| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: faculties, there let us by all means apply them. But in things which
are hidden, let us seek to gain knowledge from above, by divination;
for the gods," he added, "grant signs to those to whom they will be
gracious."
[6] Or, "in the sphere of the determined," {ta anagkaia} = certa,
quorum eventus est necessarius; "things positive, the law-ordained
department of life," as we might say. See Grote, "H. G." i. ch.
xvi. 500 and passim.
[7] Reading {os nomizoien}, or if {os enomizen}, translate "As to
things with certain results, he advised them to do them in the way
in which he believed they would be done best"; i.e. he did not
The Memorabilia |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: first time in my life, I heard myself addressed in English--the
speech of my secret choice, of my future, of long friendships, of
the deepest affections, of hours of toil and hours of ease, and
of solitary hours, too, of books read, of thoughts pursued, of
remembered emotions--of my very dreams! And if (after being thus
fashioned by it in that part of me which cannot decay) I dare not
claim it aloud as my own, then, at any rate, the speech of my
children. Thus small events grow memorable by the passage of
time. As to the quality of the address itself I cannot say it
was very striking. Too short for eloquence and devoid of all
charm of tone, it consisted precisely of the three words "Look
A Personal Record |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: be open to any one, without serious impediment, to abstract stones
from it, even to take the whole, if it suit him. A rabbit-hutch is
property; the work of the mind is not. If the animal has eccentric
views as regards the possessions of others, we have ours as well.
'Might always has the best of the argument,' said La Fontaine, to
the great scandal of the peace-lovers. The exigencies of verse,
rhyme and rhythm, carried the worthy fabulist further than he
intended: he meant to say that, in a fight between mastiffs and in
other brute conflicts, the stronger is left master of the bone. He
well knew that, as things go, success is no certificate of
excellence. Others came, the notorious evil-doers of humanity, who
The Life of the Spider |
