| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: men and the residue of the beasts: it is polluted with the blood
of the murdered, it is digged and made a grave for dead bodies.
This being so, Earth can in no wise be a goddess, but only the
work of God for the use of men.
"They that think that Water is a god have gone astray. It also
hath been made for the use of men. It is under their lordship:
it is polluted, and perisheth: it is altered by boiling, by
dyeing, by congealment, or by being brought to the cleansing of
all defilements. Wherefore Water cannot be a god, but only the
work of God.
"They that think that Fire is a god are in error. It too was
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Crito by Plato: But he who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and
administer the state, and still remains, has entered into an implied
contract that he will do as we command him. And he who disobeys us is, as
we maintain, thrice wrong: first, because in disobeying us he is
disobeying his parents; secondly, because we are the authors of his
education; thirdly, because he has made an agreement with us that he will
duly obey our commands; and he neither obeys them nor convinces us that our
commands are unjust; and we do not rudely impose them, but give him the
alternative of obeying or convincing us;--that is what we offer, and he
does neither.
'These are the sort of accusations to which, as we were saying, you,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: And the names be named of the victims to bleed for the nation's sake;
And first of the numbered many that shall be slain ere noon,
Rua the child of the dirt, Rua the kinless loon.
For him shall the drum be beat, for him be raised the song,
For him to the sacred High-place the chaunting people throng,
For him the oven smoke as for a speechless beast,
And the sire of my Taheia come greedy to the feast."
"Rua, be silent, spare me. Taheia closes her ears.
Pity my yearning heart, pity my girlish years!
Flee from the cruel hands, flee from the knife and coal,
Lie hid in the deeps of the woods, Rua, sire of my soul!"
Ballads |
