| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: the Harbour Office with his stiff, arrogant dignity.
His red face made him noticeable at a distance. It
flamed, over there, on the shady side of the street.
He had perceived me, too. Something (uncon-
scious exuberance of spirits perhaps) moved me to
wave my hand to him elaborately. This lapse
from good taste happened before I was aware that
I was capable of it.
The impact of my impudence stopped him short,
much as a bullet might have done. I verily believe
he staggered, though as far as I could see he didn't
The Shadow Line |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: pridie commisissent, simul ut, si quid possent, de indutiis fallendo
impetrarent. Quos sibi Caesar oblatos gavisus illos retineri iussit; ipse
omnes copias castris D eduxit equitatumque, quod recenti proelio
perterritum esse existimabat, agmen subsequi iussit.
Acie triplici instituta et celeriter VIII milium itinere confecto,
prius ad hostium castra pervenit quam quid ageretur Germani sentire
possent. Qui omnibus rebus subito perterriti et celeritate adventus
nostri et discessu suorum, neque consilii habendi neque arma capiendi
spatio dato perturbantur, copiasne adversus hostem ducere an castra
defendere an fuga salutem petere praestaret. Quorum timor cum fremitu et
concursu significaretur, milites nostri pristini diei perfidia incitati in
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: I may also add, that it appears by some papers in my possession,
that the officers or Country Keepers on the border, were
accustomed to torment their prisoners by binding them to the
iron bars of their chimneys, to extort confession.
NOTE TO CHAPTER XXXI
Note F.---Ulrica's Death song.
It will readily occur to the antiquary, that these verses are
intended to imitate the antique poetry of the Scalds---the minstrels
of the old Scandinavians---the race, as the Laureate so happily
terms them,
``Stern to inflict, and stubborn to endure,
Ivanhoe |
