| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: you pride yourself upon? No doubt, upon the boy?
The Syr. Not I, indeed; I am terribly afraid concerning him. It is
plain enough to me that certain people are contriving for his
ruin.[82]
[82] {diaphtheirai} = (1) to destroy, make away with; (2) to ruin and
corrupt, seduce by bribes or otherwise.
Good gracious![83] (Socrates exclaimed, when he heard that), what
crime can they conceive your boy is guilty of that they should wish to
make an end of him?
[83] Lit. "Heracles!" "Zounds!"
The Syr. I do not say they want to murder him, but wheedle him away
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Confessio Amantis by John Gower: Hou it stod of hire housebonde.
And he tho dede hire understonde
With tales feigned in his wise,
Riht as he wolde himself devise, 4930
Wherof he myhte hire herte glade,
That sche the betre chiere made,
Whan sche the glade wordes herde,
Hou that hire housebonde ferde.
And thus the trouthe was deceived
With slih tresoun, which was received
To hire which mente alle goode;
Confessio Amantis |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: speech of my secret choice, of my future, of long friendships, of
the deepest affections, of hours of toil and hours of ease, and
of solitary hours, too, of books read, of thoughts pursued, of
remembered emotions--of my very dreams! And if (after being thus
fashioned by it in that part of me which cannot decay) I dare not
claim it aloud as my own, then, at any rate, the speech of my
children. Thus small events grow memorable by the passage of
time. As to the quality of the address itself I cannot say it
was very striking. Too short for eloquence and devoid of all
charm of tone, it consisted precisely of the three words "Look
out there!" growled out huskily above my head.
A Personal Record |
