What Activities and Hobbies Do You Pursue Outside of Work?

Outside of work, I participate in a variety of activities and hobbies. These activities provide me with the opportunity to learn, take on challenges, and have fun. In addition, I believe my hobbies allow for relaxation and inner growth.I enjoy learning new information through reading, surfing the Internet, watching television, and shopping. From the breaking news in Iraq to the latest gift catalog from World Vision, the Internet has become one of my major resources to get updates on the world. My most recent interest is in learning HTML code to enhance my newly created web page on Aloha Tower Marketplace with flash and graphics.Shopping is another activity that I frequently do outside of work. To most people, shopping is a routine and necessary activity that involves going to the supermarket for dinner, buying a new sweater at Macy’s for the upcoming winter, or picking up the latest Harry Potter book in Barnes & Noble for a nephew’s birthday.To me, however, shopping is a pleasurable activity, as well as a chance to observe market trends. To a marketer for a shopping mall, understanding the competition is very important.I also like to watch stage shows or go to the movies on the weekends. My favorite stage show is â€Å"Once Upon One Time,† a musical written in Pidgin by a local playwright, Lisa Matsumoto. It is a fusion of many famous tales of Hawaiian culture and life.From various shows, I have learned to appreciate the incredible art of theater and recognize the efforts in place to protect Hawaiian culture. I prefer stage shows to movie productions because the stage leaves more to the imagination and the audience can interpret the themes.Along with indoor activities, I like to spend time outdoors when my schedule allows. I regularly challenge my fear of heights by hiking to the peaks of mountains to enjoy the fresh air and terrific scenery. Whether choosing a hobby or a job, my goal is always self-improvement, the same as my goals in life .

Do the Writings of Clausewitz have contemporary relevance? Essay

Carl Von Clausewitz has long been considered one of the most important writers in the field of military strategy and tactics. Born in 1780 he first saw action in 1793 when he was a Lance Corporal in the Prussian Army.1 He was to serve throughout the Napoleonic wars working for both the Prussians and the Russians. However: â€Å"throughout his military career he never held a command and was probably unsuited for such. He was essentially a student of war†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 2 However, despite this lack of command, Clausewitz had certainly gained enough experience during the Napoleonic wars to have a fairly comprehensive idea about what war was: â€Å"Before he was forty, he had taken part in some of the greatest battles in the history of warfare and had seen the armies of Napoleon storm their way across Europe to Moscow†¦ Alls this had been the result of military operations, but it was clear to Clausewitz as a young man that the explanation for the success or failure of these operations was not to be sought on the battlefield alone†.3 As a result of this, during his career he came up with many ideas of views on the nature and conduct of war, writing literally thousands of pages of manuscripts on a wide range of areas ranging from politics to tactics.4 After the wars end, he set about trying to write a comprehensive eight part ‘guide’ on his ideas. This collection of essays and manuscripts became known as â€Å"Vom Kriege† (On War). Clausewitz died in 1831 having only completed six of the eight parts.5 Indeed it is important to realise that despite the importance of his work, it is still unfinished and does not cover a number of areas: â€Å"On War contains a comprehensive analysis of the strategy operations and tactics of Napoleonic War, and of their 18th Century background. Left out of the account are most technological, administrative and organisational factors†¦ On War deals almost entirely with the ultimate issues as Clausewitz saw them: Political and strategic planning and the conduct of hostilities†6 Since his death, Clausewitz’s work has come to be regarded as probably one of the most important works on military thinking ever written. Bernard Brodie once wrote that: â€Å"His is not simply the greatest, but the only great book about war†7 Although Clausewitz is still seen as one of the greatest thinkers on war, the question remains – is he still relevant today? Given the immense changes in not only the way we conduct war, but also our attitudes towards war, does his thinking still have any relevance in an era of information warfare and peacekeeping missions? Also given the dramatic changes in the conduct of warfare are his works still important: â€Å"As one US army general has (said) â€Å"the digitisation of the battlefield means the end of Clausewitz†8 Given the large size of Clausewitz’s work it is impossible look at the whole of On War for its continuing relevance. Instead for this essay I have chosen to examine a number of ideas in detail including the idea of war as part of policy, the notion of decisive battle and also his idea of a ‘centre of gravity’. Due to lack of space I have decided not focus on other areas such as the trinity between the politicians, the people and the armed forces, as well as looking at other areas. At it’s simplest Clausewitz’s first book attempts to understand what war actually is and what it does. At it’s simplest he defined it as: â€Å"War is an act of force to compel an enemy to do our will†9 This seems to be true, even today it is hard to imagine a nation state going to war without a rational reason to do so – be it to regain territory or to right a wrong. More recently the growth of Peace enforcement operations such as the war in Kosovo is a classic example of forcing a nation state to bow to the will of others. As such it seems that Clausewitz’s most simple definition still rings true today Clausewitz’s next statement is far more controversial though: â€Å"Kind hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat an enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds, it is a fallacy that must be exposed: War is such a dangerous business that the mistakes which come from kindness are the very worst†10 The above paragraph seems to be aimed at those who have studied the writings of Sun Tzu – the Chinese strategist to which Clausewitz is frequently compared. Sun Tzu felt that war was not about bloodshed – instead he felt that: â€Å"all warfare is based on deception†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 11 Michael Handle wrote that â€Å"Sun Tzu devotes considerable attention to the actions that precede war†¦ for him diplomacy is the best means of achieving his ideal of victory without fighting or bloodshed†.12 It seems that Sun Tzu’s theory of warfare is based more on the notion of avoidance of war rather than the fighting of war itself, whereas Clausewitz feels that war occurs once all other policy choices have been exhausted: â€Å"War is merely the continuation of policy by other means†13 This seems to suggest that in Clausewitz’s mind, War should be seen as merely as a logical progression in policy once other policies such as diplomacy have failed – essentially war is pursued in order to further a States national interest. However some question whether this is still the case: â€Å"Future war will be fought not to pursue national interests, but to kill enemy leaders, to convert opponents to one’s religion, to obtain booty, or sometimes for simple entertainment. Thus the core of Clausewitz’s .philosophy of war – that states wage war using armies in pursuit of political objectives will disappear. Others have maintained that nuclear weaponry, trans-national constabulary warfare, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotrafficking†¦ have rendered obsolete Clausewitz’s definition of war as an act of policy†.14 I believe though that his views are still relevant, in that once a war has begun it should be fought aggressively until its logical conclusion, however unlike in Clausewitz’s time, today the conditions required for victory may be very different and as such it may be harder to achieve a logical conclusion.15 Clausewitz seems more focussed on the idea that the only means of resolving a war is bloodshed (the so called idea of decisive battle) â€Å"The destruction of the enemies forces in war must always be the dominant consideration†16 While this may have been the ideal way of winning wars in the 19th Century it is arguable that in today’s world this view is obsolete for a variety of reasons. Firstly in the 19th Century the only real way of waging war was through lining up two opposing armies and fighting it out until one side one. This procedure was repeated until one country won the war. In today’s world the methods available to fight wars have changed – in place of armies, generals can use precision strikes with guided missiles fired from thousands of miles away to eliminate enemy units with minimal casualties. Special forces units can be used to eliminate key figures and deprive armies of leadership at critical times17. However the main reason why Clausewitz’s views of the objectives in warfare could be seen as obsolete is due to the changing nature of warfare itself. When On War was written, war was a two dimensional affair – fought primarily on land and sea.18 In 2001 though war can be fought on land, sea, air, space and also in cyberspace. In addition there are a wide variety of unconventional types of wars to be fought. As James Adams notes: â€Å"Today we are at war on several fronts. The fights against terrorism, organized crime, economic espionage and weapons proliferation are permanent conflicts that are likely to confront us through the next century†¦ In this new world the soldier will be the young geek in uniform who can insert a virus into Tehran’s electricity supply to plunge the city into darkness†19 There have been suggestions that since 1990 the world (or at least the West) has undergone a so called Revolution in Military Affairs – i.e. a total change in the way that war is fought. Given this, is the idea of decisive battle still relevant? Some institutions clearly feel that it is not – especially as the types of wars that will be fought are so different: â€Å"ironically the dominance that the US will gain from the RMA†¦ will be such that the nature of future conflict will force competitors to deliver asymmetric strategies, including weapons of mass destruction, to counter the US superiority.20 In these new types of conflicts, the search for Clausewitzian decisive victory will be far more elusive and far less relevant than in conventional conflicts†.21 Despite the above quote, I believe that the idea is still relevant – but that the methods that can be used to bring about a decisive victory have changed. As has been seen an enemy can be defeated without using conventional ground troops at all – instead a wide range of different assets could be used. Indeed one view of future warfare suggests that victory (but not necessarily destruction) over an enemy force could be achieved without the use of weapons: â€Å"First a computer virus is inserted into the aggressors telephone switching stations, bringing about a total failure of the phone system. Next computer logic bombs set to activate at certain times, destroy the electronic routers that control rail lines and military convoys†¦ meanwhile enemy field officers obey the orders they receive over the radios unaware that the commands are phoney†¦ US planes, specially outfitted for psychological operations, then jam the enemy’s TV broadcasts with propaganda messages that turn the populace against the ruler. When the despot boots up his PC, he finds that millions of dollars he has hoarded in his Swiss bank account have been zeroed out. Zapped. All without firing a shot†22 This example is quite interesting as it simultaneously supports the relevance of Clausewitz, while at the same time proving how his writings have become dated in places It supports the notion of decisive victory in that it shows how a country can conclusively defeat an enemy – thus supporting his idea of decisive victory. But at the same time it shows clearly that not all of Clausewitz is still relevant. For example Clausewitz seemed cynical about the idea of achieving victory without much (or any) violence: â€Å"How are we to counter the highly sophisticated theory that supposes it is possible for a particularly ingenious method of inflicting minor direct damage on the enemy’s forces to lead to major indirect destruction; or that claims to produce by means of limited but skilfully applied blows, such paralysis of the enemy’s forces and control of his willpower as to constitute a significant shortcut to victory†23 This argument clearly shows that not all of Clausewitz has aged well – obviously during the Napoleonic era the idea of information warfare did not exist – so it would have been next to impossible to win a war using non violent means – however as has been shown in this age it is at least technically possible to achieve such a victory. It suggests that some parts of Clausewitz’s work should perhaps be seen as less relevant to certain situations than others. One area which appears to still be relevant is Clausewitz’s comments on the application of force. In the West today public opinion seems to favour engagements with minimal casualties – the public seem to want intervention when scenes of suffering are on TV (the so called CNN effect), but at the same time seem unwilling to tolerate the idea of people dying to stop the suffering24. This is a situation where Clausewitz noted that: â€Å"If one side uses force without compunction, undeterred by the bloodshed it involves while the other side refrain, the first will gain the upper hand†.25 This idea seems to have been taken onboard by a number of third world leaders who have engaged in some form of conflict with Western Countries (primarily the USA). A good example of this is the conflicts in Somalia – when the USA sent in troops to help restore order to the country they were hampered by restrictive rules of engagement and limited amounts of equipment – for example tanks as these were felt inappropriate. 26On the other hand, the opposition led by self styled Warlord General Aideed had no such restrictions – and it showed – he was repeatedly able to gain the upper hand and when US/UN troops attempted to capture him he was able to ambush and kill literally dozens of them.27 The images of American bodies being abused were enough to force an immediate and humiliating withdrawal from Somalia – a classic Clausewitzian example of one side using force when the other was unwilling and gaining the advantage – in this case over the strongest power in the world. This lesson illustrates an area where Clausewitz’s views on war are still highly relevant – indeed it appears that other countries learnt from this experience – in Haiti for example when the US sent a landing ship into the country to enforce a UN brokered peace agreement in 1994 they were met by a bunch of thugs who: â€Å"shook their fists, waved placards and shouted threats at the US ship. They were hooligans who would have dispersed at the first sign of well armed troops. But among their slogans was one in particular â€Å"we are going to turn this place into another Somalia†. News of the ‘Welcome Party’ and its curses were flashed to Washington where it provoked a panic†¦. The Clinton administration immediately ordered the (USS) Harlan County to withdraw from Haitian waters and to sail back to the USA†28 Again this is another good example of how even the threat to employ violence against a country which is not prepared to do so can have a major influence out of all proportion to the size of the protestors. It also demonstrates the continuing influence of Clausewitzian ideas. The example used above of the American experience in Somalia and Haiti is also relevant to Clausewitz’s ideas on ‘The centre of gravity’ – an idea which Clausewitz defined as follows: â€Å"What the theorist has to say here is this: one must keep the dominant characteristics of both belligerents in mind. Out of those characteristics a certain centre of gravity develops, the hub of all power and movement on which everything depends. That is the point at which all our energies should be directed†29 Furthermore Clausewitz identified three key components of this idea: â€Å"The Opponents army, his capital and, if he had a stronger protector the army of his ally. Since all of these were vulnerable to attack, said Clausewitz, ‘the defeat and destruction of his fighting force remains the best way to begin, and will in any case be a very significant feature of the campaign'†30 A good example of this would be the case of the Royal Navy during the Falklands War – Argentina identified the carriers as the centre of gravity for the UK operation and spent a good deal of time trying to sink them. As the commander of the Task Force noted: â€Å"If they hit Hermes or Invincible the Royal Navy will somehow be publicly disgraced†¦Worse yet, the British military will become the laughing stock of the world, limping home in defeat. John Bull humbled at last. At sea.†31 Although Clausewitz did not write on maritime warfare this is a clear example of how important the destruction of a naval fighting component can be to the success of a war. Other good examples of a country identifying and targeting the centre of gravity include Iraq’s use of Scud missiles against Israel during the Gulf war – had Israel responded militarily then it is likely that the coalition against Iraq would have collapsed as it seems doubtful that Arab powers such as Egypt and Syria would willingly fight on the same side as Israel. This supports Clausewitz’s ideas of attacking the armies (or at least cities) of allies to win the war. 32 For the coalition however attacking and destroying the Iraqi army (primarily the Republican Guard) was of vital importance – not only as knocking it out would win the war – but also destroying the Republican Guard would remove Saddam Hussein’s power base and hopefully make it impossible for him to remain as leader of Iraq. The Gulf War is a good example then of Clausewitz’s ideas continuing to be highly relevant to the planning of a military campaign. However some commentators (QUOTE!!) feel that the Gulf War was probably the last large conventional war to be fought by the West and that the nature of war in the future has changed. I believe then that the centre of gravity idea is still highly relevant – however I feel that it has become more refined since Clausewitz’s time. Although Clausewitz feels that there are only three key areas to which it applies, I feel that today the centre of gravity can be practically anything. For example in Somalia and Haiti – the use of force and the threat to use force proved the Americans centre – when faced with even the possibility of casualties, the Americans withdrew. This suggests that today the centre of gravity can be anything from a capital city to a single infantryman – who if killed could cause a change in policy. Another change is that Clausewitz assumed that the centre of gravity would be identical for both sides – whereas today that is not the case – a good example is that of the asymmetric warfare that is being waged between the USA and the terrorist Osama Bin Laden – he recognised the Pentagon and World Trade Centre as key examples of American power and prestige and saw them as their centre of gravity in any terrorist action. The Americans on the other hand see Bin Laden as the key centre of gravity – The most powerful country on earth is fighting a war, with a single man as their key target. This is a dramatic change from the days of mass warfare which Clausewitz was used to, and demonstrates not only the rapidly changing nature of warfare, but also illustrates the way that Clausewitz’s ideas can continue to be adapted to look at warfare in the present day. During this essay I have looked at a number of Clausewitz’s ideas in an attempt to see whether they have continuing relevance in a world where warfare is very different from the time when On War was written. By and large I feel that Clausewitz’s ideas are still relevant – or at least able to be adapted into the present day. Where he is not so relevant is more due to the development of weapons and styles of warfare that he could not have possibly been aware of, rather than through any fault of his own. I feel that the following quote sums up nicely the relevance of Clausewitz to this day: â€Å"Of course not all of Clausewitz’s military thought has remained relevant. His vision of war did not include its economic, air, sea and space dimensions for example. But his concept of war†¦will remain valid as long as states, drug lords, warrior clans and terrorist groups have mind to wage it†33 1 Information taken from On War, p5, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press. 2 The Conduct of War 1789-1961, Chapter 4, p59. Major General J.F.C.Fuller, 1972 Methuen 3 Clausewitz, Michael Howard, p11, 1983, Oxford University Press. 4 Information taken from On War, p5, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 5 Indeed there is evidence to suggest that by 1827 he considered only the first chapter of book one to be complete – the remainder needing revision. Source The Conduct of War 1789-1961, Chapter 4, p59. Major General J.F.C.Fuller, 1972 Methuen 6 Makers of Modern Strategy, p208, Oxford University Press, 2000 edition. 7 Clausewitz, Michael Howard, p01, 1983, Oxford University Press. 8 Quote taken from www.gov.au/lwsc/publications/CA%eEssays/RMA 9 On War, p75, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 10 On War, p75, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 11 Sun Tzu’s art of War, The modern Chinese interpretation, p95 General Tao Hanzhang, 1987, David and Charles 12 Masters of War, Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and Jomini, p32, Michael I.Handel 1992, Frank Cass 13 On War, p87, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 14 Quote taken from www.Clausewitz.com, however text is from an article originally published in Joint Forces Quarterly, Winter 1995-1996 which is reproduced on the website. 15 For example – what are the current victory objectives in the campaign in Afghanistan and how will we know when victory has been achieved? 16 On War, p230, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 17 For example the possible attempts at the time of writing by US/UK special forces to capture or eliminate Osama Bin Laden. 18 Even then Clausewitz did not attempt to write on maritime operations – concentrating solely on land warfare. 19 The Next World War,p14, James Adams, 1998 Hutchinson. 20 A good example of this prediction was seen with the terrorist attack on the 11th of September. 21 Quote taken from www.gov.au/lwsc/publications/CA%eEssays/RMA 22 Flashpoint World War Three, p153-154, Andrew Murray, 1997, Pluto Press 23 On War, p228, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 24 Given the current situation in the USA it will be interesting to see whether the so called ‘body bag’ syndrome has ended or whether once US troops are killed, public opinion will change to demand a more peaceful solution. 25 On War, p75-76, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 26 Information taken from Deliver us From Evil, (Chapter 4), William Shawcross,2000, Bloomsbury. 27 Total American losses in Somalia were 30 dead, 175 wounded, the UN lost 72 killed and 87 wounded (Source World Conflicts, Patrick Brogan, 1998, Bloomsbury) 28 Deliver us from evil, p103, William Shawcross, 2000 Bloomsbury. 29 On War, p596, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 30 Clausewitz, Michael Howard, p39, 1983, Oxford University Press. (Professor Howard incorporates a quote from On War, p596, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press) 31 One Hundred Days, p100, Admiral Sandy Woodward, 1992, Harper Collins 32 However – given the overwhelming amount of Western military power in the region and the political willpower to fight the war, it seems likely that Iraq would still have lost the war – whether Israel was a centre of gravity in the sense that it could remove the coalition from the war seems dubious. 33 Quote taken from www.Clausewitz.com, however text is from an article originally published in Joint Forces Quarterly, Winter 1995-1996 which is reproduced on the website.

