| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: be called remorse. I am sure it is so with yourself; I am
persuaded your letter was inspired by a certain envy, not
essentially ignoble, and the one human trait to be espied in that
performance. You were thinking of the lost chance, the past day;
of that which should have been conceived and was not; of the
service due and not rendered. TIME WAS, said the voice in your
ear, in your pleasant room, as you sat raging and writing; and if
the words written were base beyond parallel, the rage, I am happy
to repeat - it is the only compliment I shall pay you - the rage
was almost virtuous. But, sir, when we have failed, and another
has succeeded; when we have stood by, and another has stepped in;
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: is to be remarked, that the Joyous Friars were called Knights of
St. Mary, and became knights on taking that habit: their robes
were white, the mantle sable, and the arms a white field and red
cross with two stars. Their office was to defend widows and
orphans; they were to act as mediators; they had internal
regulations like other religious bodies. The above-mentioned M.
Loderingo was the founder of that order. But it was not long
before they too well deserved the appellation given them, and
were found to be more bent on enjoying themselves than on any
other subject. These two friars were called in by the
Florentines, and had a residence assigned them in the palace
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: that part of the world, he gave the name which in the Hellenic language is
Eumelus, in the language of the country which is named after him, Gadeirus.
Of the second pair of twins he called one Ampheres, and the other Evaemon.
To the elder of the third pair of twins he gave the name Mneseus, and
Autochthon to the one who followed him. Of the fourth pair of twins he
called the elder Elasippus, and the younger Mestor. And of the fifth pair
he gave to the elder the name of Azaes, and to the younger that of
Diaprepes. All these and their descendants for many generations were the
inhabitants and rulers of divers islands in the open sea; and also, as has
been already said, they held sway in our direction over the country within
the pillars as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia. Now Atlas had a numerous and
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