The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: condicionem Caesar iamque eum ad sanitatem reverti arbitrabatur, cum id
quod antea petenti denegasset ultro polliceretur, magnamque in spem
veniebat pro suis tantis populique Romani in eum beneficiis cognitis suis
postulatis fore uti pertinacia desisteret. Dies conloquio dictus est ex
eo die quintus. Interim saepe cum legati ultro citroque inter eos
mitterentur, Ariovistus postulavit ne quem peditem ad conloquium Caesar
adduceret: vereri se ne per insidias ab eo circumveniretur; uterque cum
equitatu veniret: alia ratione sese non esse venturum. Caesar, quod
neque conloquium interposita causa tolli volebat neque salutem suam
Gallorum equitatui committere audebat, commodissimum esse statuit omnibus
equis Gallis equitibus detractis eo legionarios milites legionis X., cui
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: vigorous in her, that these traces of past folly did not spoil her
beauty. Her eyes glittered. She looked like some Herodias of da
Vinci's (I have dealt in pictures), so magnificently full of life and
energy was she; there was nothing starved nor stinted in feature or
outline; she awakened desire; it seemed to me that there was some
passion in her yet stronger than love. I was taken with her. It was a
long while since my heart had throbbed; so I was paid then and there--
for I would give a thousand francs for a sensation that should bring
me back memories of youth.
" ' "Monsieur," she said, finding a chair for me, "will you be so good
as to wait?"
 Gobseck |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: adrift vessels freighted with pebbly cargo. Then she had wandered
through the deep grass, her tiny feet scarcely turning a fragile
blade, and she had dreamed beside some old faded flowers. Thus
her steps led her into the broad lane. The little dimpled
imprints of her bare feet showed clean-cut in the dust they went
a little way down the lane; and then, at a point where they
stopped, the great tracks of a man led out from the shrubbery and
returned.
CHAPTER XX. LASSITER'S WAY
Footprints told the story of little Fay's abduction. In anguish
Jane Withersteen turned speechlessly to Lassiter, and, confirming
 Riders of the Purple Sage |