| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: in the civil war with Hellas, in which they subdued the other chief state
of the Hellenes, that they could conquer single-handed those with whom they
had been allied in the war against the barbarians. After the peace there
followed a third war, which was of a terrible and desperate nature, and in
this many brave men who are here interred lost their lives--many of them
had won victories in Sicily, whither they had gone over the seas to fight
for the liberties of the Leontines, to whom they were bound by oaths; but,
owing to the distance, the city was unable to help them, and they lost
heart and came to misfortune, their very enemies and opponents winning more
renown for valour and temperance than the friends of others. Many also
fell in naval engagements at the Hellespont, after having in one day taken
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: However, after a month of literary campaigning and the finest platonic
discourses, d'Arthez grew bolder, and arrived every day at three
o'clock. He retired at six, and returned at nine, to remain until
midnight, or one in the morning, with the regularity of an ardent and
impatient lover. The princess was always dressed with more or less
studied elegance at the hour when d'Arthez presented himself. This
mutual fidelity, the care they each took of their appearance, in fact,
all about them expressed sentiments that neither dared avow, for the
princess discerned very plainly that the great child with whom she had
to do shrank from the combat as much as she desired it. Nevertheless
d'Arthez put into his mute declarations a respectful awe which was
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: had thought of and devised. Unity of taxation, equality of subjects
before the law (the prince being then the law) were the objects of his
bold endeavors. On All-Saints' eve he had gathered together the
learned goldsmiths of his kingdom for the purpose of establishing in
France a unity of weights and measures, as he had already established
the unity of power. Thus, his vast spirit hovered like an eagle over
his empire, joining in a singular manner the prudence of a king to the
natural idiosyncracies of a man of lofty aims. At no period in our
history has the great figure of Monarchy been finer or more poetic.
Amazing assemblages of contrasts! a great power in a feeble body; a
spirit unbelieving as to all things here below, devoutly believing in
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