| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: of the ills which befall them (compare Republic): 'their own presumption,'
or folly (whichever is the right word)--
'Has brought these unmeasured woes upon them.' (Homer. Odyss.)
He must have been a wise poet, Alcibiades, who, seeing as I believe, his
friends foolishly praying for and doing things which would not really
profit them, offered up a common prayer in behalf of them all:--
'King Zeus, grant us good whether prayed for or unsought by us;
But that which we ask amiss, do thou avert.' (The author of these lines,
which are probably of Pythagorean origin, is unknown. They are found also
in the Anthology (Anth. Pal.).)
In my opinion, I say, the poet spoke both well and prudently; but if you
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: he had met Germans who spoke like Americans, but that he had not,
so far as he remembered, met an American who spoke like a German.
Then he asked her if she should not be more comfortable in sitting
upon the bench which he had just quitted. She answered that she
liked standing up and walking about; but she presently sat down.
She told him she was from New York State--"if you know where that is."
Winterbourne learned more about her by catching hold of her small,
slippery brother and making him stand a few minutes by his side.
"Tell me your name, my boy," he said.
"Randolph C. Miller," said the boy sharply. "And I'll tell you her name";
and he leveled his alpenstock at his sister.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.
I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution,
the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied,
if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments.
It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision
in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all
the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will
endure forever--it being impossible to destroy it except by some action
not provided for in the instrument itself.
Again, if the United States be not a government proper, but an association
of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract,
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