| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: overthrowing the paradox of Socrates, or merely following the argument
'whither the wind blows.' That no conclusion is arrived at is also in
accordance with the character of the earlier dialogues. The resemblances
or imitations of the Gorgias, Protagoras, and Euthydemus, which have been
observed in the Hippias, cannot with certainty be adduced on either side of
the argument. On the whole, more may be said in favour of the genuineness
of the Hippias than against it.
The Menexenus or Funeral Oration is cited by Aristotle, and is interesting
as supplying an example of the manner in which the orators praised 'the
Athenians among the Athenians,' falsifying persons and dates, and casting a
veil over the gloomier events of Athenian history. It exhibits an
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: returned the knight; and then several coming forward in a group,
Sir Daniel at length selected one and gave him the letter.
"Now," he said, "upon your good speed and better discretion we do
all depend. Bring me a good answer back, and before three weeks, I
will have purged my forest of these vagabonds that brave us to our
faces. But mark it well, Throgmorton: the matter is not easy. Ye
must steal forth under night, and go like a fox; and how ye are to
cross Till I know not, neither by the bridge nor ferry."
"I can swim," returned Throgmorton. "I will come soundly, fear
not."
"Well, friend, get ye to the buttery," replied Sir Daniel. "Ye
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: "I think it's this climate; it's less bracing than Schenectady,
especially in the winter season. I don't know whether you know
we reside at Schenectady. I was saying to Daisy that I certainly
hadn't found any one like Dr. Davis, and I didn't believe I should.
Oh, at Schenectady he stands first; they think everything of him.
He has so much to do, and yet there was nothing he wouldn't do for me.
He said he never saw anything like my dyspepsia, but he was
bound to cure it. I'm sure there was nothing he wouldn't try.
He was just going to try something new when we came off.
Mr. Miller wanted Daisy to see Europe for herself. But I wrote to
Mr. Miller that it seems as if I couldn't get on without Dr. Davis.
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