The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: 'But the blessed Gods were averse and received it not.
For exceedingly did they hate the holy Ilium,
Both Priam and the people of the spear-skilled king.'
So that it was in vain for them to sacrifice and offer gifts, seeing that
they were hateful to the Gods, who are not, like vile usurers, to be gained
over by bribes. And it is foolish for us to boast that we are superior to
the Lacedaemonians by reason of our much worship. The idea is
inconceivable that the Gods have regard, not to the justice and purity of
our souls, but to costly processions and sacrifices, which men may
celebrate year after year, although they have committed innumerable crimes
against the Gods or against their fellow-men or the state. For the Gods,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: particular respect for three or four high-backed claw-footed
chairs, covered with tarnished brocade, which bear the marks
of having seen better days, and have doubtless figured in some
of the old palaces of Little Britain. They seem to me to keep
together, and to look down with sovereign contempt upon
their leathern-bottomed neighbors: as I have seen decayed
gentry carry a high head among the plebeian society with which
they were reduced to associate. The whole front of my sitting-
room is taken up with a bow-window, on the panes of which
are recorded the names of previous occupants for many
generations, mingled with scraps of very indifferent
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: be clear except for contesting automobiles. But what right had this
machine among them!
And what said the racers themselves, who, warned by telephone, had to
sheer aside from the road in their struggle for the grand prize? By
their estimate, this amazing vehicle was going at least one hundred
and thirty miles an hour. Fast as was their speed, it shot by them at
such a rate that they could hardly make out even the shape of the
machine, a sort of lengthened spindle, probably not over thirty feet
long. Its wheels spun with such velocity that they could scarce be
seen. For the rest, the machine left behind it neither smoke nor
scent.
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