The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde: If any sin there be upon my soul?
DUCHESS
Thou dost but waste thy time.
CARDINAL
Alack, my son,
I have no power with the secular arm.
My task begins when justice has been done,
To urge the wavering sinner to repent
And to confess to Holy Church's ear
The dreadful secrets of a sinful mind.
DUCHESS
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: that he was assured. His desire was to commend them one and all alike,
counting the common salvation of all a gain, and reckoning it as a
loss if even a mean man perished. For thus he reasoned, nor made a
secret of the conclusion he had come to: so long as her citizens
continued tranquilly adherent to the laws the happiness of Sparta was
secure.[7] And for the rest Sparta would once again be strong on that
day when the states of Hellas should learn wisdom.
[3] Or, "he was at the same time the most obvious in his allegiance to
the laws."
[4] Lit. "would have taken on himself . . . would have ventured on
revolution."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine and Mucedorus by William Shakespeare: Unsheath your swords, and try it out by force,
That we may see who hath the better hand.
LOCRINE.
Thinkst thou to dare me, bold Thrasimachus?
Thinkst thou to fear me with thy taunting braves,
Or do we seem too weak to cope with thee?
Soon shall I shew thee my fine cutting blade,
And with my sword, the messenger of death,
Seal thee an acquitance for thy bold attempts.
[Exeunt.]
[Sound the alarm. Enter Locrine, Assarachus, and a
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