| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: whether these things are useful and a part of wealth or not. But what
shall we say to another question: Which is the happier and better man,--he
who requires the greatest quantity of necessaries for body and diet, or he
who requires only the fewest and least? The answer will perhaps become
more obvious if we suppose some one, comparing the man himself at different
times, to consider whether his condition is better when he is sick or when
he is well?
CRITIAS: That is not a question which needs much consideration.
SOCRATES: Probably, I said, every one can understand that health is a
better condition than disease. But when have we the greatest and the most
various needs, when we are sick or when we are well?
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Salome by Oscar Wilde: bijoux caches ici que meme votre mere n'a jamais vus, des bijoux
tout e fait extraordinaires. J'ai un collier de perles e quatre
rangs. On dirait des lunes enchainees de rayons d'argent. On
dirait cinquante lunes captives dans un filet d'or. Une reine l'a
porte sur l'ivoire de ses seins. Toi, quand tu le porteras, tu
seras aussi belle qu'une reine. J'ai des amethystes de deux
especes. Une qui est noire comme le vin. L'autre qui est rouge
comme du vin qu'on a colore avec de l'eau. J'ai des topazes jaunes
comme les yeux des tigres, et des topazes roses comme les yeux des
pigeons, et des topazes vertes comme les yeux des chats. J'ai des
opales qui brulent toujours avec une flamme qui est tres froide, des
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: essentially scientific method of treating the matter has logically
forced on him, approving, for instance, of prayers for rain, on the
express ground that the laws of meteorology had not yet been
ascertained. He would, of course, have been the first to welcome
our modern discoveries in the matter. The passage in question is
in every way one of the most interesting in his whole work, not, of
course, as signifying any inclination on his part to acquiesce in
the supernatural, but because it shows how essentially logical and
rational his method of argument was, and how candid and fair his
mind.
Having now examined Polybius's attitude towards the supernatural
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