| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: inter-dependence of good and evil, and the allusion to the possibility of
the non-existence of evil, are also very remarkable.
The dialectical interest is fully sustained by the dramatic accompaniments.
Observe, first, the scene, which is a Greek Palaestra, at a time when a
sacrifice is going on, and the Hermaea are in course of celebration;
secondly, the 'accustomed irony' of Socrates, who declares, as in the
Symposium, that he is ignorant of all other things, but claims to have a
knowledge of the mysteries of love. There are likewise several contrasts
of character; first of the dry, caustic Ctesippus, of whom Socrates
professes a humorous sort of fear, and Hippothales the flighty lover, who
murders sleep by bawling out the name of his beloved; there is also a
Lysis |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: of the case, and went himself to the tent where young Scott was
kept under guard. He talked to him kindly, asking about his home,
his schoolmates, and particularly about his mother. The lad took
her picture from his pocket, and showed it to him without
speaking. Mr. Lincoln was much affected. As he rose to leave he
laid his hand on the prisoner s shoulder. "My boy," he said, "you
are not going to be shot to-morrow. I believe you when you tell
me that you could not keep awake. I am going to trust you, and
send you back to your regiment. Now, I want to know what you
intend to pay for all this?" The lad, overcome with gratitude,
could hardly say a word, but crowding down his emotions, managed
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: too, is dead.
If wine is to withdraw its most poetic countenance, the sun
of the white dinner-cloth, a deity to be invoked by two or
three, all fervent, hushing their talk, degusting tenderly,
and storing reminiscences - for a bottle of good wine, like a
good act, shines ever in the retrospect - if wine is to
desert us, go thy ways, old Jack! Now we begin to have
compunctions, and look back at the brave bottles squandered
upon dinner-parties, where the guests drank grossly,
discussing politics the while, and even the schoolboy "took
his whack," like liquorice water. And at the same time, we
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