| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: do not return until I leave the room."
When the footsteps of the old servitor, who was the last to go,
echoed but faintly along the paved gallery, Don Juan hastily
locked the door, and sure that he was quite alone, "Let us try,"
he said to himself.
Bartolommeo's body was stretched on a long table. The embalmers
had laid a sheet over it, to hide from all eyes the dreadful
spectacle of a corpse so wasted and shrunken that it seemed like
a skeleton, and only the face was uncovered. This mummy-like
figure lay in the middle of the room. The limp clinging linen
lent itself to the outlines it shrouded--so sharp, bony, and
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: silver and similar things are not wealth. But I am very strongly of
opinion that things which are useless to us are not wealth, and that the
money which is useful for this purpose is of the greatest use; not that
these things are not useful towards life, if by them we can procure wealth.
SOCRATES: And how would you answer another question? There are persons,
are there not, who teach music and grammar and other arts for pay, and thus
procure those things of which they stand in need?
ERYXIAS: There are.
SOCRATES: And these men by the arts which they profess, and in exchange
for them, obtain the necessities of life just as we do by means of gold and
silver?
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Jeddak within the year. Zat Arras would be Jeddak of Helium.
Say that you will espouse my cause. This is the price of
your freedom. I am done."
I knew it was within the scope of Zat Arras' cruel heart
to destroy me, and if I were dead I could see little reason
to doubt that he might easily become Jeddak of Helium. Free,
I could prosecute the search for Dejah Thoris. Were I dead,
my brave comrades might not be able to carry out our plans.
So, by refusing to accede to his request, it was quite
probable that not only would I not prevent him from
becoming Jeddak of Helium, but that I would be the
The Gods of Mars |
