| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: admitted by them to exist?
THEAETETUS: Certainly.
STRANGER: And, allowing that justice, wisdom, the other virtues, and their
opposites exist, as well as a soul in which they inhere, do they affirm any
of them to be visible and tangible, or are they all invisible?
THEAETETUS: They would say that hardly any of them are visible.
STRANGER: And would they say that they are corporeal?
THEAETETUS: They would distinguish: the soul would be said by them to
have a body; but as to the other qualities of justice, wisdom, and the
like, about which you asked, they would not venture either to deny their
existence, or to maintain that they were all corporeal.
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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: ERYXIAS: They would not.
SOCRATES: They would no longer be regarded as wealth, because they are
useless, whereas that would be wealth which enabled us to obtain what was
useful to us?
ERYXIAS: O Socrates, you will never be able to persuade me that gold and
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
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: "Do just as you please, my dear," replied Mrs. Allen,
with the most placid indifference. Catherine took
the advice, and ran off to get ready. In a very few minutes
she reappeared, having scarcely allowed the two others time
enough to get through a few short sentences in her praise,
after Thorpe had procured Mrs. Allen's admiration of his gig;
and then receiving her friend's parting good wishes,
they both hurried downstairs. "My dearest creature,"
cried Isabella, to whom the duty of friendship immediately
called her before she could get into the carriage,
"you have been at least three hours getting ready.
Northanger Abbey |
