| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: Plato (compare especially the Protagoras and Theaetetus), no conclusion is
arrived at. Socrates maintains his character of a 'know nothing;' but the
boys have already learned the lesson which he is unable to teach them, and
they are free from the conceit of knowledge. (Compare Chrm.) The dialogue
is what would be called in the language of Thrasyllus tentative or
inquisitive. The subject is continued in the Phaedrus and Symposium, and
treated, with a manifest reference to the Lysis, in the eighth and ninth
books of the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle. As in other writings of
Plato (for example, the Republic), there is a progress from unconscious
morality, illustrated by the friendship of the two youths, and also by the
sayings of the poets ('who are our fathers in wisdom,' and yet only tell us
Lysis |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: judge, and how unwillingly, even in my own defence, I now enter
the lists against falsehood, ignorance and envy: But I am
exasperated, at length, to drag out this cacus from the den of
obscurity where he lurks, detect him by the light of those stars
he has so impudently traduced, and shew there's not a monster in
the skies so pernicious and malevolent to mankind, as an ignorant
pretender to physick and astrology. I shall not directly fall on
the many gross errors, nor expose the notorious absurdities of
this prostituted libeller, till I have let the learned world
fairly into the controversy depending, and then leave the
unprejudiced to judge of the merits and justice of the cause.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: boat might be sent to his relief as the weather permitted. An
arrangement for this purpose formed one of the instructions on
board of the floating light, but happily no instance occurred
for putting it in practice. The hearth or fireplace of the
cook-house was built of brick in as secure a manner as
possible, to prevent accident from fire; but some of the
plaster-work had shaken loose, from its damp state and the
tremulous motion of the beacon in stormy weather. The writer
next ascended to the floor which was occupied by the cabins of
himself and his assistants, which were in tolerably good
order, having only a damp and musty smell. The barrack for
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