| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso: If thou miscarry, all our hope were lost,
By thee must Babel fell, and all her pride;
Of our true faith thou art the prop and post,
Rule with thy sceptre, conquer with thy word,
Let others combat make with spear and sword.
LXIII
"Let me this Pagan's glorious pride assuage,
These aged arms can yet their weapons use,
Let others shun Bellona's dreadful rage,
These silver locks shall not Raymondo scuse:
Oh that I were in prime of lusty age,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: placed him in an easy-chair and sought aguardiente for his immediate
refreshment. Since the year's beginning there had been no guest for him
to bring into his rooms, or to sit beside him in the high seats at table,
set apart for the gente fina.
Such another library was not then in California; and though Gaston
Villere, in leaving Harvard College, had shut Horace and Sophocles for
ever at the earliest instant possible under academic requirements, he
knew the Greek and Latin names that he now saw as well as he knew those
of Shakspere, Dante, Moliere, and Cervantes. These were here also; but it
could not be precisely said of them, either, that they made a part of the
young man's daily reading. As he surveyed the Padre's august shelves, it
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: know; I received it at Toulon.
I started at once, and you know the rest.
Now you have only to read a few sheets which Julie Duprat gave
me; they are the best commentary on what I have just told you.
Chapter 25
Armand, tired by this long narrative, often interrupted by his
tears, put his two hands over his forehead and closed his eyes to
think, or to try to sleep, after giving me the pages written by
the hand of Marguerite. A few minutes after, a more rapid
breathing told me that Armand slept, but that light sleep which
the least sound banishes.
Camille |
