| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: to become under any provocation a dishonest man,
and too normally a gentleman to deviate from a
certain personal code of honor. He might come to
California with fair words and a very definite in-
tention of annexing it to Russia at the first oppor-
tunity, but he was incapable of abusing the hospi-
tality of the Arguellos by making love to their six-
teen-year-old daughter. Had she been of the years
he had assumed, he would have had less scruple in
embarking upon a flirtation, both for the pastime
and the use he might make of her. A Spanish
Rezanov |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Open Letter on Translating by Dr. Martin Luther: dialectics and philosophy better than all of them put together.
Plus I know that not one of them understands Aristotle. If, in
fact, any one of them can correctly understand one part or chapter
of Aristotle, I will eat my hat! No, I am not overdoing it for I
have been educated in and have practiced their science since my
childhood. I recognize how broad and deep it is. They, too, know
that everything they can do, I can do. Yet they handle me like a
stranger in their discipline, these incurable fellows, as if I had
just arrived this morning and had never seen or heard what they
know and teach. How they do so brilliantly parade around with
their science, teaching me what I grew beyond twenty years ago!
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: [1] See "Pol. Lac." xv. 4. See J. J. Hartman, "An. Xen." 257.
[2] See Hom. "Il." ii. 24, {ou khro pannukhion eudein boulephoron
andra}, "to sleep all night through beseemeth not one that is a
counsellor."--W. Leaf.
And, as touching the things of Aphrodite, if for nothing else, at any
rate for the marvel of it, the self-restraint of the man deserves to
be put on record. It is easy to say that to abstain from that which
excites no desire is but human; yet in the case of Megabates, the son
of Spithridates, he was moved by as genuine a love as any passionate
soul may feel for what is lovely. Now, it being a national custom
among the Persians to salute those whom they honour with a kiss,
|
