| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: v. 59. What then it wrought.] In the following fifteen lines
the Poet has comprised the exploits of Julius Caesar.
v. 75. In its next bearer's gripe.] With Augustus Caesar.
v. 89. The third Caesar.] "Tiberius the third of the Caesars,
had it in his power to surpass the glory of all who either
preceded or came after him, by destroying the city of .Jerusalem,
as Titus afterwards did, and thus revenging the cause of God
himself on the Jews."
v. 95. Vengeance for vengeance ] This will be afterwards
explained by the Poet himself.
v. 98. Charlemagne.] Dante could not be ignorant that the reign
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: the Pope;] much less, therefore, are these vows of force which
are against the commandments of God.
Now, if the obligation of vows could not be changed for any
cause whatever, the Roman Pontiffs could never have given
dispensation for it is not lawful for man to annul an
obligation which is simply divine. But the Roman Pontiffs have
prudently judged that leniency is to be observed in this
obligation, and therefore we read that many times they have
dispensed from vows. The case of the King of Aragon who was
called back from the monastery is well known, and there are
also examples in our own times. [Now, if dispensations have
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: several which he had already arranged for the foundation of his
edifice. He was struggling to move a fragment of great size when
the two young men came up, and was so intent upon executing his
purpose, that he did not perceive them till they were close upon
him. In straining and heaving at the stone, in order to place it
according to his wish, he displayed a degree of strength which
seemed utterly inconsistent with his size and apparent deformity.
Indeed, to judge from the difficulties he had already surmounted,
he must have been of Herculean powers; for some of the stones he
had succeeded in raising apparently required two men's strength
to have moved them. Hobbie's suspicions began to revive, on
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