| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: very attentive to what he says; and I ask questions of him, in order that I
may learn, and be improved by him. And I could not help remarking while
you were speaking, that when you recited the verses in which Achilles, as
you argued, attacks Odysseus as a deceiver, that you must be strangely
mistaken, because Odysseus, the man of wiles, is never found to tell a lie;
but Achilles is found to be wily on your own showing. At any rate he
speaks falsely; for first he utters these words, which you just now
repeated,--
'He is hateful to me even as the gates of death who thinks one thing and
says another:'--
And then he says, a little while afterwards, he will not be persuaded by
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: Soc. Can you tell me, then, what need is satisfied by our eyes?
Crit. Clearly, the need of vision.
Soc. If so, my eyes are proved at once to be more beautiful than
yours.
Crit. How so?
Soc. Because yours can only see just straight in front of them,
whereas mine are prominent and so projecting, they can see aslant.[5]
[5] Or, "squint sideways and command the flanks."
Crit. And amongst all animals, you will tell us that the crab has
loveliest eyes?[6] Is that your statement?
[6] Or, "is best provided in respect of eyeballs."
The Symposium |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: constable at Old Ford as to give them a certificate of their passing
from Essex through that village, and that they had not been at London;
which, though false in the common acceptance of London in the
county, yet was literally true, Wapping or Ratcliff being no part either
of the city or liberty.
This certificate directed to the next constable that was at Homerton,
one of the hamlets of the parish of Hackney, was so serviceable to
them that it procured them, not a free passage there only, but a full
certificate of health from a justice of the peace, who upon the
constable's application granted it without much difficulty; and thus
they passed through the long divided town of Hackney (for it lay then
A Journal of the Plague Year |
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 Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: want to see you damned, Aline?"
Her hand fell away from his arm.
"Oh, you are mad!" she exclaimed, quite out of patience.
"Possibly. But I like my madness. There is a thrill in it unknown
to such sanity as yours. By your leave, Aline, I think I will ride
on to Gavrillac."
"Andre, you must not! It is death to you!" In her alarm she backed
her horse, and pulled it across the road to bar his way.
It was almost completely night by now; but from behind the wrack of
clouds overhead a crescent moon sailed out to alleviate the darkness.
"Come, now," she enjoined him. "Be reasonable. Do as I bid you.
|