Statement of objectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Statement of objectives - Essay Example of the Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies to improve the capacity of public service in a dynamic urban society through furthering education and community engagement. With my master degree, I was credited with 3 Advanced Certificates in Management from the same university, to wit: Advanced Certificate in Information Management, Advanced Certificate in Telecommunication Management, and Advanced Certificate in Human Resource. Equipped with these academic achievements, I am prepared to undertake greater challenges in higher education. My ultimate goal is to be an instrument of change to my country once I completed the PhD in Urban Studies and Public Affairs in conjunction with Cleveland State University’s College of Public Affairs. The University of Akron is one of the most prestigious institutions which can accord a multi disciplinary approach to the program. I am optimistic in learning various public service and urban studies issues affecting not only the local and national level, but more so, their impact and influence on international levels. I would like to be given the opportunity to share the theoretical and practical applications of public affairs and urban studies in Saudi Arabia, which unselfishly provided me with 100% scholarship through the King Abdullah Graduate Studies Scholarship Program. If accepted, I plan to spend part of my time developing greater insight into one of my primary research interests – stewardship applications in electronic business. For individuals who exemplify characteristics and behavior that demonstrate the concept of stewardship and serving society, the most important consideration is to take accountability without instilling control or dominion over those persons or properties one is tasked to take care of. The benefits that the degree in sciences of management emphasize that public policies’ response to change is a necessary component to adapt and adjust to inefficiencies, conflicts and developments

Check order instruction and attachment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Check order instruction and attachment - Essay Example First, people are allowed to enroll for membership either online or through conventional means. BUSC also makes itself known by visiting schools and recreational areas to initiate new members into its program. Going by organisational practices in BUSC’s premises, I gathered that BUSC’s packages are designated into divisions so that there are Divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4 so that an individual can therefore decide which group he will join. BUSC neither recognizes specific age group limitations nor denies participation to some people because of age. This is underscored by the fact that the Club’s philosophy makes it plain that no child is denied participation because of financial constraint. BUSC also factors the adult and has an array of services tailor-made for this group, as is attested by the presence of the Parent/Player Corner. The activity age is appropriate since different age groups have specific needs, yet parents have always wanted their entire families to accompany children in their outdoor activities. This means that the activity age becomes helpful in satisfying both adults’ and children’s needs. By the phrase children, it is meant, anyone who has not attained the legal age or is still under the care of his parents. The Ballistic United Soccer Club has a strong mission, objective and value standpoint which coalesces into its organisational culture. This culture dictates the conduct of its personnel, clientele and BUSC personnel-public relations and therefore wards off cases of professional and personal misconduct within BUSC premises. There are also strong safety measures and trained personnel who can handle different forms of crises which may occur in BUSC’s site. This means that chances for distractions such as criminal cases, criminality, negligence and tortuous cases are limited. Ballistic United Soccer Club has had considerable success in engaging all participants. The fact that the Club has managed the participants for about 5 decades

Lessons to a Stubborn and Rebellious People in a Weary Land Research Paper

Lessons to a Stubborn and Rebellious People in a Weary Land - Research Paper Example Throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, God has used man and his imperfections to teach mankind many lessons, oftentimes using nations and lands outside of Israel to fulfill His divine purpose. Whether it is the Egyptians in the time of Moses, the Philistines in the time of David, the Babylonians in the time of Daniel, or the Persians in the time of Esther, God used His people – the Jews – to achieve mighty works that would serve as examples of faith to future Hebrew generations and as warnings to outside nations that worshiped false gods and opposed His people. But this is not the full picture. God often worked within His own camp – the people of Israel – to expose their corrupt nature, punish them, purge them of their sins, and bring them back into His mercy and blessings. With Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Job, Noah, and others figures in the Old Testament, God used traumatic or catastrophic events in order to steer man back on the right path of godli ness and submission to Him. The best place to start when examining how God used the people and places of the Bible is the book of Genesis, which means â€Å"origins† in Greek and â€Å"in the beginning† in Hebrew, (Hamilton 1). And the genesis of mankind, of course, dates back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a perfect paradise on earth devoid of any of the toils or strife that we experience every day on earth. But when God put Adam and Eve in the midst of this unblemished land, corruption was speedily on its way. Soon after God created Adam from the dust, He chose to create Eve out of his rib because He said â€Å"It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him,† (NIV Study Bible, Gen. 2.18). But not long after God had given the warning not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Satan – through the guise of a serpent – persuaded Eve that God did not want her and Adam to eat the tree’s fruit because He was afraid the y would become like Him. In essence, Satan called God a liar, telling Eve that if she ate the fruit, she would not die, going against what God had said. Eve took the bait, and the horrific legacy of sin has permeated every facet of man’s life ever since. Once Eve and Adam had partaken of that cataclysmic snack, Satan’s wrath of sin, misery, and treachery was ushered into the world. Adam and Eve soon discovered shame, guilt, fear, and all the other trappings that come with sin and disobedience. God quickly banished the first couple from the garden – which was located in the area of modern-day Iraq – and the two experienced grief, pain, and suffering for the first time. Reaping the consequences for this initial disobedience was a tough lesson to learn, and even though the inheritance of this sinful nature has perpetuated for 7,000 years ? from early Old Testament times up through today – God has shown man in many miraculous ways that He has the victo ry over Satan and sin. Cain and Abel were the first offspring to inherit their parents’ sinful nature, yet where there is sin, there is grace. Through these two brothers, we also witness the world’s first sibling rivalry. Whereas the firstborn – Cain – worked the soil and harvested crops, his younger brother Abel tended the flocks as a shepherd. When they went before God to offer a portion of their livelihoods, Cain brought some of his fruits, while

Article summary of Romer 2000 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Provide a balanced discussion of the factors that a medium to large Assignment

Provide a balanced discussion of the factors that a medium to large sized company should consider before adopting an ERP system - Assignment Example Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a process by which a company or manufacturer manages and integrates an important part of his business. In today’s business world, ERP play’s an extensive role in the field of business and information technology. Global strategy leader, Arthur D. Little spoke about ERP and quotes: â€Å"it is conquering the world. Almost every important company is more or less in its hand.† (ERP) There are several kinds of ERP software, but SAP is the most famous and acknowledged one. The acronym of SAP is Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing. It is used around the globe to access the needs of the customers and offer them with widespread range of services and facilities. Leading resource companies such as Comal co Ltd., Sasol Synfuels International (Pty) Ltd. and Sasol Mining (Pty) Ltd effectively use SAP to manage assets, improve productivity and attain better decision-making abilities. ERP has not only helped large global fi rms earn gigantic amounts of revenues but small and medium enterprises also avail this system for procuring profits. It is the invaluable technology tool for the companies to increase productivity, profitability, sales and service. The implementation of ERP system does not limit to the size of the organization but the fact that where the system is implemented. Both developing and developed countries are applying and implementing ERPs. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES INHERIT IN AN ERP SYSTEM: ERP system has brought revolution to the entire framework of supervising industries. ERP system is not a stand-alone system and so, companies that fail to utilize this find themselves difficult to function with each other. It facilitates operational coordination across functional companies. It is important for medium and large scale companies to have complete knowledge of its competitor’s strategy and policies. Not only this, ERP system has a standard of collecting all business areas in one system which would makes it easier for companies to compete on the same benchmark. The foremost advantage of an ERP system is that it saves time and brings down the costs of large corporations. Large firms cannot risk wasting their time in procedural maneuvers and unwanted delays. It ensures quick processing of information and reduces the burden of paperwork. It is difficult to manage large firms without proper records, and so ERP system maintains work effectively with minimum chances of error. ERP system aims for perfection; it keeps track of its order. It serves the customers efficiently by way of prompt response and follow up. Whether it’s the case of queries of the customers or in the payment, ERP system provides them with ease in every procedure and administers them with detailed information. ERP system also excels in accounting applications. It can incorporate the cost, profit, revenue information of sales that are made by the company. It is responsible for altering the product, and upgrading it order to capture a wider audience. It can make amazing quality products by mere design engineering. Large firms are required to have greater security, for which ERP system are considered to be ideal as they are an indispensable tool in the area of security. It protects the company against some considerable crimes such as embezzlement or industrial espionage, thus safeguarding the company from massive losses every year. Large

History and Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

History and Literature - Essay Example History plays a decisive role in developing a nation’s culture. Literature, in turn, is based upon the culture of a nation. Thus, history affects the literature of a nation through culture. A lot of books have been published on the great battles that have occurred in the world from time to time. Other books that are not directly written on wars reflect the impacts of war on the society in different ways. Owing to the great role of history in shaping a nation’s literature, both are considered subordinates of each other. History brings facts into literature. In the contemporary age, facts and figures are valued a lot. Facts and figures play a fundamental role in enhancing the value of literature. Literature progresses with research. Research is fundamentally based on the literature review pertaining to the topic of research. Audience looks out for numeric figures that fundamentally come from the history. In the modern age, people are obsessed with the notion of â€Å"not hing but facts†. This has created a lot of schism between predictions and forecasts made on the basis of historic data. Nowadays, predictions are of no scientific value. Researchers are required to extrapolate the past trends to estimate the future. We get to learn a lot about history from the stories we read.

