| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: accordance with the character of the earlier dialogues. The resemblances
or imitations of the Gorgias, Protagoras, and Euthydemus, which have been
observed in the Hippias, cannot with certainty be adduced on either side of
the argument. On the whole, more may be said in favour of the genuineness
of the Hippias than against it.
The Menexenus or Funeral Oration is cited by Aristotle, and is interesting
as supplying an example of the manner in which the orators praised 'the
Athenians among the Athenians,' falsifying persons and dates, and casting a
veil over the gloomier events of Athenian history. It exhibits an
acquaintance with the funeral oration of Thucydides, and was, perhaps,
intended to rival that great work. If genuine, the proper place of the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: I know not where the sacred knife is; but you can fashion
another. Had I not taken it from La you would have
slain me and now your god must be glad that I took it
since I have saved his priestess from love-mad Tantor.
Will you go back to Opar with La, promising that no
harm shall befall her?"
The priests gathered together in a little knot arguing
and discussing. They pounded upon their breasts with
their fists; they raised their hands and eyes to their
fiery god; they growled and barked among themselves
until it became evident to Tarzan that one of their
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: to time they resume forgotten expressions in their vocabulary,
which they restore to use; or they borrow from some particular
class of the community a term peculiar to it, which they
introduce with a figurative meaning into the language of daily
life. Many expressions which originally belonged to the
technical language of a profession or a party, are thus drawn
into general circulation.
The most common expedient employed by democratic nations to
make an innovation in language consists in giving some unwonted
meaning to an expression already in use. This method is very
simple, prompt, and convenient; no learning is required to use it
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