| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: when marching to a flank. Grote, "H. G." vii. 108; Thuc. v. 66;
also Rustow and Kochly, op. cit. p. 111, S. 8, note 19; p. 121,
$17, note 41.
But when it comes to their ability to do battle equally well in spite
of some confusion which has been set up, and whatever the chapter of
accidents may confront them with,[13] I admit that the tactics here
are not so easy to understand, except for people trained under the
laws of Lycurgus. Even movements which an instructor in heavy-armed
warfare[14] might look upon as difficult are performed by the
Lacedaemonians with the utmost ease.[15] Thus, the troops, we will
suppose, are marching in column; one section of a company is of course
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: he is distinguished; from self-boasting, and therefore his merit is
acknowledged; from self-complacency, and therefore he acquires
superiority. It is because he is thus free from striving that
therefore no one in the world is able to strive with him.
3. That saying of the ancients that 'the partial becomes complete' was
not vainly spoken:--all real completion is comprehended under it.
23. 1. Abstaining from speech marks him who is obeying the spontaneity
of his nature. A violent wind does not last for a whole morning; a
sudden rain does not last for the whole day. To whom is it that these
(two) things are owing? To Heaven and Earth. If Heaven and Earth
cannot make such (spasmodic) actings last long, how much less can man!
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: don't, and I don't; and these are two reasons, out of a handful of
millions, why England stands before the world dripping with blood
and daubed with dishonour. I will first try to take the beam out
of my own eye, trusting that even private effort somehow betters
and braces the general atmosphere. See, for example, if England
has shown (I put it hypothetically) one spark of manly sensibility,
they have been shamed into it by the spectacle of Gordon. Police-
Officer Cole is the only man that I see to admire. I dedicate my
NEW ARABS to him and Cox, in default of other great public
characters. - Yours ever most affectionately,
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
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