| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: [12] Lit. "how serious are his brows."
[13] The phrases somehow remind one of Sappho's famous ode:
{phainetai moi kenos isos theoisin
emmen oner, ostis enantios toi
izanei, kai plasion adu phoneusas upakouei
kai gelosas imeroen}.
But there we must stop. Hermogenes is a sort of Sir Percivale,
"such a courtesy spake thro' the limbs and in the voice."
Nay, so help me Heaven! (he replied), but I do love most desperately
yourself, O Socrates!
Whereat Socrates, still carrying on the jest, with a coy, coquettish
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: delighting in the circus, in debauchery, and abuse of power. The days
of thy virginity cannot return; henceforward thou shalt be subject to
a master. Thy hour has come; the hand of death is upon thee. Thy heirs
believe that thou art rich; they will kill thee and find nothing. Yet
try at least to fling away this raiment no longer in fashion; be once
more as in the days of old!--Nay, thou art dead, and by thy own deed!'
"Is not this thy story?" so I ended. "Decrepit, toothless, shivering
crone, now forgotten, going thy ways without so much as a glance from
passers-by! Why art thou still alive? What doest thou in that beggar's
garb, uncomely and desired of none? Where are thy riches?--for what
were they spent? Where are thy treasures?--what great deeds hast thou
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: CECILY. But what name?
ALGERNON. Oh, any name you like - Algernon - for instance . . .
CECILY. But I don't like the name of Algernon.
ALGERNON. Well, my own dear, sweet, loving little darling, I
really can't see why you should object to the name of Algernon. It
is not at all a bad name. In fact, it is rather an aristocratic
name. Half of the chaps who get into the Bankruptcy Court are
called Algernon. But seriously, Cecily . . . [Moving to her] . . .
if my name was Algy, couldn't you love me?
CECILY. [Rising.] I might respect you, Ernest, I might admire
your character, but I fear that I should not be able to give you my
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