| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: and, in case of any obvious failure, take warning and not repeat it.
Again, if everything were to be carried out at once, it is we, sirs,
who must make the whole provision at our expense.[44] Whereas, if part
were proceeded with and part stood over, the portion of revenue in
hand will help to furnish what is necessary to go on with. But to come
now to what every one probably will regard as a really grave danger,
lest the state may become possessed of an over large number of slaves,
with the result that the works will be overstocked. That again is an
apprehension which we may escape if we are careful not to put into the
works more hands from year to year than the works themselves demand.
Thus[45] I am persuaded that the easiest method of carrying out this
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: But we know that she will of her own accord take care of them, and does not
need any exhortation of ours.'
This, O ye children and parents of the dead, is the message which they bid
us deliver to you, and which I do deliver with the utmost seriousness. And
in their name I beseech you, the children, to imitate your fathers, and
you, parents, to be of good cheer about yourselves; for we will nourish
your age, and take care of you both publicly and privately in any place in
which one of us may meet one of you who are the parents of the dead. And
the care of you which the city shows, you know yourselves; for she has made
provision by law concerning the parents and children of those who die in
war; the highest authority is specially entrusted with the duty of watching
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Call of the Wild by Jack London: they dropped down in the traces like dead dogs, and the spark
dimmed and paled and seemed to go out. And when the club or whip
fell upon them, the spark fluttered feebly up, and they tottered
to their feet and staggered on.
There came a day when Billee, the good-natured, fell and could not
rise. Hal had traded off his revolver, so he took the axe and
knocked Billee on the head as he lay in the traces, then cut the
carcass out of the harness and dragged it to one side. Buck saw,
and his mates saw, and they knew that this thing was very close to
them. On the next day Koona went, and but five of them remained:
Joe, too far gone to be malignant; Pike, crippled and limping,
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