| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: have passed strings of these gay carts; all Sicily must be swept
of them.
Through the dust I came to Aquileia, which is now an old
cathedral, built upon the remains of a very early basilica,
standing in a space in a scattered village. But across this
dusty space there was carried the head of the upstart Maximinus
who murdered Alexander Severus, and later Aquileia brought Attila
near to despair. Our party alighted; we inspected a very old
mosaic floor which has been uncovered since the Austrian retreat.
The Austrian priests have gone too, and their Italian successors
are already tracing out a score of Roman traces that it was the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: recite enough of what was said by the priests and brought hither by Solon,
I doubt not that I shall satisfy the requirements of this theatre. And
now, making no more excuses, I will proceed.
Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of
years which had elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place
between those who dwelt outside the pillars of Heracles and all who dwelt
within them; this war I am going to describe. Of the combatants on the one
side, the city of Athens was reported to have been the leader and to have
fought out the war; the combatants on the other side were commanded by the
kings of Atlantis, which, as I was saying, was an island greater in extent
than Libya and Asia, and when afterwards sunk by an earthquake, became an
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: "No," assented Mrs. Almayer, energetically, but in a cautiously
subdued voice. "If he hears he will kill."
Babalatchi looked incredulous.
"Hai Tuan, you may believe me. Have I not lived many years with
that man? Have I not seen death in that man's eyes more than
once when I was younger and he guessed at many things. Had he
been a man of my own people I would not have seen such a look
twice; but he--"
With a contemptuous gesture she seemed to fling unutterable scorn
on Almayer's weak-minded aversion to sudden bloodshed.
"If he has the wish but not the strength, then what do we fear?"
Almayer's Folly |