Recommendation letter from a Dentist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Recommendation letter from a Dentist - Essay Example At Smile Dental Mr. Golamari has carried out a number of particular duties and even shown some initiative where the situation has demanded it. When he first joined, Mr. Golamari spent much of his time observing and taking down notes from what he witnessed. This struck me because most young dental assistants dive straight in without looking first to witness first-hand the tasks that fall under the responsibility of a dental assistant. As an observer, much of Mr. Golamari’s time was concerned with examining patients’ teeth, updating patients’ medical records, and clearly explaining dental procedures to unsure and anxious patients. Throughout all of this, it became clear to me that Mr. Golamari has a real concern for the welfare of his patients and does his utmost to put their minds at ease. Sitting in the chair and waiting for a procedure can be one of the most daunting experiences for a patient, so it has been reassuring to me that Mr. Golamari has eased the tensi on for my patients on numerous occasions and helped to make my job immeasurably more straightforward. Not long after Mr. Golamari began his work as my observer, it became evident to me that he could handle more complex tasks. I did not want to overburden him at first, so I gradually increased the level of responsibility for Mr. Golamari. I knew that Mr. Golamari had worked previously as a dental assistant back in India, but the procedures here are a little different and so he needed some time to get uptospeed. After I felt that he was ready, I made Mr. Golamari my dental assistant, and he has performed such duties as chair side assisting taking full mouth x-rays, coronal polishing, placing temporary fillings, fabricating and fixing temporary crowns, and overall patient education. Over the time Mr. Golamari has spent as my dental assistant he has never once complained

Operation Barbarossa Essay Example for Free

Operation Barbarossa Essay Operation Barbarossa, the code name given to Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, would come to be considered one of Nazi Germany’s greatest follies in the Second World War, and would play a monumental role in bringing an end to Hitler’s regime just a few years later. Though the operation itself lasted less than six months it resulted in four years of harsh fighting on the Eastern Front, marked by an enormous casualty toll for both the Russians and the Germans and countless battles fought in the cruel conditions of Russian winter. All of this despite the fact that both countries had engaged in a mutual non-aggression pack two short years earlier. In 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a series of agreements regarding how both countries would split the territory separating them and share the resources therein. Signing of the pact created strong political and economic ties between the two nations, at least on the surface. Historians, however, argue that the pact was doomed to fail long before it was even signed, as Hitler had long harbored a disgust for the Soviet Union’s Slavic peoples, which he viewed as sub-human. Couple this racial prejudice with the extremely different political ideologies governing both countries and it becomes clear that the relationship between Germany and the Soviet Union was merely one of temporary convenience. Despite the volatile nature of the German-Soviet relationship, it still struck many as incomprehensible why Hitler should choose to invade Russia in 1941, with war already raging in the west. One can only judge that Hitler, in a misplaced display of ego, believed the west to already be won, with France effectively crushed and England standing as the only viable opponent on that front, struggling hopelessly to maintain a foothold on the European mainland. Believing the western front was theirs, Germany sought to expand her influence and complete her domination of Europe by conquering the resource-rich eastern countries- including the powerhouse of the Soviet Union. Preparations for the invasion began in April of ’41, as Germany began to secretly amass troops on her eastern borders. The plan involved a three-pronged Blitzkreig attack that would simultaneously strike northern Russia with the object of taking Leningrad, while a second group struck toward Moscow and a third took a southern route through the Ukraine. By doing this, Hitler believed that the Russians would be caught completely off guard and would be unable to mount an effective defense in so many places at once. Hitler’s plan, however, contained a number of fatal flaws. Firstly, he greatly underestimated the numbers and strength of the Soviet military, which had effectively doubled its number of troops, artillery pieces and aircraft since the outbreak of war in western Europe. Though not all of this strength was situated in the western part of Russia, where Hitler planned to strike, significant advances had also been made in Soviet infrastructure (most significantly, their railroad system) such as allowed for more efficient movement of troops and supplies, and therefore faster mobilization. Also, the German superiority in armor, which had served them so well in their western blitzkrieg was lost to them here- Soviet tanks, though less technologically advanced at this point in the war, actually outnumbered German tanks approximately four-to-one. The one advantage inarguably held by the Germans was troop quality. The German army was well trained, well equipped and led by experienced and educated officers. The Soviet army, in contrast, were untested by battle and overwhelming led by incompetent officers, many of whom had been given their commissions in exchange for political favors. The vast majority of Soviet officers had less than one year of experience, as many of the older and more experienced commanders had been executed or imprisoned during Stalin’s â€Å"Great Purge† between 1936 and 1938. When Operation Barbarossa began in the pre-dawn hours of June 22nd, 1941, Germany initially made fantastic gains. Approximately three million German soldiers, supported by armor and the Luftwaffe swarmed across the border, advancing more than 200 miles in the next 5 days. The only solid resistance they were met with in the first few days of the attack came in the south, where Soviet commanders reacted quickly and were able to organize an effective defense. The central and northern arms of the German advance, however, met little resistance and charged ahead at full speed- a factor that would later return to haunt them. Armored divisions of the German army actually advanced too quickly, putting them well ahead of the infantry divisions meant to support them. This forced Hitler to call the Panzer divisions to a halt for nearly a week to allow their accompanying infantry troops time to catch up- a week that was used by the Soviets to amass troops ahead of the German advance and fortify target cities such as Stalingrad. By the time the order was given to resume the advance, heavy rainstorms struck which greatly slowed the progress of German tanks attempting to slog down muddy roads. With their advance slowed and the element of surprise expired, the Germans faced ever-strengthening resistance from the Soviet army. In a decision that would prove disastrous, Hitler ordered the central arm of the attack to call-off its march for Moscow and redeploy to the north and south, strengthening the other two prongs of the invasion in hopes of quickly capturing the rich oil fields in the south and the Soviet stronghold of Leningrad in the north. This had mixed results, as the southern wing of the attack was eventually successful in capturing Kiev, and with it an approximate 600,000 Soviet troops, but the advance in the north stalled as heavy resistance was met in Leningrad. The southern wing, after completing its advance through the Ukraine, resumed the march toward Moscow, ultimately coming within 15 miles of the Soviet capital before the Soviets’ greatest ally came to their aid- the harsh Russian winter. As had been the case for Napoleon more than a hundred years earlier, the Russian winter proved disastrous to the unprepared German troops. Expecting a quick victory, the German army had not bothered to supply its men with winter uniforms, and as the snows set in many found themselves facing temperatures well below zero wearing little more than light cotton summer clothing. Frostbite, pneumonia and other side effects of the horrendous cold mercilessly ate away at the German divisions, which were already weakened by months of hard fighting. To make matters worse the cold prevented use of German tanks in many instances, which froze solid in the fields, and high winter winds and snow flurries grounded the Luftwaffe, preventing air support. The Soviets in contrast, well accustomed and prepared for the hardships of winter, took the opportunity to launch a massive counter attack which robbed the Germans of most of their earlier gains, pushing them back over 200 miles and removing the pressure on Moscow. Never again would the Germans make it so deep into Russian territory, though the war continued on and countless more men would die in the years to come. The failure of Operation Barbarossa proved disastrous to Hitler’s Reich, which lost huge numbers of valuable and experienced troops and vast amounts of material that would have proved invaluable to them later in the war. They also awoke the military beast that was Soviet Russia and forced themselves to actively wage war on two fronts, a strain that would eventually prove too much for Germany as Allied efforts redoubled in the west with the entrance of the United States into the conflict.

Why Teach Vocabulary Through Literature?

