| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: Prior, however, to the enquiry about the writings of a particular author,
general considerations which equally affect all evidence to the genuineness
of ancient writings are the following: Shorter works are more likely to
have been forged, or to have received an erroneous designation, than longer
ones; and some kinds of composition, such as epistles or panegyrical
orations, are more liable to suspicion than others; those, again, which
have a taste of sophistry in them, or the ring of a later age, or the
slighter character of a rhetorical exercise, or in which a motive or some
affinity to spurious writings can be detected, or which seem to have
originated in a name or statement really occurring in some classical
author, are also of doubtful credit; while there is no instance of any
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Richard III by William Shakespeare: But penetrable to your kind entreaties,
Albeit against my conscience and my soul.
Re-enter BUCKINGHAM and the rest
Cousin of Buckingham, and sage grave men,
Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
To bear her burden, whe'er I will or no,
I must have patience to endure the load;
But if black scandal or foul-fac'd reproach
Attend the sequel of your imposition,
Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me
From all the impure blots and stains thereof;
Richard III |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Salome by Oscar Wilde: veux parler.
SALOME. Je suis Salome, fille d'Herodias, princesse de Judee.
IOKANAAN. Arriere! Fille de Babylone! N'approchez pas de l'elu du
Seigneur. Ta mere a rempli la terre du vin de ses iniquites, et le
cri de ses peches est arrive aux oreilles de Dieu.
SALOME. Parle encore, Iokanaan. Ta voix m'enivre.
LE JEUNE SYRIEN. Princesse! Princesse! Princesse!
SALOME. Mais parle encore. Parle encore, Iokanaan, et dis-moi ce
qu'il faut que je fasse.
IOKANAAN. Ne m'approchez pas, fille de Sodome, mais couvrez votre
visage avec un voile, et mettez des cendres sur votre tete, et allez
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