| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: Granted--granted--a thousand times granted.
I have been a loose fish--a fiddler, a painter, an actor.
But there is this to be said: In the first place, I fancy
you exaggerate; you lend me qualities I have n't had.
I have been a Bohemian--yes; but in Bohemia I always passed
for a gentleman. I wish you could see some of my old camarades--
they would tell you! It was the liberty I liked,
but not the opportunities! My sins were all peccadilloes;
I always respected my neighbor's property--my neighbor's wife.
Do you see, dear uncle?" Mr. Wentworth ought to have seen;
his cold blue eyes were intently fixed. "And then, c'est fini!
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: wandering in that labyrinth without a goal and without a
guide, which is called remorse and shame for the past.
Soon, however, raising his head with an effort, he said, in
his usual voice, --
"Go, Mr. Boxtel; justice shall be done, I promise you."
Then, turning to the President, he added, --
"You, my dear Mynheer van Systens, take charge of this young
woman and of the tulip. Good-bye."
All bowed, and the Prince left, among the deafening cheers
of the crowd outside.
Boxtel returned to his inn, rather puzzled and uneasy,
The Black Tulip |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: surfaces and solids compounded of prime numbers (i.e. of numbers not made
up of two factors, or, in other words, only measurable by unity). The
square of any such number represents a surface, the cube a solid. The
squares of any two such numbers (e.g. 2 squared, 3 squared = 4, 9), have
always a single mean proportional (e.g. 4 and 9 have the single mean 6),
whereas the cubes of primes (e.g. 3 cubed and 5 cubed) have always two mean
proportionals (e.g. 27:45:75:125). But to this explanation of Martin's it
may be objected, (1) that Plato nowhere says that his proportion is to be
limited to prime numbers; (2) that the limitation of surfaces to squares is
also not to be found in his words; nor (3) is there any evidence to show
that the distinction of prime from other numbers was known to him. What
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