| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: beneficial or not,--a thing, too, which is esteemed of the highest
importance by the Hellenes:--(for parents, as soon as their children are,
as they think, come to years of discretion, urge them to consider how
wealth may be acquired, since by riches the value of a man is judged):--
When, I say, we are thus in earnest, and you, who agree in other respects,
fall to disputing about a matter of such moment, that is, about wealth, and
not merely whether it is black or white, light or heavy, but whether it is
a good or an evil, whereby, although you are now the dearest of friends and
kinsmen, the most bitter hatred may arise betwixt you, I must hinder your
dissension to the best of my power. If I could, I would tell you the
truth, and so put an end to the dispute; but as I cannot do this, and each
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: to be eliminated from the tribe. There was nothing on
earth that the Wellands and Mingotts would not have
done to proclaim their unalterable affection for the
Countess Olenska now that her passage for Europe
was engaged; and Archer, at the head of his table, sat
marvelling at the silent untiring activity with which her
popularity had been retrieved, grievances against her
silenced, her past countenanced, and her present irradiated
by the family approval. Mrs. van der Luyden
shone on her with the dim benevolence which was her
nearest approach to cordiality, and Mr. van der Luyden,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: for you, you don't begin by reducing him to tears. I should have
thought any woman would have known that much. A nun would have
known that much. What do you say? Shall I run back to Paris and
make it up for you with Azzolati?"
He waited for her answer. The compression of his thin lips was
full of significance. I was surprised to see our hostess shake her
head negatively the least bit, for indeed by her pose, by the
thoughtful immobility of her face she seemed to be a thousand miles
away from us all, lost in an infinite reverie.
He gave it up. "Well, I must be off. The express for Nice passes
at four o'clock. I will be away about three weeks and then you
The Arrow of Gold |
