| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly. In
manner, something of the grand seigneur still clung to him, so
that he even ripped you up with an air, and I have been told that
he was a RACONTEUR [storyteller] of repute. He was never more
sinister than when he was most polite, which is probably the
truest test of breeding; and the elegance of his diction, even
when he was swearing, no less than the distinction of his
demeanour, showed him one of a different cast from his crew. A
man of indomitable courage, it was said that the only thing he
shied at was the sight of his own blood, which was thick and of
an unusual colour. In dress he somewhat aped the attire
Peter Pan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Dark Lady of the Sonnets by George Bernard Shaw: for ignoring their best work and admiring their splendid commonplaces;
but they produced the commonplaces all the same, and made them sound
magnificent by mere brute faculty for their art. When Shakespear was
forced to write popular plays to save his theatre from ruin, he did it
mutinously, calling the plays "As _You_ Like It," and "Much Ado About
Nothing." All the same, he did it so well that to this day these two
genial vulgarities are the main Shakespearian stock-in-trade of our
theatres. Later on Burbage's power and popularity as an actor enabled
Shakespear to free himself from the tyranny of the box office, and to
express himself more freely in plays consisting largely of monologue
to be spoken by a great actor from whom the public would stand a good
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: own; it is but finely tempered clay. Since then this I could not
do, I have given thee a portion of Myself, in the power of
desiring and declining and of pursuing and avoiding, and is a
word the power of dealing with the things of sense. And if thou
neglect not this, but place all that thou hast therein, thou
shalt never be let or hindered; thou shalt never lament; thou
shalt not blame or flatter any. What then? Seemth this to thee a
little thing?"--God forbid!--"Be content then therewith!"
And so I pray the Gods.
VII
What saith Antisthenes? Hast thou never heard?--
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
