| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: damsel is so courteous and open-hearted and polite that she feels
she is doing very little. And she knows well that it is her
mother's will that she shall leave nothing undone for him which
she thinks may win his gratitude. That night at table he was so
well served with so many dishes that there were too many. The
servants who brought in the dishes might well have been wearied
by serving them. That night they did him all manner of honour,
putting him comfortably to bed, and not once going near him again
after he had retired. His lion lay at his feet, as his custom
was. In the morning, when God lighted His great light for the
world, as early as was consistent in one who was always
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: just then in eating despondently a piece of stale
Dutch cheese, being too much crushed to care what
I swallowed myself, let along bothering my head
about Falk's ideas of gastronomy. I could expect
from their study no clue to his conduct in matters
of business, which seemed to me totally unrestrained
by morality or even by the commonest sort of de-
cency. How insignificant and contemptible I must
appear, for the fellow to dare treat me like this--I
reflected suddenly, writhing in silent agony. And
I consigned Falk and all his peculiarities to the devil
Falk |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: under the influence of mixed motives, no one would hesitate to answer--'The
rule of all rather than one, because all classes are more likely to take
care of all than one of another; and the government has greater power and
stability when resting on a wider basis.' Both in ancient and modern times
the best balanced form of government has been held to be the best; and yet
it should not be so nicely balanced as to make action and movement
impossible.
The statesman who builds his hope upon the aristocracy, upon the middle
classes, upon the people, will probably, if he have sufficient experience
of them, conclude that all classes are much alike, and that one is as good
as another, and that the liberties of no class are safe in the hands of the
Statesman |
