| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Meno by Plato: not a definition of the notion which is common to them all. In a second
attempt Meno defines virtue to be 'the power of command.' But to this,
again, exceptions are taken. For there must be a virtue of those who obey,
as well as of those who command; and the power of command must be justly or
not unjustly exercised. Meno is very ready to admit that justice is
virtue: 'Would you say virtue or a virtue, for there are other virtues,
such as courage, temperance, and the like; just as round is a figure, and
black and white are colours, and yet there are other figures and other
colours. Let Meno take the examples of figure and colour, and try to
define them.' Meno confesses his inability, and after a process of
interrogation, in which Socrates explains to him the nature of a 'simile in
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: "I beg your pardon, monsieur. But I did not know that it lay with me
to apologize to you because you almost rode me down."
"There, enough of that, my good fellow!" replied the sailor harshly,
in a sneering tone that was nothing less than insulting. At the same
time the Count raised his hunting-crop as if to strike his horse, and
touched the young fellow's shoulder, saying, "A liberal citizen is a
reasoner; every reasoner should be prudent."
The young man went up the bankside as he heard the sarcasm; then he
crossed his arms, and said in an excited tone of voice, "I cannot
suppose, monsieur, as I look at your white hairs, that you still amuse
yourself by provoking duels----"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: single kick.
But, beside all this, there is a question, which ought to be a
curious one to you (for I suspect you cannot answer it)--Why does
the farmer take the trouble to send his cart and horses eight
miles and more, to draw in chalk from Odiham chalk-pit?
Oh, he is going to put it on the land, of course. They are
chalking the bit at the top of the next field, where the copse was
grubbed.
But what good will he do by putting chalk on it? Chalk is not
rich and fertile, like manure, it is altogether poor, barren
stuff: you know that, or ought to know it. Recollect the chalk
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