| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: to make it better, and not worse, than he found it. His first Egyptian
act was to put to death Cleomenes, Alexander's lieutenant, who had
amassed vast treasures by extortion; and who was, moreover, (for Ptolemy
was a prudent man) a dangerous partisan of his great enemy, Perdiccas.
We do not read that he refunded the treasures: but the Egyptians
surnamed him Soter, the Saviour; and on the whole he deserved the title.
Instead of the wretched misrule and slavery of the conquering Persian
dynasty, they had at least law and order, reviving commerce, and a
system of administration, we are told (I confess to speaking here quite
at second-hand), especially adapted to the peculiar caste-society, and
the religious prejudices of Egypt. But Ptolemy's political genius went
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: Why do you shut your gates against your friends?
COUNTESS.
Well may I give a welcome, Cousin, to thee,
For thou comst well to chase my foes from hence.
MOUNTAGUE.
The king himself is come in person hither;
Dear Aunt, descend, and gratulate his highness.
COUNTESS.
How may I entertain his Majesty,
To shew my duty and his dignity?
[Exit, from above.]
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the
beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else
perished, and HE remained, I should still continue to be; and if
all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn
to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it. - My love
for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it,
I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for
Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little
visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I AM Heathcliff! He's
always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am
always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don't talk of
Wuthering Heights |
