| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: that, I believe, I did not see so few as 7,000 or 8,000. Here they
are protected, and here they breed in abundance. We saw several of
them upon the wing, very high in the air, whence we supposed that
they flew over the riff of beach, which parts the lake from the
sea, to feed on the shores as they thought fit, and so came home
again at their leisure.
From this duck-coy west, the lake narrows, and at last almost
closes, till the beach joins the shore; and so Portland may be
said, not to be an island, but part of the continent. And now we
came to Abbotsbury, a town anciently famous for a great monastery,
and now eminent for nothing but its ruins.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: cheese-racks were loaded with cheeses, and he had more lambs and
kids than his pens could hold. They were kept in separate
flocks; first there were the hoggets, then the oldest of the
younger lambs and lastly the very young ones {80} all kept apart
from one another; as for his dairy, all the vessels, bowls, and
milk pails into which he milked, were swimming with whey. When
they saw all this, my men begged me to let them first steal some
cheeses, and make off with them to the ship; they would then
return, drive down the lambs and kids, put them on board and
sail away with them. It would have been indeed better if we had
done so but I would not listen to them, for I wanted to see the
The Odyssey |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: Diomede that
'He may distinguish between God and mortal man.'
Afterwards the means may be given to you whereby you may distinguish
between good and evil. At present, I fear, this is beyond your power.
ALCIBIADES: Only let my instructor take away the impediment, whether it
pleases him to call it mist or anything else! I care not who he is; but I
am resolved to disobey none of his commands, if I am likely to be the
better for them.
SOCRATES: And surely he has a wondrous care for you.
ALCIBIADES: It seems to be altogether advisable to put off the sacrifice
until he is found.
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