| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: Outside the Acropolis and under the sides of the hill there dwelt artisans,
and such of the husbandmen as were tilling the ground near; the warrior
class dwelt by themselves around the temples of Athene and Hephaestus at
the summit, which moreover they had enclosed with a single fence like the
garden of a single house. On the north side they had dwellings in common
and had erected halls for dining in winter, and had all the buildings which
they needed for their common life, besides temples, but there was no
adorning of them with gold and silver, for they made no use of these for
any purpose; they took a middle course between meanness and ostentation,
and built modest houses in which they and their children's children grew
old, and they handed them down to others who were like themselves, always
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Crito by Plato: property, is tolerably certain; and you yourself, if you fly to one of the
neighbouring cities, as, for example, Thebes or Megara, both of which are
well governed, will come to them as an enemy, Socrates, and their
government will be against you, and all patriotic citizens will cast an
evil eye upon you as a subverter of the laws, and you will confirm in the
minds of the judges the justice of their own condemnation of you. For he
who is a corrupter of the laws is more than likely to be a corrupter of the
young and foolish portion of mankind. Will you then flee from well-ordered
cities and virtuous men? and is existence worth having on these terms? Or
will you go to them without shame, and talk to them, Socrates? And what
will you say to them? What you say here about virtue and justice and
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Yes; but they have those terrible horns, and
unless we are careful they prick us with the
points," returned the Champion with a shudder.
"That makes a war with them dangerous, and a
dangerous war cannot be a pleasant one."
"I see very clearly," remarked the Scarecrow,
"that you are going to have trouble in conquering
those Horners--unless we help you."
"Oh!" cried the Hoppers in a chorus; "can
you help us? Please do! We will be greatly
obliged! It would please us very much!" and by
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
