| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: themselves at the head of the marksmen of several tribes, and to ride
out to the butts for practice. In this way a spirit of emulation will
be roused--the several officers will, no doubt, be eager to turn out
as many marksmen as they can to aid the state.[30]
[30] On competition cf. "Cyrop." II. i. 22, and our author passim.
And so too, to ensure that splendour of accoutrement which the force
requires,[31] the greatest help may once again be looked for from the
phylarchs; let these officers but be persuaded that from the public
point of view the splendid appearance of their squadrons[32] will
confer a title to distinction far higher than that of any personal
equipment. Nor is it reasonable to suppose that they will be deaf to
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: sent me to thee, and it is his will, that thou go to the seven
lineages and say to them that thou shalt be their emperor. For
thou shalt conquer the lands and the countries that be about, and
they that march upon you shall be under your subjection, as ye have
been under theirs, for that is God's will immortal.
And when he came at morrow, Changuys rose, and went to seven
lineages, and told them how the white knight had said. And they
scorned him, and said that he was a fool. And so he departed from
them all ashamed. And the night ensuing, this white knight came to
the seven lineages, and commanded them on God's behalf immortal,
that they should make this Changuys their emperor, and they should
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: verisimilitude. Nothing in Aristophanes is more truly Aristophanic than
the description of the human monster whirling round on four arms and four
legs, eight in all, with incredible rapidity. Yet there is a mixture of
earnestness in this jest; three serious principles seem to be insinuated:--
first, that man cannot exist in isolation; he must be reunited if he is to
be perfected: secondly, that love is the mediator and reconciler of poor,
divided human nature: thirdly, that the loves of this world are an
indistinct anticipation of an ideal union which is not yet realized.
The speech of Agathon is conceived in a higher strain, and receives the
real, if half-ironical, approval of Socrates. It is the speech of the
tragic poet and a sort of poem, like tragedy, moving among the gods of
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