| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: are filled with the spirit of pride and vain-glory. Do you not agree with
me?
Yes, he said.
And the more vain-glorious they are, the more difficult is the capture of
them?
I believe you.
What should you say of a hunter who frightened away his prey, and made the
capture of the animals which he is hunting more difficult?
He would be a bad hunter, undoubtedly.
Yes; and if, instead of soothing them, he were to infuriate them with words
and songs, that would show a great want of wit: do you not agree.
Lysis |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: his father or mother or friend shall die on that evil or not. And
then the priest and the son go together before the idol and kneel
full devoutly and ask of the idol their demand. And if the devil
that is within answer that he shall live, they keep him well; and
if he say that he shall die, then the priest goeth with the son,
with the wife of him that is sick, and they put their hands upon
his mouth and stop his breath, and so they slay him. And after
that, they chop all the body in small pieces, and pray all his
friends to come and eat of him that is dead. And they send for all
the minstrels of the country and make a solemn feast. And when
they have eaten the flesh, they take the bones and bury them, and
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: nine years old, as I am now. Without any appeal to books, to
laws, or to authorities of any kind, it was enough to accept God
as a father, to regard slavery as a crime.
<105 REJOICED AT LEAVING THE PLANTATION>
I was not ten years old when I left Col. Lloyd's plantation for
Balitmore{sic}. I left that plantation with inexpressible joy.
I never shall forget the ecstacy with which I received the
intelligence from my friend, Miss Lucretia, that my old master
had determined to let me go to Baltimore to live with Mr. Hugh
Auld, a brother to Mr. Thomas Auld, my old master's son-in-law.
I received this information about three days before my departure.
My Bondage and My Freedom |
