| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: or hierophant; to the sixth the character of poet or some other imitative
artist will be assigned; to the seventh the life of an artisan or
husbandman; to the eighth that of a sophist or demagogue; to the ninth that
of a tyrant--all these are states of probation, in which he who does
righteously improves, and he who does unrighteously, deteriorates his lot.
Ten thousand years must elapse before the soul of each one can return to
the place from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings in less; only
the soul of a philosopher, guileless and true, or the soul of a lover, who
is not devoid of philosophy, may acquire wings in the third of the
recurring periods of a thousand years; he is distinguished from the
ordinary good man who gains wings in three thousand years:--and they who
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain: This over, I made the boys a little speech, and then
sent out a detail to man the battery, with Clarence in
command of it.
The sun rose presently and sent its unobstructed
splendors over the land, and we saw a prodigious host
moving slowly toward us, with the steady drift and
aligned front of a wave of the sea. Nearer and nearer
it came, and more and more sublimely imposing be-
came its aspect; yes, all England was there, appar-
ently. Soon we could see the innumerable banners
fluttering, and then the sun struck the sea of armor
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: festivals a spectacle worth seeing; and further, with regard to all
those public shows demanded by the state, wherever held,[1] whether in
the grounds of the Acadamy or the Lyceum, at Phaleron or within the
hippodrome, it is his business as commander of the knights to see that
every pageant of the sort is splendidly exhibited.
[1] Cf. Theophr. "Ch." vii. (Jebb ad loc. p. 204, n. 25).
But these, again, are memoranda.[2] To the question how the several
features of the pageant shall receive their due impress of beauty, I
will now address myself.
[2] Read {tauta men alla upomnemata}, or if with Pantazid. {apla},
trans. "these are simply memoranda."
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