Why Teach Vocabulary Through Literature? Why Teaching Vocabulary Through Literature? We may consider creating an anthology of literature for secondary, young adult, and students studying English as a foreign language. It may include authentic poetry, essays, plays, and short stories, whose writers represent a diversity of cultures, backgrounds, and points of view. In addition to providing students with skills for understanding and appreciating literature, the application components complement and reinforce each other by giving students integrated practice in key language skills. Literary fragments offer multiple activities for students to access background knowledge of the themes and ideas presented in the literary pieces, and poses questions for them to consider as they read. In post-reading activities, students check comprehension of main ideas, and discuss and interpret the more subtle points of the selections. In special Focus on Reading and Focus on Literature , students practice reading skills and identify some common literary devices. Also, they provide students with ideas for creative writing as well as opportunities for critical thinking and values clarification. Moreover, they emphasize sharing and peer feedback, giving students a real audience for their work. The paperwork takes the approach that giving students a genuine opportunity to experience literature and encouraging their direct, active participation in discovering literature are the best ways to engage them. It promotes the importance of personal experience and pleasure in the teaching of literature and vocabulary and embraces the notion that literary pieces should also serve as models and catalysts for generating students own creative writing. The selection of contemporary literature pieces offer a diversity of experience and opinion, allowing for comparison and contrast of different writing styles, literary elements, and ethnic and gender issues. While the specific activities for presenting each poem, story, essay, or play vary, there is a predictable lesson format for introducing, reading, discussing, and reacting to each piece. The purpose of the pre-reading is to activate students background knowledge regarding the theme and key ideas or issues raised in the particular literary piece. Having students share their personal experiences before they read serves several functions: it encourages group knowledge, generates useful language for discussing the piece, and prepares students to make personal connections with the reading. Discussion include films or illustrations and questions. Since the purpose is to elicit students ideas and help them share knowledge, it is suggested that you discuss these questions as a class. However, if you have a large class, some students may feel more comfortable sharing their ideas in smaller groups. In this case, you can ask each group to present its ideas to the whole class. If students seem reluctant to talk, you can break the ice by relating a personal experience or observation regarding one or more of the discussion questions. Vocabulary support in the lessons with poems consists of a gloss below each fragment. Providing definitions for some potentially difficult or unfamiliar words and expressions (such as idioms and slang) helps students understand and appreciate the larger meaning of the text. In the lessons with stories, poems , essays or plays-which typically include a heavier vocabulary load-a vocabulary exercise is provided in addition to the glosses. These exercises encourage students to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words and expressions from context. The purpose of reading is to pose one or more questions for students to consider as they read the piece, giving them some aspect, feature, or idea on which to focus their attention. Students are referred back to these questions after they read and discuss the pieces to confirm their understanding. Post-reading questions enable students to clarify their ideas through activities that focus on specific reading skills and literary elements. The activities offer students guided avenues for interpretation, while giving them space to make their own personal connections to the literary pieces. Comprehension questions check students understanding of the main ideas and the more objective or literal aspects of the extract they have read. Some questions require students to identify details in the piece and to make inferences. Focus on Reading highlights important reading skills such as getting meaning from context, making inferences, distinguishing between fact and opinion, and identifying pronoun referents. Some Focus on Reading presentations treat linguistic features as they relate to literature, such as the uses of reduced forms and register. As a class or in small groups, students read a short presentation on a specific reading skill or linguistic feature, then do an activity to practice it. Focus on Literature helps students identify key literary elements such as metaphors, similes, personification, and alliteration. After reading a short presentation describing a particular element, students do an activity to demonstrate their understanding. Expansion questions are interpretive and require critical thinking. They are designed to probe the more subjective aspects of the pieces. These questions lend themselves to various interpretations, and allow students to connect their personal experiences to the literature. Sometimes questions in this section deal with issues of values clarification, requiring students to reflect on their personal values as these relate to the unit themes. Because of the personal and open-ended nature of these expansion questions, it is suggested that students discuss them in small groups, where they may feel more comfortable sharing their ideas, values, and feelings. It may sometimes happen that a student feels uncomfortable discussing or has no opinion about a particular question, such as one relating to personal values or perhaps some aspect of his or her culture. Accordingly, it is important to let students know that they always have the chance to opt out of discussing any question, for example by saying, I pass, or I have no opinion. Other students need to be encouraged to respect these responses. The writing response activities provide a venture for students to connect personally and creatively with aspects and elements of the literary piece they have read. As with the previous post-reading discussion activities, the goal of these writing activities is to offer students starting points-to suggest ways of responding to the poem, story, essay, or play-while encouraging them to use their imagination and explore their own feelings, impressions, and interpretations in crafting their personal responses. While students are given a choice of three writing response activities for each piece, you should feel free to give them the option of creating a response of their own choosing related to the piece. Since the purpose of an anthology is to encourage students to connect their experiences to literature, they should not feel restrained or discouraged from connecting creatively in their own ways with the different pieces. Of course, you may want to check a students idea before he or she writes to make sure the response is appropriate to the piece and/or lesson theme. Peer Response activities are pair or small group activities. Students read each others writings, comment on them, and, as appropriate, offer suggestions for improving them. The emphasis here is on giving and receiving positive and constructive feedback-for example, pointing out what they like best about a classmates writing, indicating if some part of the writing is unclear, or asking for more information. Moreover, by sharing their work, students are writing for a real audience-for their peers, not just for a single teacher. Finally, students stand to gain additional insights into a literary piece through their classmates personal responses. About the Author biographies give students information about the authors of the pieces they have read. Students who enjoy particular pieces may be moved to read other work by the authors, or to search the Internet or library for more information about particular authors. On Further Reflection These consolidation and extension activities appear at the end of every unit in a text book. They provide additional opportunities for students to react and relate their experiences to the different literary pieces in the unit-for example, to compare the way the characters in different pieces reacted to a similar or a totally different situation, or to explore further some values that may relate to a particular theme. There are also suggestions for relating aspects of the unit theme to a larger area. Language Writers choose their words very carefully to create a particular mood or feeling; often, they do this to help the reader see, hear, taste, smell, or feel what is being described. This kind of sensory language and description is called imagery. Authors also use words to communicate ideas above the common, or literal, meaning of the words. This use of words to create a special kind of meaning is called figurative language. Some examples of figurative language include metaphor (a comparison between two things), simile (a comparison between two things, using the words like or as), and personification (giving human qualities to an animal, object, or idea). Vocabulary items may be unfamiliar. One of the underlying principles of an anthology is that students should be encouraged to figure out unfamiliar words and expressions from the context, and in some cases, to accept uncertain definitions. The vocabulary exercises in the lessons support this idea, and they are written to help students apply this reading strategy. To help them become more fluent and independent readers, students should be encouraged to read through the literary pieces without stopping to look up words in a dictionary. If, after reading a piece, they have questions about some words, they can use their dictionaries to look up definitions. Student participation and group work help build students confidence. The more comfortable students are with their peers, their teacher, and the overall classroom atmosphere, the more confident they will become in sharing their ideas and opinions as a class and in groups. Whenever possible, encourage student participation. Another guiding principle is that, in studying literature, readers experiences and points of view are as important as those of the writers-that reading literature is a cooperative and interactive activity, whereas everyones experience and ideas are valid in contributing to understanding the larger meaning of a piece. Using the literary fragments as models is a way to stimulate students imagination and elicit their personal connections. An anthology is intended in part to serve as model for students who wish to produce literary works. Not all students may choose to write, or to write literature in response to every literary piece. Even the title of a book suggests that an important purpose of literature is to make us feel a sense of wonder about life. The writers remind us that life is a special gift: one full of possibilities and full of unique and wonderful people, places, and things. The themes should be selected as to explore both common and less common topics that people everywhere can understand, think about and respond to. WHY READ LITERATURE? Literature is a way to pass on good stories. All of us know good stories, but most of us dont write them down. If we dont write our stories down or tell them to others, when we die, our stories disappear with us. Without some written record, how will we remember the stories of our own and others lives? How will future generations know them? Literature connects us to something greater. Reading literature connects us to other points of view-lets us see life through others eyes-so that we may know and appreciate more of it. Literature lets us walk inside other peoples shoes and discover how that feels. Literature introduces us to people so completely different from us that we discover how much we have in common. High-school language teachers have many responsibilities. In addition to teaching literature and reading comprehension, grammar and the writing process, they must also teach vocabulary. Vocabulary instruction is not an easy task. Sometimes it is difficult to teach because students tend to be unwilling to learn new words as they grow up in a society where sophisticated language can be deemed undesirable. Manzo, Manzo, and Thomas (2006) reported that the influx of reality television, rap and hip-hop music, and other pop-cultural factors make those using intellectual language appear conceited. Similarly, the increase of students coming from lower socio-economic families and from diverse backgrounds is on the rise. The state of deprivation means that educators need to make instruction as meaningful as possible because, no matter the obstacles they may face, students are expected to become productive citizens, and the development of a compelling vocabulary encourages reading comprehension and allows people to contribute to society. Teachers have to be willing to teach students the value of improving their vocabularies in order to close the gap between the reality of the child’s life and the expectations of the child’s school (Blachowicz Fisher, 2004). Because it can be difficult, especially for overwhelmed teachers, to create an effective vocabulary program, they sometimes rely on their colleagues for previously-given vocabulary tests, or they may simply use school-adopted materials (Brabham Villaume, 2002). â€Å"Consistently, the most common recalled vocabulary instruction centers around receiving an arbitrary list of words on Monday [and] looking up the definitions of the words in a dictionary† (Rupley Nichols, 2005, p. 240). However, this type of word study is unproductive when the students take the initial definition and try to make sense of the word. For instance, if students took the definition of â€Å"brim† to be â€Å"edge,† they may think that, â€Å"The knife has a sharp brim,† is a logical sentence (Brabham Villaume, 2002). Furthermore, the vocabulary words may mean something entirely different when used in another context, or the definition of the vocabulary word may contain words that the students do not recognize (Rhoder Huerster, 2002). A similar method of instruction involves students completing drill-and-practice activities like workbook exercises, but these should not be the only strategies to teach new words (Venetis, 1999). With these word-lists/drill-and-practice approaches to vocabulary instruction, students often forget the meanings of the words and do not develop the skills necessary to use the words in their own speaking and writing. Even if memorization is mastered using this technique of instruction, that does not suggest that the students have enough knowledge of the word to apply its meaning to their own writing. Dixon-Krauss (2002) observed that even after ninth-grade students had taken their vocabulary tests, they had problems incorporating the words into writing, and their papers suffered from incorrect usage and incoherent paragraphs. Francis and Simpson (2003) reported that students were able to respond correctly to multiple-choice questions about vocabulary words, but they were not able to relate words to texts that they were reading or to write significant paragraphs. There was a need for teachers to consider another technique of vocabulary instruction that might assure students learned a word’s meaning and also how to use the word properly in speaking and writing. Another method of teaching students vocabulary is through reading, and students who read widely have expansive vocabularies (Blachowicz Fisher, 2004). However, all students do not read extensively, and many only read what they are required to read for school classes. Francis and Simpson (2003) reported that the average high-school student is assigned about 50 pages per week from assignments for their content courses. That number will increase to nearly 500 pages per week when that student reaches college. Additionally, by the time students reach college, professors expect them to be able to learn the text independently â€Å"because they do not have the time or inclination to discuss the information during class†. What does this report mean for high-school teachers? They are faced with the duty of not only developing their students’ vocabularies, but also helping them create strategies to learn vocabulary on their own. â€Å"A serious commitment to decreasing gaps in vocabulary and comprehension includes instruction that allows all students to learn and use strategies that will enable them to discover and deepen understandings of words during independent reading† (Brabham Villaume, 2002). To approach the instruction of vocabulary through literature, teachers often choose to teach vocabulary through context. Teaching vocabulary through context simply means to look for clues in the sentence that might tell the reader something about the meaning of the word in question; furthermore, researchers have studied the impact of visual and verbal clues on learning words in context. Terrill, Scruggs, and Mastropieri (2004) studied mnemonic strategies used in vocabulary instruction for eight 10th-grade students with learning disabilities and found that using keywords with pictures that hint at a word’s meaning increased the students’ vocabulary test scores. By the end of the study, students had learned 92% of their vocabulary using this strategy compared with 49% of words learned using the word-list approach. Several other studies have been performed that examined the contextual method of vocabulary instruction together with the word-list approach to vocabulary acquisition. Dillard (2005) explored definitional and contextual methods of vocabulary instruction in four secondary English classrooms with a mixture of students in grades 10 through 12 and found that students using the contextual method of instruction outperformed the ones using the definitional, word-list approach on three of the four tests given in the study. In order to really know a word, students must be able to use it in more than one context; it must be used in writing, speaking, and listening (Rupley Nichols, 2005). Having presented all these, indeed, literature is one of the best ways of teaching vocabulary. Both students and teachers benefit from the advantages of a rich language literary piece . For teachers is a pleasure and for students can be the beginning of a new passion – reading. Every teacher`s of language dream is to have students who enjoy reading, accomplishing that simplifies the daily class routine and serves the purpose of obtaining performance.

The Lord of the Rings Essay -- literary Analysis, J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien was motivated by different elements in his life to write The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was an admirable British writer and scholar best known for the author-illustrated children’s book The Hobbit and its adult sequel The Lord of the Rings (O’Neil 1529). The Hobbit is the biggest part of why he wrote The Lord of the Rings, along with every feature of his successful life. In 1930, Tolkien jotted a few enigmatic words about â€Å"a hobbit† on the back of an examination paper he was grading. â€Å"Names always generate a story in my mind,† he observed, and eventually he found out what hobbits were like (Rollyson 4462). The few words Tolkien jotted down led his imagination run wild and his mind hungry for more words. On September 21, 1937, Tolkien’s fantasy and children’s novel, The Hobbit was published (Rollyson 4456). Shortly after this novel was published, Tolkien’s publisher wrote him that his public would want to hear more about the hobbits next year. So in December, he began to construct a new book, The Lord of the Rings (O’Neil 1543). The Hobbit was one of the big things that made Tolkien keep writing, and it took him up to twelve years to write (O’Neil 1544). Everyone, even his friends and family wanted more. His personal life also encouraged him to write The Lord of the Rings, not only that, but just to write in general. His childhood played a significant part in his love and passion for writing. As a little boy, Tolkien has always been fascinated by different themes. The memory of his younger years at Sarehole, the happiest of his boyhood, gave him an abiding love of nature, which formed the basis for one of his principal concepts, â€Å"The inter-relations between the ‘noble’ and the ‘simple’† (Rollyson 4460). Tolkien... ...n England, where Tolkien found even more stirring ideas to include in The Lord of the Rings. The Inklings were a literary group that shared works together and influenced each other (O’Neil 1538). In the group, Tolkien had read bits and pieces of The Lord of the Rings to Lewis and others, each giving back affirmative remarks and urging comments to â€Å"keep going!†(Kellman 2598). The importance of the Inklings cannot be frazzled enough, especially the friendship with Lewis, who had been an astonishing inspiration on the work of The Lord of the Rings (Rollyson 4459). In conclusion, every element of Tolkien’s life has a spot in The Lord of the Rings. His love for themes and languages as a young boy, his World War experiences, his wife and kids love and passion, C.S. Lewis’s positive words, and the Inklings. Each may serve as having its own little chapter in the novel.

Resistance of a Wire :: Papers

Resistance of a Wire Aim: - I hope to find out how resistance of a wire is affected. Prediction: - I predict that as the length of the wire increases the resistance will also increase. Scientific Knowledge: - ======================= A wire is a bundle of metal strips coated in plastic. The plastic can vary in colour and connect to different terminals These are: - ------------ ÂÂ · Black = negative terminal ÂÂ · Red = positive terminal ÂÂ · Blue = neutral terminal ÂÂ · Green and yellow = earth terminal ÂÂ · Brown = live terminal The material varies because it has free electrons, which are able to flow through the wire. The number of the electrons depends on the amount of electrons in the outer energy shell of the atoms, so if there are more or larger atoms then there must be more electrons available. If the material has a high number of atoms there will be a high number of electrons causing a lower resistance because of the increase in the number of electrons. Also if the atoms in the material are closely packed then the electrons will have more frequent collisions and the resistance will increase. Resistance is measured in Ohm's (ÃŽÂ ©). Ohm's Law The law actually says that the resistance of a metal conductor is the same whatever the current - unless it's getting hotter. However most people think of these equations when the law gets mentioned: V = IR V is Voltage in Volts, I is Current in Amps and R is resistance in Ohms. If the length of the wire is increased then the resistance will also increase as the electrons will have a longer distance to travel and so more collisions will occur. Due to this the length increase should be proportional to the resistance increase. If the wires width is increased the resistance will decrease. This is because of the increase in the space for the electrons to travel through.

