| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Apology by Xenophon: (touching the inquiry, what I was to say in my defence),[16] when you
all thought the great thing was to discover some means of
acquittal;[17] since, had I effected that, it is clear I should have
prepared for myself, not that surcease from life which is in store for
me anon, but to end my days wasted by disease, or by old age, on which
a confluent stream of evil things most alien to joyousness
converges."[18]
[16] {te tou logou episkepsei}. Cf. Plat. "Rep." 456 C.
[17] Or, if {emin}, transl. "we all were for thinking that the main
thing was."
[18] Or, "that sink into which a confluent stream of evil humours
The Apology |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: horse was taken prisoner, and carried to Carlisle, where he was
tried and condemned. To extort a discovery of the person who
sent the horse, threats of immediate execution in case of
refusal, and offers of pardon on his giving information, were
held out ineffectually to the faithful messenger. He knew, he
said, what the consequence of a disclosure would be to his
master, and his own life was nothing in the comparison. When
brought out for execution, he was again pressed to inform on his
master. He asked if they were serious in supposing him such a
villain. If he did what they desired, and forgot his master and
his trust, he could not return to his native country, for
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: I have seen you I can say no without wounding you; I can make sure
that you shall not see me.
This letter had been sent off the evening before the day when the
abortive struggle between Dumay and Modeste had taken place. The happy
girl was impatiently awaiting Sunday, when her eyes were to vindicate
or condemn her heart and her actions,--a solemn moment in the life of
any woman, and which three months of close communion of souls now
rendered as romantic as the most imaginative maiden could have wished.
Every one, except the mother, had taken this torpor of expectation for
the calm of innocence. No matter how firmly family laws and religious
precepts may bind, there will always be the Clarissas and the Julies,
Modeste Mignon |
