| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: land he was never to see again. He made a sign to his brother, who
then took Piombo away. Lucien inquired with interest as to the
financial condition of the former protector of their family. Piombo
took him to a window and showed him his wife and Ginevra, seated on a
heap of stones.
"We came from Fontainebleau on foot; we have not a single penny," he
said.
Lucien gave his purse to his compatriot, telling him to come to him
the next day, that arrangements might be made to secure the comfort of
the family. The value of Piombo's property in Corsica, if sold, would
scarcely maintain him honorably in Paris.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: indispensable guardian of so lonely a dwelling. Beyond this kennel was
a little plot, where the hens cackled whose eggs were sold to the
Canons. Here and there on this patch of earth, muddy or dry according
to the whimsical Parisian weather, a few trees grew, constantly lashed
by the wind, and teased and broken by the passer-by--willows, reeds,
and tall grasses.
The Eyot, the Seine, the landing-place, the house, were all
overshadowed on the west by the huge basilica of Notre-Dame casting
its cold gloom over the whole plot as the sun moved. Then, as now,
there was not in all Paris a more deserted spot, a more solemn or more
melancholy prospect. The noise of waters, the chanting of priests, or
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: or elsewhere, playing at dice or some other game with the boys, not
hesitating at all about the nature of the just and unjust; but very
confident--crying and shouting that one of the boys was a rogue and a
cheat, and had been cheating. Is it not true?
ALCIBIADES: But what was I to do, Socrates, when anybody cheated me?
SOCRATES: And how can you say, 'What was I to do'? if at the time you did
not know whether you were wronged or not?
ALCIBIADES: To be sure I knew; I was quite aware that I was being cheated.
SOCRATES: Then you suppose yourself even when a child to have known the
nature of just and unjust?
ALCIBIADES: Certainly; and I did know then.
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