| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: the Church. Judged, by ordinary standards, she was an accomplished
wife, yet her ignorance of life paved the way for great misfortunes.
The epitaph on the Roman matron, "She did needlework and kept the
house," gives a faithful picture of her simple, pure, and tranquil
existence.
Under the Consulate, Bridau attached himself fanatically to Napoleon,
who placed him at the head of a department in the ministry of the
interior in 1804, a year before the death of Doctor Rouget. With a
salary of twelve thousand francs and very handsome emoluments, Bridau
was quite indifferent to the scandalous settlement of the property at
Issoudun, by which Agathe was deprived of her rightful inheritance.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: ten blaben, egoumenos tous men diaprattomenous bia upo ton
biasthenton miseisthai, tous de peisantas outos aution tas psukhas
diaphtheirein ost' oikeioteras autois poiein tas allotrias
gunaikas e tois andrasi kai pasan ep' ekeinois ten oikian
gegonenai kai tous paidas adelous einai opoteron tugkhanousin
ontes, ton andron e ton moikhon . anth' on o ton nomon titheis
thanaton autois epoiese ten zemian}. Cf. "Cyrop." III. i. 39;
"Symp." viii. 20; Plut. "Sol." xxiii., {olos de pleisten ekhein
atopian oi peri ton gunaikon nomoi to Soloni dokousi. moikhon men
gar anelein tio labonti dedoken, ean d' arpase tis eleutheran
gunaika kai biasetai zemian ekaton drakhmas etaxe' kan proagogeue
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: you further; only I would advise you not to shut the door too tight,
or I shall find you stifled to-morrow."
On rising the next morning he immediately looked into the closet,
but Sue had already gone downstairs. There was a little nest
where she had lain, and spiders' webs hung overhead. "What must
a woman's aversion be when it is stronger than her fear of spiders!"
he said bitterly.
He found her sitting at the breakfast-table, and the meal began
almost in silence, the burghers walking past upon the pavement--
or rather roadway, pavements being scarce here--which was
two or three feet above the level of the parlour floor.
Jude the Obscure |