Edge Detection in Claud Classification

It is a certain number of gradient operators using small arrays of pixels were tested in this study, in order to check their capacity to properly detect significant boundaries between different CTT and eventually cloud types. This capacity is 14 visually tested against direct CTT images. Among the detectors applied are the Canny, Roberts, Sobel and Kayyali 15 SENW (to be named here SENW) edge detectors, and the Harris corner and edge detector. The Roberts edge detector employs mainly 2 pixels in a 2*2 matrix for each computing direction (horizontal and vertical). The test conducted show a lesser sensitivity to edges i.e. the variation range of gradients is limited compared to the other methods.The Canny 18 method uses a 5*5 pixel matrix, that undergoes preliminary filtering before the use of a smaller-array gradient detector, making the calculation procedure longer. The Sobel detector uses a 3*3 matrix where 6 pixels practically contribute to 20 the gradient. The SENW edge detector i s based on the Sobel approach for edge detection but employs mainly 4-corner 21 pixels (upper and lower left, and right) in a 3*3 pixel-matrix, the remaining 5 pixels between the corners are set to zero.  The Harris detector detects both edges and corners.

Disastrous Consequence

In life, we encounter circumstances wherein we gave our all but we continue to fail. Our idealistic expectations were shattered by the realization that sometimes we cannot control our actions even if it was aimed for our individual betterment. In the end, the question remains to be on how we are going to address these hurdles and challenges facing us. The ability to recover and stand up despite these setbacks remains to be the ultimate goal for everyone.Looking back, there was one experience that disappointed me because I had ideal expectations towards a particular project that I had made. It happened when our instructor provided a topic for us to write about. This research shall be huge component for our research. I really need a good grade to pull out a good performance in the end. Due to this, we were allowed to choose a topic of our choice and relate it towards the lessons that were taught during the first half of the class.In addition to these, the specific details and objective s were given three weeks before submission. In a nutshell, the topic was my specialization since I had spent numerous times working on that issue. Moreover, I had gathered sufficient references that can guide me towards the process of writing. Since I really need a high grade for this paper, I made contact with the professor occasionally to inform her about my updates. Lastly, I was able to finish it one week in advance. That was why I had the chance to proofread and analyze the paper for errors.However, when the grades turned out, I was disappointed when I saw that my grade was not up to my expectations. In addressing this, I went to my professor and asked her the reason I got the grade. She indicated that I was too focused on creating a paper based on the idea that I know and failed to appropriately link it towards the subject. I felt bad on this because I had the opportunity to consult with her. But I used this experience as a learning opportunity for me to enhance and improve on my writing skills so next time I won’t achieve the same results.

Isolation in Frankenstein

The Isolation of Victor Frankenstein Isolation and loneliness can do great injustices to the human brain. People are programed to function in cohabitation with others of their kind, to form relationships with them. So, when these relationships fail or seem to be absent from one’s life, the aloneness can ache. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the reader sees the developing isolation of Victor Frankenstein, which can be attributed to his personality and upbringing, as well as his unwavering obsession with his scientific success. Certain people seem to have something in their genetic make up which makes them more social than others.These people seem to interact with crowds at ease and, as the social butterflies within their peers, tend to avoid isolation. Victor Frankenstein is not one of these people. It is not necessarily a fault of Victor, but merely a reality. As he would explain, it simply â€Å"was my temper to avoid a crowd, and to attach myself fervently to a few (19). à ¢â‚¬  This personality trait contributed to the increasing isolation Victor became subject to. The few he so fervently attached himself to exclusively included his own family and Clerval, all of whom stayed behind upon his departure to Ingolstadt.Victor explained, â€Å"I was indifferent†¦ to my schoolfellows in general (19). † So, once he was away at school, for the first time feeling the absence of his â€Å"familiar faces†, he felt alone and â€Å"totally unfitted for the company of strangers (25). † Victor’s struggle with his natural â€Å"repugnance to new countenances (25)† led to him feeling truly alone for the first time in his life. Ultimately, the natural ways of Victor combined with his comfortable and domestic upbringing had left him sheltered and timid. This reality made the culture shock of leaving home a lonely one.Another factor that contributed to Frankenstein’s isolation was his fixation on his learning and scientific endeavors. Victor agreed with the theory that â€Å"If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures†¦ that study is certainly unlawful†¦ not benefitting the human mind (34). † However, this is precisely what his experiments do to him. Victor loses track of time, forgets all his simple pleasures, and neglects all of his other responsibilities. He no longer took time to appreciate nature or keep in touch with his family.He was so engrossed in his work that he said, â€Å"I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived I had become†, bothered by â€Å"slow fevers and nerves to a most painful degree† (34). Frankenstein allowed his ever increasing desire for knowledge and progress to control all aspects of his life and isolate him from all the outer workings of his world. Even upon the success of all he had been working towards, his isolation grew even more extreme. At that poi nt, he had not only become completely secluded to the instruments of his laboratory, but had created a terrifying creature he feared he would never escape.Victor had become blinded by his scientific curiosity and cut himself off from the world for the sake of accomplishing his goals. He found himself neck deep in worries, feeling utterly alone. Victor Frankenstein subjects himself to isolation throughout the novel. He allows himself, personally susceptible to self isolation, something to fixate on. It is this combination that leaves him missing his family and eventually void of a connection with the world beyond his laboratory. And, as previously stated, the ache of this isolation can do great injustices to the human brain, shoving towards his dismal destiny.

