| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: to impart to them their own civilisation, to raise them to their own
level. They would have shrunk from that which I just now defined as
the true duty of an aristocracy, just because it would have seemed
to them madness to abolish themselves. But the process of abolition
went on, nevertheless, only now from without instead of from within.
So it must always be, in such a case. If a ruling class will not
try to raise the masses to their own level, the masses will try to
drag them down to theirs. That sense of justice which allowed
privileges, when they were as strictly official privileges as the
salary of a judge, or the immunity of a member of the House of
Commons; when they were earned, as in the Middle Age, by severe
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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 Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: hungry bees.
As he had heard Boxtel's story, and was furious at having
been the dupe of the pretended Jacob, he destroyed the
sycamore behind which the envious Isaac had spied into the
garden; for the plot of ground belonging to him had been
bought by Cornelius, and taken into his own garden.
Rosa, growing not only in beauty, but in wisdom also, after
two years of her married life, could read and write so well
that she was able to undertake by herself the education of
two beautiful children which she had borne in 1674 and 1675,
both in May, the month of flowers.
The Black Tulip |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Anthem by Ayn Rand: They stood before us in their white togas,
and they asked:
"Are you ready to speak?"
But we shook our head, lying before
them on the floor. And they departed.
We counted each day and each night as it passed.
Then, tonight, we knew that we must escape.
For tomorrow the World Council of Scholars
is to meet in our City.
It was easy to escape from the Palace of
Corrective Detention. The locks are old on
Anthem |
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 An Open Letter on Translating by Dr. Martin Luther: vast number of such everyday cases.
In all these phrases, this is a German usage, even though it is
not the Latin or Greek usage. It is the nature of the German
tongue to add "allein" in order that "nicht" or "kein" may be
clearer and more complete. To be sure, I can also say "The farmer
brings grain and no (kein) money, but the words "kein money" do
not sound as full and clear as if I were to say, "the farmer
brings allein grain and kein money." Here the word "allein" helps
the word "kein" so much that it becomes a clear and complete
German expression.
We do not have to ask about the literal Latin or how we are to
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