| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: the stillness of that passionless region, neither light nor
darkness, neither sound nor silence, and heaving endlessly with
billowy mists from the impalpable multitudes of the swarming
dead, I think I know what answer to make.
I would say, after listening courteously to the unvibrating tone
of his measured remonstrances, which should not disturb, of
course, the solemn eternity of stillness in the least--I would
say something like this:
"It is true, Almayer, that in the world below I have converted
your name to my own uses. But that is a very small larceny.
What's in a name, O Shade? If so much of your old mortal
A Personal Record |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: thirst for his society, and then united us.[105] For which indeed I am
your debtor, since I find him a fine handsome fellow and true
gentleman.[106] And did you not, moreover, sing the praises of
Aeschylus of Phlius[107] in my ears and mine in his?--in fact,
affected us so much by what you said, we fell in love and took to
coursing wildly in pursuit of one another like two dogs upon a
trail.[108]
[100] Or, "the sage," "the sophist." See "Mem." I. vi. 13; II. i. 21.
[101] See "Mem." IV. iv. 5; and for his art of memory cf. Plat. "Hipp.
min." 368 D; "Hipp. maj." 285 E.
[102] The "memoria technica" (see Aristot. "de An." iii. 3, 6), said
The Symposium |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: by virtue of which the Republic daily confiscated the property of
emigres, she congratulated herself on that act of courage; was she not
guarding the property of her son at the peril of her life? And when
she heard of the terrible executions ordered by the Convention, she
slept in peace, knowing that her sole treasure was in safety, far from
danger, far from scaffolds. She took pleasure in believing that they
had each chosen the wisest course, a course which would save to HIM
both life and fortune.
With this secret comfort in her mind, she was ready to make all the
concessions required by those evil days, and without sacrificing
either her dignity as a woman, or her aristocratic beliefs, she
|
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: sorts; those composed almost entirely of females, and those mustering
none but young vigorous males, or bulls, as they are familiarly
designated.
In cavalier attendance upon the school of females, you invariably see
a male of full grown magnitude, but not old; who, upon any alarm,
evinces his gallantry by falling in the rear and covering the flight
of his ladies. In truth, this gentleman is a luxurious Ottoman,
swimming about over the watery world, surroundingly accompanied by
all the solaces and endearments of the harem. The contrast between
this Ottoman and his concubines is striking; because, while he is
always of the largest leviathanic proportions, the ladies, even at
Moby Dick |
