| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: notwithstanding, but for two people - Miss Cathy, and Joseph, the
servant: you saw him, I daresay, up yonder. He was, and is yet
most likely, the wearisomest self-righteous Pharisee that ever
ransacked a Bible to rake the promises to himself and fling the
curses to his neighbours. By his knack of sermonising and pious
discoursing, he contrived to make a great impression on Mr.
Earnshaw; and the more feeble the master became, the more influence
he gained. He was relentless in worrying him about his soul's
concerns, and about ruling his children rigidly. He encouraged him
to regard Hindley as a reprobate; and, night after night, he
regularly grumbled out a long string of tales against Heathcliff
Wuthering Heights |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: disaster which has again and again occurred, to the detriment of
justice and the great injury of the city of Paris. It has been
reserved for our generation, in which the bitter leaven of
republican principles and manners will long be felt, to behold the
notariat of Paris abandoning the glorious traditions of preceding
centuries, and producing in a few years as many failures as two
centuries of the old monarchy had produced. The thirst for gold
rapidly acquired has beset even these officers of trust, these
guardians of the public wealth, these mediators between the law
and the people!"
On this text followed an allocution, in which the Comte de Grandville,
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: By all that's holy, Socrates (he cried), a capital suggestion, and for
my part, I warrant you, I will put a piece upon the stage, which will
delight you, one and all.
VIII
With these words the Syracusan made his exit, bent on organising his
performance.[1] As soon as he was gone, Socrates once more essayed a
novel argument.[2] He thus addressed them:
[1] {sunekroteito}, "on the composition of his piece." Al. "amidst a
round of plaudits."
[2] "Struck the keynote of a novel theme." Cf. Plat. "Symp." 177 E.
It were but reasonable, sirs, on our part not to ignore the mighty
The Symposium |
