| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: and other great writers, and is almost inclined to think that he himself,
or rather some power residing within him, could make a speech better than
that of Lysias on the same theme, and also different from his, if he may be
allowed the use of a few commonplaces which all speakers must equally
employ.
Phaedrus is delighted at the prospect of having another speech, and
promises that he will set up a golden statue of Socrates at Delphi, if he
keeps his word. Some raillery ensues, and at length Socrates, conquered by
the threat that he shall never again hear a speech of Lysias unless he
fulfils his promise, veils his face and begins.
First, invoking the Muses and assuming ironically the person of the non-
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: horribly quiet. I got food--sour, hard, and mouldy, but quite
eatable--in a baker's shop here. Some way towards Walham
Green the streets became clear of powder, and I passed a
white terrace of houses on fire; the noise of the burning was
an absolute relief. Going on towards Brompton, the streets
were quiet again.
Here I came once more upon the black powder in the
streets and upon dead bodies. I saw altogether about a dozen
in the length of the Fulham Road. They had been dead many
days, so that I hurried quickly past them. The black powder
covered them over, and softened their outlines. One or two
War of the Worlds |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: never failed to rise to the occasion. All that he does is witty and
never in bad taste; always and in everything he displays the genius of
Rivarol, the polished subtlety of the old French noble. It was he who
told that delicious anecdote of a friend of Laffitte the banker. A
national fund had been started to give back to Laffitte the mansion in
which the Revolution of 1830 was brewed, and this friend appeared at
the offices of the fund with, 'Here are five francs, give me a hundred
sous change!'--A caricature was made of it.--It was once La
Palferine's misfortune, in judicial style, to make a young girl a
mother. The girl, not a very simple innocent, confessed all to her
mother, a respectable matron, who hurried forthwith to La Palferine
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