| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Meno by Plato: interrogation, in which Socrates explains to him the nature of a 'simile in
multis,' Socrates himself defines figure as 'the accompaniment of colour.'
But some one may object that he does not know the meaning of the word
'colour;' and if he is a candid friend, and not a mere disputant, Socrates
is willing to furnish him with a simpler and more philosophical definition,
into which no disputed word is allowed to intrude: 'Figure is the limit of
form.' Meno imperiously insists that he must still have a definition of
colour. Some raillery follows; and at length Socrates is induced to reply,
'that colour is the effluence of form, sensible, and in due proportion to
the sight.' This definition is exactly suited to the taste of Meno, who
welcomes the familiar language of Gorgias and Empedocles. Socrates is of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: "It's immeasurably worse--you've no legitimate excuse. Why, even a
prostitute has a greater sense of generosity!"
"I know," she said, "I know perfectly well--but I can't help the way I'm
built...Are you going?"
He put on his gloves.
"Well," he said, "what's going to happen to us now?"
Again she shrugged her shoulders.
"I haven't the slightest idea. I never have--just let things occur."
...
"All alone?" cried Victor. "Has Max been here?"
"He only stayed a moment, and wouldn't even have tea. I sent him home to
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: lightness of youth added an enchanting grace at this moment to
Francesca's charms. This is the key to her character; she laughs and
she is touched; she becomes enthusiastic, and returns to arch raillery
with a readiness, a facility, which makes her the charming and
exquisite creature she is, and for which her reputation is known
outside Italy. Under the graces of a woman she conceals vast learning,
thanks to the excessively monotonous and almost monastic life she led
in the castle of the old Colonnas.
This rich heiress was at first intended for the cloister, being the
fourth child of Prince and Princess Colonna; but the death of her two
brothers, and of her elder sister, suddenly brought her out of her
Albert Savarus |
