| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: use the sea. Accordingly I, without one stroke of labour, extract from
the land and possess all these good things, thanks to my supremacy on
the sea; whilst not a single other state possesses the two of them.
Not timber, for instance, and yarn together, the same city. But where
yarn is abundant, the soil will be light and devoid of timber. And in
the same way bronze and iron will not be products of the same city.
And so for the rest, never two, or at best three, in one state, but
one thing here and another thing there. Moreover, above and beyond
what has been said, the coast-line of every mainland presents, either
some jutting promontory, or adjacent island, or narrow strait of some
sort, so that those who are masters of the sea can come to moorings at
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: you with whatever his poor house can supply."
Gregor gave a glance at the whip under the Prince's arm, and begged
to be excused. But the latter would take no denial, and carried
out the comedy to the end by giving the merchant the place of honor
at his table, and dismissing him with the present of a fine pup of
his favorite breed. Perhaps the animal acted as a mnemonic
symbol, for Gregor was never afterwards accused of forgetfulness.
If this trick put the Prince in a good humor, some thing presently
occurred which carried him to the opposite extreme. While taking
his customary siesta one afternoon, a wild young fellow--one of his
noble poor relations, who "sponged" at the castle--happened to pass
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: (See /La fausse Maitresse/.), was one of the earliest parishioners of
that charming church. At the time to which this story belongs, that
lighthearted and lively damsel gladdened the existence of a notary
with a wife somewhat too bigoted, rigid, and frigid for domestic
happiness.
Now, it so fell out that one Carnival evening Maitre Cardot was
entertaining guests at Mlle. Turquet's house--Desroches the attorney,
Bixiou of the caricatures, Lousteau the journalist, Nathan, and
others; it is quite unnecessary to give any further description of
these personages, all bearers of illustrious names in the /Comedie
Humaine/. Young La Palferine, in spite of his title of Count and his
|