Phaedrus Plato Essay

Phaedrus By Plato Written 360 B. C. E Translated by Benjamin Jowett Persons of the Dialogue SOCRATES PHAEDRUS. Scene Under a plane-tree, by the banks of the Ilissus. Socrates. My dear Phaedrus, whence come you, and whither are you going? Phaedrus. I come from Lysias the son of Cephalus, and I am going to take a walk outside the wall, for I have been sitting with him the whole morning; and our common friend Acumenus tells me that it is much more refreshing to walk in the open air than to be shut up in a cloister. Soc. There he is right.Lysias then, I suppose, was in the town? Phaedr. Yes, he was staying with Epicrates, here at the house of Morychus; that house which is near the temple of Olympian Zeus. Soc. And how did he entertain you? Can I be wrong in supposing that Lysias gave you a feast of discourse? Phaedr. You shall hear, if you can spare time to accompany me. Soc. And should I not deem the conversation of you and Lysias â€Å"a thing of higher import,† as I may say in the words of Pindar, â€Å"than any business†? Phaedr. Will you go on? Soc. And will you go on with the narration? Phaedr.My tale, Socrates, is one of your sort, for love was the theme which occupied us -love after a fashion: Lysias has been writing about a fair youth who was being tempted, but not by a lover; and this was the point: he ingeniously proved that the non-lover should be accepted rather than the lover. Soc. O that is noble of him! I wish that he would say the poor man rather than the rich, and the old man rather than the young one; then he would meet the case of me and of many a man; his words would be quite refreshing, and he would be a public benefactor.For my part, I do so long to hear his speech, that if you walk all the way to Megara, and when you have reached the wall come back, as Herodicus recommends, without going in, I will keep you company. Phaedr. What do you mean, my good Socrates? How can you imagine that my unpractised memory can do justice to an e laborate work, which the greatest rhetorician of the age spent a long time in composing. Indeed, I cannot; I would give a great deal if I could. Soc.I believe that I know Phaedrus about as well as I know myself, and I am very sure that the speech of Lysias was repeated to him, not once only, but again and again;-he insisted on hearing it many times over and Lysias was very willing to gratify him; at last, when nothing else would do, he got hold of the book, and looked at what he most wanted to see,-this occupied him during the whole morning; -and then when he was tired with sitting, he went out to take a walk, not until, by the dog, as I believe, he had simply learned by heart the entire discourse, unless it was unusually long, and he went to a place outside the wall that he might practise his lesson.There he saw a certain lover of discourse who had a similar weakness;-he saw and rejoiced; now thought he, â€Å"I shall have a partner in my revels. † And he invited him to come and walk with him. But when the lover of discourse begged that he would repeat the tale, he gave himself airs and said, â€Å"No I cannot,† as if he were indisposed; although, if the hearer had refused, he would sooner or later have been compelled by him to listen whether he would or no. Therefore, Phaedrus, bid him do at once what he will soon do whether bidden or not. Phaedr. I see that you will not let me off until I speak in some fashion or other; verily therefore my best plan is to speak as I best can. Soc. A very true remark, that of yours. Phaedr.I will do as I say; but believe me, Socrates, I did not learn the very words-O no; nevertheless I have a general notion of what he said, and will give you a summary of the points in which the lover differed from the non-lover. Let me begin at the beginning. Soc. Yes, my sweet one; but you must first of all show what you have in your left hand under your cloak, for that roll, as I suspect, is the actual discourse. Now, much as I love you, I would not have you suppose that I am going to have your memory exercised at my expense, if you have Lysias himself here. Phaedr. Enough; I see that I have no hope of practising my art upon you. But if I am to read, where would you please to sit? Soc. Let us turn aside and go by the Ilissus; we will sit down at some quiet spot. Phaedr.I am fortunate in not having my sandals, and as you never have any, I think that we may go along the brook and cool our feet in the water; this will be the easiest way, and at midday and in the summer is far from being unpleasant. Soc. Lead on, and look out for a place in which we can sit down. Phaedr. Do you see the tallest plane-tree in the distance? Soc. Yes. Phaedr. There are shade and gentle breezes, and grass on which we may either sit or lie down. Soc. Move forward. Phaedr. I should like to know, Socrates, whether the place is not somewhere here at which Boreas is said to have carried off Orithyia from the banks of the Ilissus? Soc . Such is the tradition. Phaedr. And is this the exact spot?The little stream is delightfully clear and bright; I can fancy that there might be maidens playing near. Soc. I believe that the spot is not exactly here, but about a quarter of a mile lower down, where you cross to the temple of Artemis, and there is, I think, some sort of an altar of Boreas at the place. Phaedr. I have never noticed it; but I beseech you to tell me, Socrates, do you believe this tale? Soc. The wise are doubtful, and I should not be singular if, like them, I too doubted. I might have a rational explanation that Orithyia was playing with Pharmacia, when a northern gust carried her over the neighbouring rocks; and this being the manner of her death, she was said to have been carried away by Boreas.There is a discrepancy, however, about the locality; according to another version of the story she was taken from Areopagus, and not from this place. Now I quite acknowledge that these allegories are very nice, bu t he is not to be envied who has to invent them; much labour and ingenuity will be required of him; and when he has once begun, he must go on and rehabilitate Hippocentaurs and chimeras dire. Gorgons and winged steeds flow in apace, and numberless other inconceivable and portentous natures. And if he is sceptical about them, and would fain reduce them one after another to the rules of probability, this sort of crude philosophy will take up a great deal of time. Now I have no leisure for such enquiries; shall I tell you why?I must first know myself, as the Delphian inscription says; to be curious about that which is not my concern, while I am still in ignorance of my own self, would be ridiculous. And therefore I bid farewell to all this; the common opinion is enough for me. For, as I was saying, I want to know not about this, but about myself: am I a monster more complicated and swollen with passion than the serpent Typho, or a creature of a gentler and simpler sort, to whom Nature has given a diviner and lowlier destiny? But let me ask you, friend: have we not reached the plane-tree to which you were conducting us? Phaedr. Yes, this is the tree. Soc. By Here, a fair resting-place, full of summer sounds and scents.Here is this lofty and spreading plane-tree, and the agnus cast us high and clustering, in the fullest blossom and the greatest fragrance; and the stream which flows beneath the plane-tree is deliciously cold to the feet. Judging from the ornaments and images, this must be a spot sacred to Achelous and the Nymphs. How delightful is the breeze:-so very sweet; and there is a sound in the air shrill and summerlike which makes answer to the chorus of the cicadae. But the greatest charm of all is the grass, like a pillow gently sloping to the head. My dear Phaedrus, you have been an admirable guide. Phaedr. What an incomprehensible being you are, Socrates: when you are in the country, as you say, you really are like some stranger who is led about by a gui de. Do you ever cross the border? I rather think that you never venture even outside the gates. Soc.Very true, my good friend; and I hope that you will excuse me when you hear the reason, which is, that I am a lover of knowledge, and the men who dwell in the city are my teachers, and not the trees or the country. Though I do indeed believe that you have found a spell with which to draw me out of the city into the country, like a hungry cow before whom a bough or a bunch of fruit is waved. For only hold up before me in like manner a book, and you may lead me all round Attica, and over the wide world. And now having arrived, I intend to lie down, and do you choose any posture in which you can read best. Begin. Phaedr. Listen. You know how matters stand with me; and how, as I conceive, this affair may be arranged for the advantage of both of us.And I maintain that I ought not to fail in my suit, because I am not your lover: for lovers repent of the kindnesses which they have shown when their passion ceases, but to the non-lovers who are free and not under any compulsion, no time of repentance ever comes; for they confer their benefits according to the measure of their ability, in the way which is most conducive to their own interest. Then again, lovers consider how by reason of their love they have neglected their own concerns and rendered service to others: and when to these benefits conferred they add on the troubles which they have endured, they think that they have long ago made to the beloved a very ample return. But the non-lover has no such tormenting recollections; he has never neglected his affairs or quarrelled with his relations; he has no troubles to add up or excuse to invent; and being well rid of all these evils, why should he not freely do what will gratify the beloved?If you say that the lover is more to be esteemed, because his love is thought to be greater; for he is willing to say and do what is hateful to other men, in order to please his bel oved;-that, if true, is only a proof that he will prefer any future love to his present, and will injure his old love at the pleasure of the new. And how, in a matter of such infinite importance, can a man be right in trusting himself to one who is afflicted with a malady which no experienced person would attempt to cure, for the patient himself admits that he is not in his right mind, and acknowledges that he is wrong in his mind, but says that he is unable to control himself? And if he came to his right mind, would he ever imagine that the desires were good which he conceived when in his wrong mind?Once more, there are many more non-lovers than lovers; and if you choose the best of the lovers, you will not have many to choose from; but if from the non-lovers, the choice will be larger, and you will be far more likely to find among them a person who is worthy of your friendship. If public opinion be your dread, and you would avoid reproach, in all probability the lover, who is alwa ys thinking that other men are as emulous of him as he is of them, will boast to some one of his successes, and make a show of them openly in the pride of his heart;he wants others to know that his labour has not been lost; but the non-lover is more his own master, and is desirous of solid good, and not of the opinion of mankind.Again, the lover may be generally noted or seen following the beloved (this is his regular occupation), and whenever they are observed to exchange two words they are supposed to meet about some affair of love either past or in contemplation; but when non-lovers meet, no one asks the reason why, because people know that talking to another is natural, whether friendship or mere pleasure be the motive. Once more, if you fear the fickleness of friendship, consider that in any other case a quarrel might be a mutual calamity; but now, when you have given up what is most precious to you, you will be the greater loser, and therefore, you will have more reason in bei ng afraid of the lover, for his vexations are many, and he is always fancying that every one is leagued against him. Wherefore lso he debars his beloved from society; he will not have you intimate with the wealthy, lest they should exceed him in wealth, or with men of education, lest they should be his superiors in understanding; and he is equally afraid of anybody's influence who has any other advantage over himself. If he can persuade you to break with them, you are left without friend in the world; or if, out of a regard to your own interest, you have more sense than to comply with his desire, you will have to quarrel with him. But those who are non-lovers, and whose success in love is the reward of their merit, will not be jealous of the companions of their beloved, and will rather hate those who refuse to be his associates, thinking that their favourite is slighted by the latter and benefited by the former; for more love than hatred may be expected to come to him out of his fri endship with others.Many lovers too have loved the person of a youth before they knew his character or his belongings; so that when their passion has passed away, there is no knowing whether they will continue to be his friends; whereas, in the case of non-lovers who were always friends, the friendship is not lessened by the favours granted; but the recollection of these remains with them, and is an earnest of good things to come. Further, I say that you are likely to be improved by me, whereas the lover will spoil you. For they praise your words and actions in a wrong way; partly, because they are afraid of offending you, and also, their judgment is weakened by passion.Such are the feats which love exhibits; he makes things painful to the disappointed which give no pain to others; he compels the successful lover to praise what ought not to give him pleasure, and therefore the beloved is to be pitied rather than envied. But if you listen to me, in the first place, I, in my intercour se with you, shall not merely regard present enjoyment, but also future advantage, being not mastered by love, but my own master; nor for small causes taking violent dislikes, but even when the cause is great, slowly laying up little wrathunintentional offences I shall forgive, and intentional ones I shall try to prevent; and these are the marks of a friendship which will last. Do you think that a lover only can be a firm friend? eflect:-if this were true, we should set small value on sons, or fathers, or mothers; nor should we ever have loyal friends, for our love of them arises not from passion, but from other associations. Further, if we ought to shower favours on those who are the most eager suitors,-on that principle, we ought always to do good, not to the most virtuous, but to the most needy; for they are the persons who will be most relieved, and will therefore be the most grateful; and when you make a feast you should invite not your friend, but the beggar and the empty soul ; for they will love you, and attend you, and come about your doors, and will be the best pleased, and the most grateful, and will invoke many a blessing on your head.Yet surely you ought not to be granting favours to those who besiege you with prayer, but to those who are best able to reward you; nor to the lover only, but to those who are worthy of love; nor to those who will enjoy the bloom of your youth, but to those who will share their possessions with you in age; nor to those who, having succeeded, will glory in their success to others, but to those who will be modest and tell no tales; nor to those who care about you for a moment only, but to those who will continue your friends through life; nor to those who, when their passion is over, will pick a quarrel with you, but rather to those who, when the charm of youth has left you, will show their own virtue.Remember what I have said; and consider yet this further point: friends admonish the lover under the idea that his way of life is bad, but no one of his kindred ever yet censured the non-lover, or thought that he was ill-advised about his own interests. â€Å"Perhaps you will ask me whether I propose that you should indulge every non-lover. To which I reply that not even the lover would advise you to indulge all lovers, for the indiscriminate favour is less esteemed by the rational recipient, and less easily hidden by him who would escape the censure of the world. Now love ought to be for the advantage of both parties, and for the injury of neither. â€Å"I believe that I have said enough; but if there is anything more which you desire or which in your opinion needs to be supplied, ask and I will answer. † Now, Socrates, what do you think?Is not the discourse excellent, more especially in the matter of the language? Soc. Yes, quite admirable; the effect on me was ravishing. And this I owe to you, Phaedrus, for I observed you while reading to be in an ecstasy, and thinking that you are more exp erienced in these matters than I am, I followed your example, and, like you, my divine darling, I became inspired with a phrenzy. Phaedr. Indeed, you are pleased to be merry. Soc. Do you mean that I am not in earnest? Phaedr. Now don't talk in that way, Socrates, but let me have your real opinion; I adjure you, by Zeus, the god of friendship, to tell me whether you think that any Hellene could have said more or spoken better on the same subject.Soc. Well, but are you and I expected to praise the sentiments of the author, or only the clearness, and roundness, and finish, and tournure of the language? As to the first I willingly submit to your better judgment, for I am not worthy to form an opinion, having only attended to the rhetorical manner; and I was doubting whether this could have been defended even by Lysias himself; I thought, though I speak under correction, that he repeated himself two or three times, either from want of words or from want of pains; and also, he appeared to me ostentatiously to exult in showing how well he could say the same thing in two or three ways. Phaedr.Nonsense, Socrates; what you call repetition was the especial merit of the speech; for he omitted no topic of which the subject rightly allowed, and I do not think that any one could have spoken better or more exhaustively. Soc. There I cannot go along with you. Ancient sages, men and women, who have spoken and written of these things, would rise up in judgment against me, if out of complaisance I assented to you. Phaedr. Who are they, and where did you hear anything better than this? Soc. I am sure that I must have heard; but at this moment I do not remember from whom; perhaps from Sappho the fair, or Anacreon the wise; or, possibly, from a prose writer. Why do I say so? Why, because I perceive that my bosom is full, and that I could make another speech as good as that of Lysias, and different.Now I am certain that this is not an invention of my own, who am well aware that I kno w nothing, and therefore I can only infer that I have been filled through the cars, like a pitcher, from the waters of another, though I have actually forgotten in my stupidity who was my informant. Phaedr. That is grand:-but never mind where you beard the discourse or from whom; let that be a mystery not to be divulged even at my earnest desire. Only, as you say, promise to make another and better oration, equal in length and entirely new, on the same subject; and I, like the nine Archons, will promise to set up a golden image at Delphi, not only of myself, but of you, and as large as life. Soc.You are a dear golden ass if you suppose me to mean that Lysias has altogether missed the mark, and that I can make a speech from which all his arguments are to be excluded. The worst of authors will say something which is to the point. Who, for example, could speak on this thesis of yours without praising the discretion of the nonlover and blaming the indiscretion of the lover? These are th e commonplaces of the subject which must come in (for what else is there to be said? ) and must be allowed and excused; the only merit is in the arrangement of them, for there can be none in the invention; but when you leave the commonplaces, then there may be some originality. Phaedr.I admit that there is reason in what you say, and I too will be reasonable, and will allow you to start with the premiss that the lover is more disordered in his wits than the non-lover; if in what remains you make a longer and better speech than Lysias, and use other arguments, then I say again, that a statue you shall have of beaten gold, and take your place by the colossal offerings of the Cypselids at Olympia. Soc. How profoundly in earnest is the lover, because to tease him I lay a finger upon his love! And so, Phaedrus, you really imagine that I am going to improve upon the ingenuity of Lysias? Phaedr. There I have you as you had me, and you must just speak â€Å"as you best can. † Do not let us exchange â€Å"tu quoque† as