| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: rounds of the Cossack ranks. The camp-fires, beside which the
sentinels sat, were ready to go out at any moment; and even the
sentinels slept, having devoured oatmeal and dumplings with true
Cossack appetites. He was astonished at such carelessness, thinking,
"It is well that there is no strong enemy at hand and nothing to
fear." Finally he went to one of the waggons, climbed into it, and lay
down upon his back, putting his clasped hands under his head; but he
could not sleep, and gazed long at the sky. It was all open before
him; the air was pure and transparent; the dense clusters of stars in
the Milky Way, crossing the sky like a belt, were flooded with light.
From time to time Andrii in some degree lost consciousness, and a
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
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 The Sportsman by Xenophon: her whom he desired, Periboea the daughter of Alcathus;[17] and when
the first of Hellenes,[18] Heracles[19] the son of Zeus, distributed
rewards of valour after taking Troy, to Telamon he gave Hesione.[20]
[16] See "Il." viii. 283l Paus. i. 42. 1-4.
[17] Or Alcathous, who rebuilt the walls of Megara by Apollo's aid.
Ov. "Met." viii. 15 foll.
[18] Reading {o protos}; or if with L. D. {tois protois}, "what time
Heracles was distributing to the heroes of Hellas (lit. the first
of the Hellenes) prizes of valour, to Telamon he gave."
[19] See Hom. "Il." v. 640; Strab. xiii. 595.
[20] See Diod. iv. 32; i. 42.
|
