| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: what Plato meant by the 'longer way' (Rep.), or 'the way in which Glaucon
was unable to follow'; or of the relation of Mind to the Ideas. It might
be said with truth that the conception of the Idea predominates in the
first half of the Dialogues, which, according to the order adopted in this
work, ends with the Republic, the 'conception of Mind' and a way of
speaking more in agreement with modern terminology, in the latter half.
But there is no reason to suppose that Plato's theory, or, rather, his
various theories, of the Ideas underwent any definite change during his
period of authorship. They are substantially the same in the twelfth Book
of the Laws as in the Meno and Phaedo; and since the Laws were written in
the last decade of his life, there is no time to which this change of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: fawns to the places where they will lay them severally to rest.[10]
Having made them lie down and suckled them, they will cast anxious
glances this way and that to see that no one watches them; and then
they will severally withdraw to the side opposite and mount guard,
each over her own offspring. The huntsman, who has seen it all,[11]
will loose the dogs, and with javelins in hand himself advance towards
the nearest fawn in the direction of where he saw it laid to rest;
carefully noting the lie of the land,[12] for fear of making some
mistake; since the place itself will present a very different aspect
on approach from what it looked like at a distance.
[4] See above, v. 14. I do not know that any one has answered
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: almost every description; and, in particular, a marking-iron
lettered JAMES - a circumstance of which it was thought proper
to give notice to the public, as it might lead to the
knowledge of some unfortunate shipwreck, perhaps unheard of
till this simple occurrence led to the discovery. When the
rock began to be overflowed, the landing-master arranged the
crews of the respective boats, appointing twelve persons to
each. According to a rule which the writer had laid down to
himself, he was always the last person who left the rock.
In a short time the Bell Rock was laid completely under
water, and the weather being extremely fine, the sea was so
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