in a farce, or compel me to say to you as you said to me, â€Å"I know Socrates as well as I know myself, and he was wanting to, speak, but he gave himself airs. Rather I would have you consider that from this place we stir not until you have unbosomed yourself of the speech; for here are we all alone, and I am stronger, remember, and younger than you-Wherefore perpend, and do not compel me to use violence. Soc. But, my sweet Phaedrus, how ridiculous it would be of me to compete with Lysias in an extempore speech! He is a master in his art and I am an untaught man. Phaedr. You see how matters stand; and therefore let there be no more pretences; for, indeed, I know the word that is irresistible. Soc. Then don't say it. Phaedr. Yes, but I will; and my word shall be an oath. â€Å"I say, or rather swear†-but what god will be witness of my oath? â€Å"By this plane-tree I swear, that unless you repeat the discourse here in the face of this very plane-tree, I will never tell you another; never let you have word of another! † Soc. Villain I am conquered; the poor lover of discourse has no more to say. Phaedr. Then why are you still at your tricks? Soc. I am not going to play tricks now that you have taken the oath, for I cannot allow myself to be starved. Phaedr. Proceed. Soc. Shall I tell you what I will do? Phaedr. What? Soc. I will veil my face and gallop through the discourse as fast as I can, for if I see you I shall feel ashamed and not know what to say. Phaedr. Only go on and you may do anything else which you please. Soc.Come, O ye Muses, melodious, as ye are called, whether you have received this name from the character of your strains, or because the Melians are a musical race, help, O help me in the tale which my good friend here desires me to rehearse, in order that his friend whom he always deemed wise may seem to him to be wiser than ever. Once upon a time there was a fair boy, or, more properly speaking, a youth; he was very fair and had a great many lovers; and there was one special cunning one, who had persuaded the youth that he did not love him, but he really loved him all the same; and one day when he was paying his addresses to him, he used this very argument-that he ought to accept the non-lover rather than the lover; his words were as follows:†All good counsel begins in the same way; a man should know what he is advising about, or his counsel will all come to nought.But people imagine that they know about the nature of things, when they don't know about them, and, not having come to an understanding at first because they think that they know, they end, as might be expected, in contradicting one another and themselves. Now you and I must not be guilty of this fundamental error which we condemn in others; but as our question is whether the lover or non-lover is to be preferred, let us first of all agree in defining the nature and power of love, and then, keepi ng our eyes upon the definition and to this appealing, let us further enquire whether love brings advantage or disadvantage. â€Å"Every one sees that love is a desire, and we know also that non-lovers desire the beautiful and good. Now in what way is the lover to be distinguished from the non-lover?Let us note that in every one of us there are two guiding and ruling principles which lead us whither they will; one is the natural desire of pleasure, the other is an acquired opinion which aspires after the best; and these two are sometimes in harmony and then again at war, and sometimes the one, sometimes the other conquers. When opinion by the help of reason leads us to the best, the conquering principle is called temperance; but when desire, which is devoid of reason, rules in us and drags us to pleasure, that power of misrule is called excess. Now excess has many names, and many members, and many forms, and any of these forms when very marked gives a name, neither honourable nor c reditable, to the bearer of the name.The desire of eating, for example, which gets the better of the higher reason and the other desires, is called gluttony, and he who is possessed by it is called a glutton-I the tyrannical desire of drink, which inclines the possessor of the desire to drink, has a name which is only too obvious, and there can be as little doubt by what name any other appetite of the same family would be called;-it will be the name of that which happens to be eluminant. And now I think that you will perceive the drift of my discourse; but as every spoken word is in a manner plainer than the unspoken, I had better say further that the irrational desire which overcomes the tendency of opinion towards right, and is led away to the enjoyment of beauty, and especially of personal beauty, by the desires which are her own kindred-that supreme desire, I say, which by leading conquers and by the force of passion is reinforced, from this very force, receiving a name, is call ed love. And now, dear Phaedrus, I shall pause for an instant to ask whether you do not think me, as I appear to myself, inspired? Phaedr. Yes, Socrates, you seem to have a very unusual flow of words. Soc. Listen to me, then, in silence; for surely the place is holy; so that you must not wonder, if, as I proceed, I appear to be in a divine fury, for already I am getting into dithyrambics. Phaedr. Nothing can be truer. Soc. The responsibility rests with you. But hear what follows, and Perhaps the fit may be averted; all is in their hands above. I will go on talking to my youth. Listen: Thus, my friend, we have declared and defined the nature of the subject.Keeping the definition in view, let us now enquire what advantage or disadvantage is likely to ensue from the lover or the non-lover to him who accepts their advances. He who is the victim of his passions and the slave of pleasure will of course desire to make his beloved as agreeable to himself as possible. Now to him who has a mi nd discased anything is agreeable which is not opposed to him, but that which is equal or superior is hateful to him, and therefore the lover Will not brook any superiority or equality on the part of his beloved; he is always employed in reducing him to inferiority. And the ignorant is the inferior of the wise, the coward of the brave, the slow of speech of the speaker, the dull of the clever.These, and not these only, are the mental defects of the beloved;-defects which, when implanted by nature, are necessarily a delight to the lover, and when not implanted, he must contrive to implant them in him, if he would not be deprived of his fleeting joy. And therefore he cannot help being jealous, and will debar his beloved from the advantages of society which would make a man of him, and especially from that society which would have given him wisdom, and thereby he cannot fail to do him great harm. That is to say, in his excessive fear lest he should come to be despised in his eyes he wi ll be compelled to banish from him divine philosophy; and there is no greater injury which he can inflict upon him than this. He will contrive that his beloved shall be wholly ignorant, and in everything shall look to him; he is to be the delight of the lover's heart, and a curse to himself.Verily, a lover is a profitable guardian and associate for him in all that relates to his mind. Let us next see how his master, whose law of life is pleasure and not good, will keep and train the body of his servant. Will he not choose a beloved who is delicate rather than sturdy and strong? One brought up in shady bowers and not in the bright sun, a stranger to manly exercises and the sweat of toil, accustomed only to a soft and luxurious diet, instead of the hues of health having the colours of paint and ornament, and the rest of a piece? -such a life as any one can imagine and which I need not detail at length. But I may sum up all that I have to say in a word, and pass on.Such a person in war , or in any of the great crises of life, will be the anxiety of his friends and also of his lover, and certainly not the terror of his enemies; which nobody can deny. And now let us tell what advantage or disadvantage the beloved will receive from the guardianship and society of his lover in the matter of his property; this is the next point to be considered. The lover will be the first to see what, indeed, will be sufficiently evident to all men, that he desires above all things to deprive his beloved of his dearest and best and holiest possessions, father, mother, kindred, friends, of all whom he thinks may be hinderers or reprovers of their most sweet converse; he will even cast a jealous eye upon his gold and silver or other property, ecause these make him a less easy prey, and when caught less manageable; hence he is of necessity displeased at his possession of them and rejoices at their loss; and he would like him to be wifeless, childless, homeless, as well; and the longer th e better, for the longer he is all this, the longer he will enjoy him. There are some soft of animals, such as flatterers, who are dangerous and, mischievous enough, and yet nature has mingled a temporary pleasure and grace in their composition. You may say that a courtesan is hurtful, and disapprove of such creatures and their practices, and yet for the time they are very pleasant. But the lover is not only hurtful to his love; he is also an extremely disagreeable companion.The old proverb says that â€Å"birds of a feather flock together†; I suppose that equality of years inclines them to the same pleasures, and similarity begets friendship; yet you may have more than enough even of this; and verily constraint is always said to be grievous. Now the lover is not only unlike his beloved, but he forces himself upon him. For he is old and his love is young, and neither day nor night will he leave him if he can help; necessity and the sting of desire drive him on, and allure him with the pleasure which he receives from seeing, hearing, touching, perceiving him in every way. And therefore he is delighted to fasten upon him and to minister to him.But what pleasure or consolation can the beloved be receiving all this time? Must he not feel the extremity of disgust when he looks at an old shrivelled face and the remainder to match, which even in a description is disagreeable, and quite detestable when he is forced into daily contact with his lover; moreover he is jealously watched and guarded against everything and everybody, and has to hear misplaced and exaggerated praises of himself, and censures equally inappropriate, which are intolerable when the man is sober, and, besides being intolerable, are published all over the world in all their indelicacy and wearisomeness when he is drunk.And not only while his love continues is he mischievous and unpleasant, but when his love ceases he becomes a perfidious enemy of him on whom he showered his oaths and prayers and promises, and yet could hardly prevail upon him to tolerate the tedium of his company even from motives of interest. The hour of payment arrives, and now he is the servant of another master; instead of love and infatuation, wisdom and temperance are his bosom's lords; but the beloved has not discovered the change which has taken place in him, when he asks for a return and recalls to his recollection former sayings and doings; he believes himself to be speaking to the same person, and the other, not having the courage to confess the truth, and not knowing how to fulfil the oaths and promises which he made when under the dominion of folly, and having now grown wise and temperate, does not want to do as he did or to be as he was before.And so he runs away and is constrained to be a defaulter; the oyster-shell has fallen with the other side uppermost-he changes pursuit into flight, while the other is compelled to follow him with passion and imprecation not knowing that he ought nev er from the first to have accepted a demented lover instead of a sensible non-lover; and that in making such a choice he was giving himself up to a faithless, morose, envious, disagreeable being, hurtful to his estate, hurtful to his bodily health, and still more hurtful to the cultivation of his mind, than which there neither is nor ever will be anything more honoured in the eyes both of gods and men. Consider this, fair youth, and know that in the friendship of the lover there is no real kindness; he has an appetite and wants to feed upon you: As wolves love lambs so lovers love their loves. But I told you so, I am speaking in verse, and therefore I had better make an end; enough. Phaedr. I thought that you were only halfway and were going to make a similar speech about all the advantages of accepting the non-lover.Why do you not proceed? Soc. Does not your simplicity observe that I have got out of dithyrambics into heroics, when only uttering a censure on the lover? And if I am t o add the praises of the nonlover, what will become of me? Do you not perceive that I am already overtaken by the Nymphs to whom you have mischievously exposed me? And therefore will only add that the non-lover has all the advantages in which the lover is accused of being deficient. And now I will say no more; there has been enough of both of them. Leaving the tale to its fate, I will cross the river and make the best of my way home, lest a worse thing be inflicted upon me by you. Phaedr.Not yet, Socrates; not until the heat of the day has passed; do you not see that the hour is almost noon? there is the midday sun standing still, as people say, in the meridian. Let us rather stay and talk over what has been said, and then return in the cool. Soc. Your love of discourse, Phaedrus, is superhuman, simply marvellous, and I do not believe that there is any one of your contemporaries who has either made or in one way or another has compelled others to make an equal number of speeches. I would except Simmias the Theban, but all the rest are far behind you. And now, I do verily believe that you have been the cause of another. Phaedr.That is good news. But what do you mean? Soc. I mean to say that as I was about to cross the stream the usual sign was given to me,that sign which always forbids, but never bids, me to do anything which I am going to do; and I thought that I heard a voice saying in my car that I had been guilty of impiety, and. that I must not go away until I had made an atonement. Now I am a diviner, though not a very good one, but I have enough religion for my own use, as you might say of a bad writer-his writing is good enough for him; and I am beginning to see that I was in error. O my friend, how prophetic is the human soul! At the time I had a sort of misgiving, and, ike Ibycus, â€Å"I was troubled; I feared that I might be buying honour from men at the price of sinning against the gods. † Now I recognize my error. Phaedr. What error? Soc. T hat was a dreadful speech which you brought with you, and you made me utter one as bad. Phaedr. How so? Soc. It was foolish, I say,-to a certain extent, impious; can anything be more dreadful? Phaedr. Nothing, if the speech was really such as you describe. Soc. Well, and is not Eros the son of Aphrodite, and a god? Phaedr. So men say. Soc. But that was not acknowledged by Lysias in his speech, nor by you in that other speech which you by a charm drew from my lips. For if love be, as he surely is, a divinity, he cannot be evil.Yet this was the error of both the speeches. There was also a simplicity about them which was refreshing; having no truth or honesty in them, nevertheless they pretended to be something, hoping to succeed in deceiving the manikins of earth and gain celebrity among them. Wherefore I must have a purgation. And I bethink me of an ancient purgation of mythological error which was devised, not by Homer, for he never had the wit to discover why he was blind, but by S tesichorus, who was a philosopher and knew the reason why; and therefore, when he lost his eyes, for that was the penalty which was inflicted upon him for reviling the lovely Helen, he at once purged himself.And the purgation was a recantation, which began thus,False is that word of mine-the truth is that thou didst not embark in ships, nor ever go to the walls of Troy; and when he had completed his poem, which is called â€Å"the recantation,† immediately his sight returned to him. Now I will be wiser than either Stesichorus or Homer, in that I am going to make my recantation for reviling love before I suffer; and this I will attempt, not as before, veiled and ashamed, but with forehead bold and bare. Phaedr. Nothing could be more agreeable to me than to hear you say so. Soc. Only think, my good Phaedrus, what an utter want of delicacy was shown in the two discourses; I mean, in my own and in that which you recited out of the book.Would not any one who was himself of a noble and gentle nature, and who loved or ever had loved a nature like his own, when we tell of the petty causes of lovers' jealousies, and of their exceeding animosities, and of the injuries which they do to their beloved, have imagined that our ideas of love were taken from some haunt of sailors to which good manners were unknown-he would certainly never have admitted the justice of our censure? Phaedr. I dare say not, Socrates. Soc. Therefore, because I blush at the thought of this person, and also because I am afraid of Love himself, I desire to wash the brine out of my ears with water from the spring; and I would counsel Lysias not to delay, but to write another discourse, which shall prove that ceteris paribus the lover ought to be accepted rather than the non-lover.Phaedr. Be assured that he shall. You shall speak the praises of the lover, and Lysias shall be compelled by me to write another discourse on the same theme. Soc. You will be true to your nature in that, and therefore I believe you. Phaedr. Speak, and fear not. Soc. But where is the fair youth whom I was addressing before, and who ought to listen now; lest, if he hear me not, he should accept a non-lover before he knows what he is doing? Phaedr. He is close at hand, and always at your service. Soc. Know then, fair youth, that the former discourse was the word of Phaedrus, the son of Vain Man, who dwells in the city of Myrrhina (Myrrhinusius).And this which I am about to utter is the recantation of Stesichorus the son of Godly Man (Euphemus), who comes from the town of Desire (Himera), and is to the following effect: â€Å"I told a lie when I said† that the beloved ought to accept the non-lover when he might have the lover, because the one is sane, and the other mad. It might be so if madness were simply an evil; but there is also a madness which is a divine gift, and the source of the chiefest blessings granted to men. For prophecy is a madness, and the prophetess at Delphi and the priestes ses at Dodona when out of their senses have conferred great benefits on Hellas, both in public and private life, but when in their senses few or none.And I might also tell you how the Sibyl and other inspired persons have given to many an one many an intimation of the future which has saved them from falling. But it would be tedious to speak of what every one knows. There will be more reason in appealing to the ancient inventors of names, who would never have connected prophecy (mantike) which foretells the future and is the noblest of arts, with madness (manike), or called them both by the same name, if they had deemed madness to be a disgrace or dishonour;-they must have thought that there was an inspired madness which was a noble thing; for the two words, mantike and manike, are really the same, and the letter t is only a modern and tasteless insertion.And this is confirmed by the name which was given by them to the rational investigation of futurity, whether made by the help of birds or of other signs-this, for as much as it is an art which supplies from the reasoning faculty mind (nous) and information (istoria) to human thought (oiesis) they originally termed oionoistike, but the word has been lately altered and made sonorous by the modern introduction of the letter Omega (oionoistike and oionistike), and in proportion prophecy (mantike) is more perfect and august than augury, both in name and fact, in the same proportion, as the ancients testify, is madness superior to a sane mind (sophrosune) for the one is only of human, but the other of divine origin.Again, where plagues and mightiest woes have bred in certain families, owing to some ancient blood-guiltiness, there madness has entered with holy prayers and rites, and by inspired utterances found a way of deliverance for those who are in need; and he who has part in this gift, and is truly possessed and duly out of his mind, is by the use of purifications and mysteries made whole and except from evil, future as well as present, and has a release from the calamity which was afflicting him. The third kind is the