| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: preliminary practice all their lives.
[50] See "Mem." II. viii. 1.
[51] See "Hell." VII. i. 4.
II
As to the heavy infantry, an arm the deficiency of which at Athens is
well recognised, this is how the matter stands. They recognise the
fact that, in reference to the hostile power, they are themselves
inferior, and must be, even if their heavy infantry were more
numerous.[1] But relatively to the allies, who bring in the tribute,
their strength even on land is enormous. And they are persuaded that
their heavy infantry is sufficient for all purposes, provided they
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: seldom regarded with due honor. Its spiritual force, however, may
be partially estimated by the fact of her having found a place for
herself, amid circumstances so stern as those which surrounded
the mistress of the house; and also by the effect which she
produced on a character of so much more mass than her own. For
the gaunt, bony frame and limbs of Hepzibah, as compared with
the tiny lightsomeness of Phoebe's figure, were perhaps in some
fit proportion with the moral weight and substance, respectively,
of the woman and the girl.
To the guest,--to Hepzibah's brother,--or Cousin Clifford, as
Phoebe now began to call him,--she was especially necessary.
 House of Seven Gables |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: He plumed his feathers and flapped his huge wings.
The young man crouched low to the ground. He placed the arrow
on the bow, drawing a poisoned flint for the eagle.
The bird rose into the air. He moved his outspread wings one,
two, three times and lo! the eagle tumbled from the great height
and fell heavily to the earth. An arrow stuck in his breast! He
was dead!
So quick was the hand of the avenger, so sure his sight, that
no one had seen the arrow fly from his long bent bow.
In awe and amazement the village was dumb. And when the
avenger, plucking a red eagle feather, placed it in his black hair,
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