| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: afterthought, when the superior happiness of the just has been established
on what is thought to be an immutable foundation. At the same time he
makes a point of determining his main thesis independently of remoter
consequences.
(3) Plato's theory of punishment is partly vindictive, partly corrective.
In the Gorgias, as well as in the Phaedo and Republic, a few great
criminals, chiefly tyrants, are reserved as examples. But most men have
never had the opportunity of attaining this pre-eminence of evil. They are
not incurable, and their punishment is intended for their improvement.
They are to suffer because they have sinned; like sick men, they must go to
the physician and be healed. On this representation of Plato's the
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: housekeeper was still in bed. I supposed that Aunt Eliza was in bed
also, but I had hardly entered the house when I heard her bell ring
as she only could ring it--with an impatient jerk.
"She wants hot milk," said James, "and the man has just come."
I laid my bonnet down, and went to the kitchen. Saluting the
cook, who was an old acquaintance, and who told me that the "divil"
had been in the range that morning, I took a pan, into which I
poured some milk, and held it over the gaslight till it was hot;
then I carried it up to Aunt Eliza.
"Here is your milk, Aunt Eliza. You have sent for me to help you,
and I begin with the earliest opportunity."
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: once.
"It's a very complicated subject, my dear," he said.
"His arguments?"
"The practical considerations."
"But what are practical considerations in such a case?"
"That's a post-graduate subject, Norah," her father said with a
smile and a sigh.
"But," began Eleanor, gathering fresh forces.
"Daddy is tired," Lady Ella intervened, patting him on the
head.
"Oh, terribly!--of that," he said, and so escaped Eleanor for
|
