| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: young sir? What was your object? I suppose it was not simply to ride
at the head of the "knights," an honour not denied to the mounted
archers,[3] who ride even in front of the generals themselves?
[3] Lit. "Hippotoxotai." See Boeckh, "P. E. A." II. xxi. p. 264 (Eng.
tr.)
Hipp. You are right.
Soc. No more was it for the sake merely of public notoriety, since a
madman might boast of that fatal distinction.[4]
[4] Or, "as we all know, 'Tom Fool' can boast," etc.
Hipp. You are right again.
Soc. Is this possibly the explanation? you think to improve the
The Memorabilia |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: a great many times behind him, but there was certainly nobody there,
and he sat down again at the window. This time he didn't speak, but
he couldn't help thinking again that it would be very convenient if
the river were really all gold.
"Not at all, my boy," said the same voice, louder than
before.
"Bless me!" said Gluck again, "what is that?" He looked
again into all the corners and cupboards, and then began turning
round and round as fast as he could, in the middle of the room,
thinking there was somebody behind him, when the same voice struck
again on his ear. It was singing now, very merrily, "Lala-lira-
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: nothing that you or I can see, but what he saw I hope we never
shall. I do not know when he died; I suppose in an hour, or
perhaps two, but when I passed down Ashley Street and heard the
closing door, that man no longer belonged to this world; it was
a devil's face I looked upon."
There was an interval of silence in the room when
Villiers ceased speaking. The light was failing, and all the
tumult of an hour ago was quite hushed. Austin had bent his
head at the close of the story, and his hand covered his eyes.
"What can it mean?" he said at length.
"Who knows, Austin, who knows? It's a black business,
The Great God Pan |
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 At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: reprisals from his friends. Still, nothing could seem a trifle to a
spirit so open as Theodore's to impressions from without. A coldness
insensibly crept over him, and inevitably spread. To attain conjugal
happiness we must climb a hill whose summit is a narrow ridge, close
to a steep and slippery descent: the painter's love was falling down
it. He regarded his wife as incapable of appreciating the moral
considerations which justified him in his own eyes for his singular
behavior to her, and believed himself quite innocent in hiding from
her thoughts she could not enter into, and peccadilloes outside the
jurisdiction of a /bourgeois/ conscience. Augustine wrapped herself in
sullen and silent grief. These unconfessed feelings placed a shroud
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