had determined what should be done. He is, if possible, to prevail
on Miss Summers to let Frederica continue with her; and if he cannot
succeed, to bring her to Churchhill for the present, till some other
situation can be found for her. Her ladyship is comforting herself
meanwhile by strolling along the shrubbery with Reginald, calling forth all
his tender feelings, I suppose, on this distressing occasion. She has been
talking a great deal about it to me. She talks vastly well; I am afraid of
being ungenerous, or I should say, TOO well to feel so very deeply; but I
will not look for her faults; she may be Reginald's wife! Heaven forbid it!
but why should I be quicker-sighted than anyone else? Mr. Vernon declares
that he never saw deeper distress than hers, on the receipt of the letter;
Lady Susan |
