| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: must liken me to one who quits 'assault and battery' for
'compliments [sotto voce, "lies"] and flattery.'"
Soc. Why now, you are like a person apt to pick a quarrel, since you
imply they are all his betters.[18]
[18] When Socrates says {ei pant' autou beltio phes einai, k.t.l.},
the sense seems to be: "No, if you say that all these prime
creatures are better than he is, you are an abusive person still."
Phil. What, would you have me then compare him to worse villains?
Soc. No, not even to worse villains.
Phil. What, then, to nothing, and to nobody?
Soc. To nought in aught. Let him remain his simple self--
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: flitted in and out of his own meditations; the image of a very pretty
girl looking out of an old Roman window and asking herself urgently
when Mr. Winterbourne would arrive. If, however, he determined to wait
a little before reminding Miss Miller of his claims to her consideration,
he went very soon to call upon two or three other friends.
One of these friends was an American lady who had spent several
winters at Geneva, where she had placed her children at school.
She was a very accomplished woman, and she lived in the Via Gregoriana.
Winterbourne found her in a little crimson drawing room on a third floor;
the room was filled with southern sunshine. He had not been there ten minutes
when the servant came in, announcing "Madame Mila!" This announcement
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: certainly lose much that I might enjoy more keenly if I were better
prepared for it. I envy the pleasure which Mr. Story will receive
from music, painting, and sculpture in Europe, even if he were
destitute of the creative inspiration which he will take with him.
For ourselves, we have everything to make us happy here, and I
should be quite so, if I could forget that I had a country and
children with very dear friends 3,000 miles away. . . . There are
certain sympathies of country which one cannot overcome. On the
other hand I certainly enjoy pleasures of the highest kind, and am
every day floated like one in a dream into the midst of persons and
scenes that make my life seem more like a drama than a reality.
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