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Abbott, Edwin Abbott, 1838-1926

"Flatland: a romance of many dimensions"


After I had concluded my defence, the President, perhaps perceiving
that some of the junior Circles had been moved by evident earnestness,
asked me two questions:--
1. Whether I could indicate the direction which I meant when I used
the words "Upward, not Northward"?
2. Whether I could by any diagrams or descriptions (other than
the enumeration of imaginary sides and angles) indicate the Figure
I was pleased to call a Cube?
I declared that I could say nothing more, and that I must commit
myself to the Truth, whose cause would surely prevail in the end.
The President replied that he quite concurred in my sentiment,
and that I could not do better. I must be sentenced to perpetual
imprisonment; but if the Truth intended that I should emerge from
prison and evangelize the world, the Truth might be trusted to bring
that result to pass. Meanwhile I should be subjected to no discomfort
that was not necessary to preclude escape, and, unless I forfeited the
privilege by misconduct, I should be occasionally permitted to see my
brother who had preceded me to my prison.
Seven years have elapsed and I am still a prisoner, and--if I
except the occasional visits of my brother--debarred from all
companionship save that of my jailers.


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