| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Aeneid by Virgil: The Dardan prince put on a smiling face,
And strain'd Acestes with a close embrace;
Then, hon'ring him with gifts above the rest,
Turn'd the bad omen, nor his fears confess'd.
"The gods," said he, "this miracle have wrought,
And order'd you the prize without the lot.
Accept this goblet, rough with figur'd gold,
Which Thracian Cisseus gave my sire of old:
This pledge of ancient amity receive,
Which to my second sire I justly give."
He said, and, with the trumpets' cheerful sound,
Aeneid |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Princess by Alfred Tennyson: choked, and her forehead sank upon her hands,
And her great heart through all the faultful Past
Went sorrowing in a pause I dared not break;
Till notice of a change in the dark world
Was lispt about the acacias, and a bird,
That early woke to feed her little ones,
Sent from a dewy breast a cry for light:
She moved, and at her feet the volume fell.
'Blame not thyself too much,' I said, 'nor blame
Too much the sons of men and barbarous laws;
These were the rough ways of the world till now.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: It is, in my opinion (he replied).
Soc. Then we must in every way strain every nerve to avoid the
imputation of being slaves?
Euth. Nay, Socrates, by all that is holy, I did flatter myself that at
any rate I was a student of philosophy, and on the right road to be
taught everything essential to one who would fain make beauty and
goodness his pursuit.[41] So that now you may well imagine my despair
when, for all my pains expended, I cannot even answer the questions
put to me about what most of all a man should know; and there is no
path of progress open to me, no avenue of improvement left.
[41] {tes kalokagathias}, the virtue of the {kalos te kagathos}--
The Memorabilia |
