| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: there, unluckily for him, we keep more than one Damocles' sword."
"Oh, Rastignac! what brought you into that boat, I wonder?" exclaimed
Bianchon.
"Ah, we are used to seeing these little family conspiracies," said
Popinot. "Not a year passes without a number of verdicts of
'insufficient evidence' against applications of this kind. In our
state of society such an attempt brings no dishonor, while we send a
poor devil to the galleys who breaks a pane of glass dividing him from
a bowl full of gold. Our Code is not faultless."
"But these are the facts?"
"My boy, do you not know all the judicial romances with which clients
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: wisdom of Nestor and wanted the necessaries of life, food and drink and
clothes and the like? Where would be the advantage of wisdom then? Or how
could he be the richest of men who might even have to go begging, because
he had not wherewithal to live?
I thought that what Eryxias was saying had some weight, and I replied,
Would the wise man really suffer in this way, if he were so ill-provided;
whereas if he had the house of Polytion, and the house were full of gold
and silver, he would lack nothing?
ERYXIAS: Yes; for then he might dispose of his property and obtain in
exchange what he needed, or he might sell it for money with which he could
supply his wants and in a moment procure abundance of everything.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: cathedral instead of hearing a concert of angels in bliss, and a
divine prayer consecrating the union of Robert and Isabella. We ought
not to have been left oppressed by the spells of hell; we ought to
emerge with hope in our heart.
"I, as musician and a Catholic, wanted another prayer like that in
/Mose/. I should have liked to see how Germany would contend with
Italy, what Meyerbeer could do in rivalry with Rossini.
"However, in spite of this trifling blemish, the writer cannot say
that after five hours of such solid music, a Parisian prefers a bit of
ribbon to a musical masterpiece. You heard how the work was applauded;
it will go through five hundred performances! If the French really
Gambara |
