| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: be imagined to be the cause of the good. And I might proceed further to
argue in opposition to Philebus, that the element which makes this mixed
life eligible and good, is more akin and more similar to mind than to
pleasure. And if this is true, pleasure cannot be truly said to share
either in the first or second place, and does not, if I may trust my own
mind, attain even to the third.
PROTARCHUS: Truly, Socrates, pleasure appears to me to have had a fall; in
fighting for the palm, she has been smitten by the argument, and is laid
low. I must say that mind would have fallen too, and may therefore be
thought to show discretion in not putting forward a similar claim. And if
pleasure were deprived not only of the first but of the second place, she
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: Mr. Phillips's brief reforming energy was over; he didn't want
the bother of punishing a dozen pupils; but it was necessary to
do something to save his word, so he looked about for a scapegoat
and found it in Anne, who had dropped into her seat, gasping for
breath, with a forgotten lily wreath hanging askew over one ear
and giving her a particularly rakish and disheveled appearance.
"Anne Shirley, since you seem to be so fond of the boys' company
we shall indulge your taste for it this afternoon," he said
sarcastically. "Take those flowers out of your hair and sit with
Gilbert Blythe."
The other boys snickered. Diana, turning pale with pity, plucked
Anne of Green Gables |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: below, the level of the Pozzi dungeons being several steps below the
threshold, it was possible gradually to raise the earthen floor
without exciting the warder's suspicions.
"The tremendous labor had profited nothing--nothing at least to him
that began it. The very fact that it was left unfinished told of the
unknown worker's death. Unless his devoted toil was to be wasted for
ever, his successor must have some knowledge of Arabic, but I had
studied Oriental languages at the Armenian Convent. A few words
written on the back of the stone recorded the unhappy man's fate; he
had fallen a victim to his great possessions; Venice had coveted his
wealth and seized upon it. A whole month went by before I obtained any
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