| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Meno by Plato: thousand Greeks, which Xenophon has recorded, as he is also silent about
the crimes of Critias. He is a Thessalian Alcibiades, rich and luxurious--
a spoilt child of fortune, and is described as the hereditary friend of the
great king. Like Alcibiades he is inspired with an ardent desire of
knowledge, and is equally willing to learn of Socrates and of the Sophists.
He may be regarded as standing in the same relation to Gorgias as
Hippocrates in the Protagoras to the other great Sophist. He is the
sophisticated youth on whom Socrates tries his cross-examining powers, just
as in the Charmides, the Lysis, and the Euthydemus, ingenuous boyhood is
made the subject of a similar experiment. He is treated by Socrates in a
half-playful manner suited to his character; at the same time he appears
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: this kind and that, and will make me a power of friends to be sure.
There is one Becker who will probably put up a window to me in the
church where he was baptized; and I expect a testimonial from
Captain Hand.
Sorry to let the mail go without the Scott; this has been a bad
month with me, and I have been below myself. I shall find a way to
have it come by next, or know the reason why. The mail after,
anyway.
A bit of a sketch map appears to me necessary for my HISTORY;
perhaps two. If I do not have any, 'tis impossible any one should
follow; and I, even when not at all interested, demand that I shall
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: Never had I seen the man so put out of countenance and so disturbed.
The fatigues of our passage across, the dangers met, had all to be
begun over again. We had gone backwards instead of forwards!
But my uncle rapidly recovered himself.
"Aha! will fate play tricks upon me? Will the elements lay plots
against me? Shall fire, air, and water make a combined attack against
me? Well, they shall know what a determined man can do. I will not
yield. I will not stir a single foot backwards, and it will be seen
whether man or nature is to have the upper hand!"
Erect upon the rock, angry and threatening, Otto Liedenbrock was a
rather grotesque fierce parody upon the fierce Achilles defying the
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
