| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: the citadel, and the district immediately beneath it (ii. 16). And
lastly, in the very opening of his history, anticipating one of the
most scientific of modern methods, he points out how in early
states of civilisation immense fertility of the soil tends to
favour the personal aggrandisement of individuals, and so to stop
the normal progress of the country through 'the rise of factions,
that endless source of ruin'; and also by the allurements it offers
to a foreign invader, to necessitate a continual change of
population, one immigration following on another. He exemplifies
his theory by pointing to the endless political revolutions that
characterised Arcadia, Thessaly and Boeotia, the three richest
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: it would seem to be but natural (added he); just as any honest[24]
woman finds it easier to care for her own offspring than to neglect
them, so, too, he could well believe, an honest woman might find it
pleasanter to care for than to neglect possessions, the very charm of
which is that they are one's very own.
[21] Lit. "By Hera!" Cf. the old formula "Marry!" or "By'r lakin!"
[22] Lit. "more painful had it been, had I enjoined her to neglect her
own interests than to be obliged . . ."
[23] {ton oikeion agathon}, cp. "charity begins at home." See Joel,
op. cit. p. 448.
[24] Or, "true and honest"; "any woman worthy of the name." {sophroni}
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