| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: him. It was the same court of which Raoul had so often heard
the Comte de la Fere speak, except that its aspect had much
changed since the period when Athos had himself been part of
it; therefore everything which the Count de Guiche related
was new to his traveling companion. The young count, witty
and caustic, passed all the world in review; the queen
herself was not spared, and Cardinal Mazarin came in for his
share of ridicule.
The day passed away as rapidly as an hour. The count's
tutor, a man of the world and a bon vivant, up to his eyes
in learning, as his pupil described him, often recalled the
Twenty Years After |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Poems by Oscar Wilde: Grew silent, and the horses ceased to neigh,
And off his brow he tossed the clustering hair,
And from his limbs he throw the cloak away;
For whom would not such love make desperate?
And nigher came, and touched her throat, and with hands violate
Undid the cuirass, and the crocus gown,
And bared the breasts of polished ivory,
Till from the waist the peplos falling down
Left visible the secret mystery
Which to no lover will Athena show,
The grand cool flanks, the crescent thighs, the bossy hills of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: appointed time he sent forward Pagolo by way of Pisa, and went himself
direct to Pistoia; at midnight both of them met outside the city, and
both were admitted as friends. Thus the two leaders entered, and at a
signal given by Castruccio, one killed Jacopo da Gia, and the other
Bastiano di Possente, and both took prisoners or killed the partisans
of either faction. Without further opposition Pistoia passed into the
hands of Castruccio, who, having forced the Signoria to leave the
palace, compelled the people to yield obedience to him, making them
many promises and remitting their old debts. The countryside flocked
to the city to see the new prince, and all were filled with hope and
quickly settled down, influenced in a great measure by his great
The Prince |
