| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: between the life of the despot and that of a private person."
Then Simonides: Only in this respect it surely differs, in that the
pleasures which the "tyrant" enjoys through all these several avenues
of sense are many times more numerous, and the pains he suffers are
far fewer.
To which Hiero: Nay, that is not so, Simonides, take my word for it;
the fact is rather that the pleasures of the despot are far fewer than
those of people in a humbler condition, and his pains not only far
more numerous, but more intense.
That sounds incredible (exclaimed Simonides); if it were really so,
how do you explain the passionate desire commonly displayed to wield
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Apology by Xenophon: conclusions from if not from voices? Who will deny that the thunder
has a voice and is a very mighty omen;[22] and the priestess on her
tripod at Pytho,[23] does not she also proclaim by voice the messages
from the god? The god, at any rate, has foreknowledge, and premonishes
those whom he will of what is about to be. That is a thing which all
the world believes and asserts even as I do. Only, when they describe
these premonitions under the name of birds and utterances, tokens[24]
and soothsayers, I speak of a divinity, and in using that designation
I claim to speak at once more exactly and more reverentially than they
do who ascribe the power of the gods to birds. And that I am not lying
against the Godhead I have this as a proof: although I have reported
The Apology |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: Fever, and we will shape thee another course.
The greatest injury could not have oppressed the heart of Le Fever more
than my uncle Toby's paternal kindness;--he parted from my uncle Toby, as
the best of sons from the best of fathers--both dropped tears--and as my
uncle Toby gave him his last kiss, he slipped sixty guineas, tied up in an
old purse of his father's, in which was his mother's ring, into his hand,--
and bid God bless him.
Chapter 3.LVI.
Le Fever got up to the Imperial army just time enough to try what metal his
sword was made of, at the defeat of the Turks before Belgrade; but a series
of unmerited mischances had pursued him from that moment, and trod close
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