| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: with his eyes open invested his five millions in an American
investment, foreseeing that the profits would not come in until it was
too late. The firm of Nucingen deliberately emptied its coffers. Any
liquidation ought to be brought about naturally. In deposits belonging
to private individuals and other investments, the firm possessed about
six millions of capital altogether. Among those private individuals
was the Baroness d'Aldrigger with her three hundred thousand francs,
Beaudenord with four hundred thousand, d'Aiglemont with a million,
Matifat with three hundred thousand, Charles Grandet (who married
Mlle. d'Aubrion) with half a million, and so forth, and so forth.
"Now, if Nucingen had himself brought out a joint-stock company, with
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: exile, be unable to lend a helping hand. "It is not men of this
stamp," they averred, "who desire changes in affairs and revolution:
had he not already guaranteed to him by the Democracy a position
higher than that of his equals in age, and scarcely if at all inferior
to his seniors? How different was the position of his enemies. It had
been the fortune of these, though they were known to be the same men
they had always been, to use their lately acquired power for the
destruction in the first instance of the better classes; and then,
being alone left surviving, to be accepted by their fellow-citizens in
the absence of better men."
[4] Or, "collected to meet the vessels from curiosity and a desire to
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: How can I now assent when a crime is on Oedipus laid?
CREON
Friends, countrymen, I learn King Oedipus
Hath laid against me a most grievous charge,
And come to you protesting. If he deems
That I have harmed or injured him in aught
By word or deed in this our present trouble,
I care not to prolong the span of life,
Thus ill-reputed; for the calumny
Hits not a single blot, but blasts my name,
If by the general voice I am denounced
Oedipus Trilogy |