madness of those who are possessed by the Muses; which taking hold of a delicate and virgin soul, and there inspiring frenzy, awakens lyrical and all other numbers; with these adorning the myriad actions of ancient heroes for the instruction of posterity. But he who, having no touch of the Muses' madness in his soul, comes to the door and thinks that he will get into the temple by the help of art-he, I say, and his poetry are not admitted; the sane man disappears and is nowhere when he enters into rivalry with the madman.I might tell of many other noble deeds which have sprung from inspired madness. And therefore, let no one frighten or flutter us by saying that the temperate friend is to be chosen rather than the inspired, but let him further show that love is not sent by the gods for any good to lover or beloved; if he can do so we will allow him to carry off the palm. A nd we, on our part, will prove in answer to him that the madness of love is the greatest of heaven's blessings, and the proof shall be one which the wise will receive, and the witling disbelieve. But first of all, let us view the affections and actions of the soul divine and human, and try to ascertain the truth about them.The beginning of our proof is as follows:The soul through all her being is immortal, for that which is ever in motion is immortal; but that which moves another and is moved by another, in ceasing to move ceases also to live. Only the self-moving, never leaving self, never ceases to move, and is the fountain and beginning of motion to all that moves besides. Now, the beginning is unbegotten, for that which is begotten has a beginning; but the beginning is begotten of nothing, for if it were begotten of something, then the begotten would not come from a beginning. But if unbegotten, it must also be indestructible; for if beginning were destroyed, there could be no b eginning out of anything, nor anything out of a beginning; and all things must have a beginning.And therefore the self-moving is the beginning of motion; and this can neither be destroyed nor begotten, else the whole heavens and all creation would collapse and stand still, and never again have motion or birth. But if the self-moving is proved to be immortal, he who affirms that self-motion is the very idea and essence of the soul will not be put to confusion. For the body which is moved from without is soulless; but that which is moved from within has a soul, for such is the nature of the soul. But if this be true, must not the soul be the self-moving, and therefore of necessity unbegotten and immortal? Enough of the soul's immortality.Of the nature of the soul, though her true form be ever a theme of large and more than mortal discourse, let me speak briefly, and in a figure. And let the figure be composite-a pair of winged horses and a charioteer. Now the winged horses and the cha rioteers of the gods are all of them noble and of noble descent, but those of other races are mixed; the human charioteer drives his in a pair; and one of them is noble and of noble breed, and the other is ignoble and of ignoble breed; and the driving of them of necessity gives a great deal of trouble to him. I will endeavour to explain to you in what way the mortal differs from the immortal creature.The soul in her totality has the care of inanimate being everywhere, and traverses the whole heaven in divers forms appearing–when perfect and fully winged she soars upward, and orders the whole world; whereas the imperfect soul, losing her wings and drooping in her flight at last settles on the solid ground-there, finding a home, she receives an earthly frame which appears to be self-moved, but is really moved by her power; and this composition of soul and body is called a living and mortal creature. For immortal no such union can be reasonably believed to be; although fancy, no t having seen nor surely known the nature of God, may imagine an immortal creature having both a body and also a soul which are united throughout all time. Let that, however, be as God wills, and be spoken of acceptably to him. And now let us ask the reason why the soul loses her wings!The wing is the corporeal element which is most akin to the divine, and which by nature tends to soar aloft and carry that which gravitates downwards into the upper region, which is the habitation of the gods. The divine is beauty, wisdom, goodness, and the like; and by these the wing of the soul is nourished, and grows apace; but when fed upon evil and foulness and the opposite of good, wastes and falls away. Zeus, the mighty lord, holding the reins of a winged chariot, leads the way in heaven, ordering all and taking care of all; and there follows him the array of gods and demigods, marshalled in eleven bands; Hestia alone abides at home in the house of heaven; of the rest they who are reckoned amon g the princely twelve march in their appointed order.They see many blessed sights in the inner heaven, and there are many ways to and fro, along which the blessed gods are passing, every one doing his own work; he may follow who will and can, for jealousy has no place in the celestial choir. But when they go to banquet and festival, then they move up the steep to the top of the vault of heaven. The chariots of the gods in even poise, obeying the rein, glide rapidly; but the others labour, for the vicious steed goes heavily, weighing down the charioteer to the earth when his steed has not been thoroughly trained:-and this is the hour of agony and extremest conflict for the soul. For the immortals, when they are at the end of their course, go forth and stand upon the outside of heaven, and the revolution of the spheres carries them round, and they behold the things beyond.But of the heaven which is above the heavens, what earthly poet ever did or ever will sing worthily? It is such as I will describe; for I must dare to speak the truth, when truth is my theme. There abides the very being with which true knowledge is concerned; the colourless, formless, intangible essence, visible only to mind, the pilot of the soul. The divine intelligence, being nurtured upon mind and pure knowledge, and the intelligence of every soul which is capable of receiving the food proper to it, rejoices at beholding reality, and once more gazing upon truth, is replenished and made glad, until the revolution of the worlds brings her round again to the same place.In the revolution she beholds justice, and temperance, and knowledge absolute, not in the form of generation or of relation, which men call existence, but knowledge absolute in existence absolute; and beholding the other true existences in like manner, and feasting upon them, she passes down into the interior of the heavens and returns home; and there the charioteer putting up his horses at the stall, gives them ambrosia to eat and nectar to drink. Such is the life of the gods; but of other souls, that which follows God best and is likest to him lifts the head of the charioteer into the outer world, and is carried round in the revolution, troubled indeed by the steeds, and with difficulty beholding true being; while another only rises and falls, and sees, and again fails to see by reason of the unruliness of the steeds.The rest of the souls are also longing after the upper world and they all follow, but not being strong enough they are carried round below the surface, plunging, treading on one another, each striving to be first; and there is confusion and perspiration and the extremity of effort; and many of them are lamed or have their wings broken through the ill-driving of the charioteers; and all of them after a fruitless toil, not having attained to the mysteries of true being, go away, and feed upon opinion. The reason why the souls exhibit this exceeding eagerness to behold the plain of truth is tha t pasturage is found there, which is suited to the highest part of the soul; and the wing on which the soul soars is nourished with this. And there is a law of Destiny, that the soul which attains any vision of truth in company with a god is preserved from harm until the next period, and if attaining always is always unharmed.But when she is unable to follow, and fails to behold the truth, and through some ill-hap sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and vice, and her wings fall from her and she drops to the ground, then the law ordains that this soul shall at her first birth pass, not into any other animal, but only into man; and the soul which has seen most of truth shall come to the birth as a philosopher, or artist, or some musical and loving nature; that which has seen truth in the second degree shall be some righteous king or warrior chief; the soul which is of the third class shall be a politician, or economist, or trader; the fourth shall be lover of gymnastic toil s, or a physician; the fifth shall lead the life of a prophet or hierophant; to the sixth the character of poet or some other imitative artist will be assigned; to the seventh the life of an artisan or husbandman; to the eighth that of a sophist or demagogue; to the ninth that of a tyrantall these are states of probation, in which he who does righteously improves, and he who does unrighteously, improves, and he who does unrighteously, deteriorates his lot. Ten thousand years must elapse before the soul of each one can return to the place from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings in less; only the soul of a philosopher, guileless and true, or the soul of a lover, who is not devoid of philosophy, may acquire wings in the third of the recurring periods of a thousand years; he is distinguished from the ordinary good man who gains wings in three thousand years:-and they who choose this life three times in succession have wings given them, and go away at the end of three thousan d years.But the others receive judgment when they have completed their first life, and after the judgment they go, some of them to the houses of correction which are under the earth, and are punished; others to some place in heaven whither they are lightly borne by justice, and there they live in a manner worthy of the life which they led here when in the form of men. And at the end of the first thousand years the good souls and also the evil souls both come to draw lots and choose their second life, and they may take any which they please. The soul of a man may pass into the life of a beast, or from the beast return again into the man. But the soul which has never seen the truth will not pass into the human form. For a man must have intelligence of universals, and be able to proceed rom the many particulars of sense to one conception of reason;-this is the recollection of those things which our soul once saw while following God-when regardless of that which we now call being she ra ised her head up towards the true being. And therefore the mind of the philosopher alone has wings; and this is just, for he is always, according to the measure of his abilities, clinging in recollection to those things in which God abides, and in beholding which He is what He is. And he who employs aright these memories is ever being initiated into perfect mysteries and alone becomes truly perfect. But, as he forgets earthly interests and is rapt in the divine, the vulgar deem him mad, and rebuke him; they do not see that he is inspired.Thus far I have been speaking of the fourth and last kind of madness, which is imputed to him who, when he sees the beauty of earth, is transported with the recollection of the true beauty; he would like to fly away, but he cannot; he is like a bird fluttering and looking upward and careless of the world below; and he is therefore thought to be mad. And I have shown this of all inspirations to be the noblest and highest and the offspring of the high est to him who has or shares in it, and that he who loves the beautiful is called a lover because he partakes of it. For, as has been already said, every soul of man has in the way of nature beheld true being; this was the condition of her passing into the form of man.But all souls do not easily recall the things of the other world; they may have seen them for a short time only, or they may have been unfortunate in their earthly lot, and, having had their hearts turned to unrighteousness through some corrupting influence, they may have lost the memory of the holy things which once they saw. Few only retain an adequate remembrance of them; and they, when they behold here any image of that other world, are rapt in amazement; but they are ignorant of what this rapture means, because they do not clearly perceive. For there is no light of justice or temperance or any of the higher ideas which are precious to souls in the earthly copies of them: they are seen through a glass dimly; and th ere are few who, going to the images, behold in them the realities, and these only with difficulty.There was a time when with the rest of the happy band they saw beauty shining in brightness-we philosophers following in the train of Zeus, others in company with other gods; and then we beheld the beatific vision and were initiated into a mystery which may be truly called most blessed, celebrated by us in our state of innocence, before we had any experience of evils to come, when we were admitted to the sight of apparitions innocent and simple and calm and happy, which we beheld shining impure light, pure ourselves and not yet enshrined in that living tomb which we carry about, now that we are imprisoned in the body, like an oyster in his shell. Let me linger over the memory of scenes which have passed away. But of beauty, I repeat again that we saw her there shining in company with the celestial forms; and coming to earth we find her here too, shining in clearness through the cleares t aperture of sense.For sight is the most piercing of our bodily senses; though not by that is wisdom seen; her loveliness would have been transporting if there had been a visible image of her, and the other ideas, if they had visible counterparts, would be equally lovely. But this is the privilege of beauty, that being the loveliest she is also the most palpable to sight. Now he who is not newly initiated or who has become corrupted, does not easily rise out of this world to the sight of true beauty in the other; he looks only at her earthly namesake, and instead of being awed at the sight of her, he is given over to pleasure, and like a brutish beast he rushes on to enjoy and beget; he consorts with wantonness, and is not afraid or ashamed of pursuing pleasure in violation of nature.But he whose initiation is recent, and who has been the spectator of many glories in the other world, is amazed when he sees any one having a godlike face or form, which is the expression of divine bea uty; and at first a shudder runs through him, and again the old awe steals over him; then looking upon the face of his beloved as of a god he reverences him, and if he were not afraid of being thought a downright madman, he would sacrifice to his beloved as to the image of a god; then while he gazes on him there is a sort of reaction, and the shudder passes into an unusual heat and perspiration; for, as he receives the effluence of beauty through the eyes, the wing moistens and he warms. And as he warms, the parts out of which the wing grew, and which had been hitherto closed and rigid, and had revented the wing from shooting forth, are melted, and as nourishment streams upon him, the lower end of the wings begins to swell and grow from the root upwards; and the growth extends under the whole soul-for once the whole was winged. During this process the whole soul is all in a state of ebullition and effervescence,-which may be compared to the irritation and uneasiness in the gums at t he time of cutting teeth,bubbles up, and has a feeling of uneasiness and tickling; but when in like manner the soul is beginning to grow wings, the beauty of the beloved meets her eye and she receives the sensible warm motion of particles which flow towards her, therefore called emotion (imeros), and is refreshed and warmed by them, and then she ceases from her pain with joy.But when she is parted from her beloved and her moisture fails, then the orifices of the passage out of which the wing shoots dry up and close, and intercept the germ of the wing; which, being shut up with the emotion, throbbing as with the pulsations of an artery, pricks the aperture which is nearest, until at length the entire soul is pierced and maddened and pained, and at the recollection of beauty is again delighted. And from both of them together the soul is oppressed at the strangeness of her condition, and is in a great strait and excitement, and in her madness can neither sleep by night nor abide in her place by day. And wherever she thinks that she will behold the beautiful one, thither in her desire she runs.And when she has seen him, and bathed herself in the waters of beauty, her constraint is loosened, and she is refreshed, and has no more pangs and pains; and this is the sweetest of all pleasures at the time, and is the reason why the soul of the lover will never forsake his beautiful one, whom he esteems above all; he has forgotten mother and brethren and companions, and he thinks nothing of the neglect and loss of his property; the rules and proprieties of life, on which he formerly prided himself, he now despises, and is ready to sleep like a servant, wherever he is allowed, as near as he can to his desired one, who is the object of his worship, and the physician who can alone assuage the greatness of his pain. And this state, my dear imaginary youth to whom I am talking, is by men called love, and among the gods has a name at which you, in your simplicity, may be incline d to mock; there are two lines in the apocryphal writings of Homer in which the name occurs. One of them is rather outrageous, and not altogether metrical. They are as follows: Mortals call him fluttering love, But the immortals call him winged one, Because the growing of wings is a necessity to him. You may believe this, but not unless you like. At any rate the loves of lovers and their causes are such as I have described.Now the lover who is taken to be the attendant of Zeus is better able to bear the winged god, and can endure a heavier burden; but the attendants and companions of Ares, when under the influence of love, if they fancy that they have been at all wronged, are ready to kill and put an end to themselves and their beloved. And he who follows in the train of any other god, while he is unspoiled and the impression lasts, honours and imitates him, as far as he is able; and after the manner of his god he behaves in his intercourse with his beloved and with the rest of the world during the first period of his earthly existence. Every one chooses his love from the ranks of beauty according to his character, and this he makes his god, and fashions and adorns as a sort of image which he is to fall down and worship.The followers of Zeus desire that their beloved should have a soul like him; and therefore they seek out some one of a philosophical and imperial nature, and when they have found him and loved him, they do all they can to confirm such a nature in him, and if they have no experience of such a disposition hitherto, they learn of any one who can teach them, and themselves follow in the same way. And they have the less difficulty in finding the nature of their own god in themselves, because they have been compelled to gaze intensely on him; their recollection clings to him, and they become possessed of him, and receive from him their character and disposition, so far as man can participate in God. The qualities of their god they attribute to the be loved, wherefore they love him all the more, and if, like the Bacchic Nymphs, they draw inspiration from Zeus, they pour out their own fountain upon him, wanting to make him as like as possible to their own god.But those who are the followers of Here seek a royal love, and when they have found him they do just the same with him; and in like manner the followers of Apollo, and of every other god walking in the ways of their god, seek a love who is to be made like him whom they serve, and when they have found him, they themselves imitate their god, and persuade their love to do the same, and educate him into the manner and nature of the god as far as they each can; for no feelings of envy or jealousy are entertained by them towards their beloved, but they do their utmost to create in him the greatest likeness of themselves and of the god whom they honour.Thus fair and blissful to the beloved is the desire of the inspired lover, and the initiation of which I speak into the mysteries of true love, if he be captured by the lover and their purpose is effected. Now the beloved is taken