| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: infantry by the main road, and a troop of four hundred horsemen by a
path on the left towards the castle. The Florentines sent forward four
hundred cavalry ahead of their army which was following, never
expecting to find Castruccio in possession of the hill, nor were they
aware of his having seized the castle. Thus it happened that the
Florentine horsemen mounting the hill were completely taken by
surprise when they discovered the infantry of Castruccio, and so close
were they upon it they had scarcely time to pull down their visors. It
was a case of unready soldiers being attacked by ready, and they were
assailed with such vigour that with difficulty they could hold their
own, although some few of them got through. When the noise of the
The Prince |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: correct. But, while the laws upon which Art rests may be fixed and
certain, to find their true realisation they must be touched by the
imagination into such beauty that they will seem an exception, each
one of them. Technique is really personality. That is the reason
why the artist cannot teach it, why the pupil cannot learn it, and
why the aesthetic critic can understand it. To the great poet,
there is only one method of music - his own. To the great painter,
there is only one manner of painting - that which he himself
employs. The aesthetic critic, and the aesthetic critic alone, can
appreciate all forms and modes. It is to him that Art makes her
appeal.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Dracula by Bram Stoker: They said that he thought only of himself. Bah! What good are peasants
without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart
to conduct it? Again, when, after the battle of Mohacs, we threw off
the Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders,
for our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir,
the Szekelys, and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains,
and their swords, can boast a record that mushroom growths like the
Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The warlike days are over.
Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace,
and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told."
It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed.
Dracula |
