| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: There was an oracle of Apollo, he urged, which said "Beware of the
lame reign." But Diopethes was met by Lysander, who in behalf of
Agesilaus demurred to this interpretation put upon the language of the
god. If they were to beware of a lame reign, it meant not, beware lest
a man stumble and halt, but rather, beware of him in whose veins flows
not the blood of Heracles; most assuredly the kingdom would halt, and
that would be a lame reign in very deed, whensoever the descendants of
Heracles should cease to lead the state. Such were the arguments on
either side, after hearing which the city chose Agesilaus to be king.
[3] See Plut. "Ages." ii. 4; "Lys." xxii. (Clough, iv. 3; iii. 129);
Paus. III. viii. 5.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: the murdered man's pocket-book get into the sealskin bag? And the
dirk, how account for that, and the blood-stains?"
"Now what's the use," asked McKnight aggrievedly, "of my building
up beautiful theories for you to pull down? We'll take it to
Hotchkiss. Maybe he can tell from the blood-stains if the murderer's
finger nails were square or pointed."
"Hotchkiss is no fool," I said warmly. "Under all his theories
there's a good hard layer of common sense. And we must remember,
Rich, that neither of our theories includes the woman at Doctor
Van Kirk's hospital, that the charming picture you have just drawn
does not account for Alison West's connection with the case, or
The Man in Lower Ten |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: This last contrast between his present surroundings and the
scenes he had just witnessed was too much for Rastignac's over-
wrought nerves, after the day's strain and excitement that had
wearied heart and brain; he was almost overcome by it.
"I felt sure myself that he loved you," murmured Father Goriot,
while Eugene lay back bewildered on the sofa, utterly unable to
speak a word or to reason out how and why the magic wand had been
waved to bring about this final transformation scene.
"But you must see your rooms," said Mme. de Nucingen. She took
his hand and led him into a room carpeted and furnished like her
own; indeed, down to the smallest details, it was a reproduction
Father Goriot |
