| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: [40] Or, "even on the heels of hoped-for bliss he follows."
Well then, just as a man who has never tasted thirst can hardly be
said to know the joy of drinking,[41] so he who has never tasted
Passion is ignorant of Aphrodite's sweetest sweets.
[41] Reading with Holden (after H. Steph.) {osper oun an tis . . .} or
with Hartm. (op. cit. p. 259) {osper ouk an tis . . .}
So Hiero ended.
Simonides answered laughingly: How say you, Hiero? What is that?
Love's strong passion for his soul's beloved incapable of springing up
in any monarch's heart? What of your own passion for Dailochus,
surnamed of men "most beautiful"?
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: can change; it means so close a clinging of the heart, and an
exchange of happiness so constant, that there is no room left for
jealousy. Then possession is a means and not an end;
unfaithfulness may give pain, but the bond is not less close; the
soul is neither more nor less ardent or troubled, but happy at
every moment; in short, the divine breath of desire spreading
from end to end of the immensity of Time steeps it all for us in
the selfsame hue; life takes the tint of the unclouded heaven.
But Passion is the foreshadowing of Love, and of that Infinite to
which all suffering souls aspire. Passion is a hope that may be
cheated. Passion means both suffering and transition. Passion
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: he had painted the cold, official figure of the sheriff's clerk
attired in black; but he had added an old woman to the young one of
Gerard Douw. The cruelly simple and good-humored face of the
executioner completed and dominated the group. This plagiarism, very
cleverly disguised, was not discovered. The catalogue contained the
following:--
510. Grassou de Fougeres (Pierre), rue de Navarin, 2.
Death-toilet of a Chouan, condemned to execution in 1809.
Though wholly second-rate, the picture had immense success, for it
recalled the affair of the "chauffeurs," of Mortagne. A crowd
collected every day before the now fashionable canvas; even Charles X.
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