| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: the little that I had been able to do. I saw him, however, start
violently when his eyes fell upon my face.
As for Nyleptha, she was positively radiant now that 'her dear
lord' had come back with no other injury than an ugly scar on
his forehead. I do not believe that she allowed all the fearful
slaughter that had taken place to weigh ever so little in the
balance against this one fact, or even to greatly diminish her
joy; and I cannot blame her for it, seeing that it is the nature
of loving woman to look at all things through the spectacles
of her love, and little does she reck of the misery of the many
if the happiness of the one be assured. That is human nature,
Allan Quatermain |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: to do, that you may believe and be persuaded that you too are in their
thoughts?
[12] See Kuhner for an attempt to cure the text.
[13] {erpetois}, a "poetical" word. Cf. "Od." iv. 418; Herod. i. 140.
[14] See Aristot. "de Part. Animal." iv. 10.
Ar. When they treat me as you tell us they treat you, and send me
counsellors to warn me what I am to do and what abstain from
doing,[15] I will believe.
[15] See IV. iii. 12.
Soc. Send you counsellors! Come now, what when the people of Athens
make inquiry by oracle, and the gods' answer comes? Are you not an
The Memorabilia |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: who had reason to think a great deal about her during the winter of
this year. He belonged to the class of provincial Planters, men living
on their estates, accustomed to keep close accounts of everything and
to bargain with the peasantry. Thus employed, a man becomes sagacious
in spite of himself, just as soldiers in the long run acquire courage
from routine. The old gentleman, who had come to Paris from Touraine
to satisfy his curiosity about Madame Firmiani, and found it not at
all assuaged by the Parisian gossip which he heard, was a man of honor
and breeding. His sole heir was a nephew, whom he greatly loved, in
whose interests he planted his poplars. When a man thinks without
annoyance about his heir, and watches the trees grow daily finer for
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