| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: their skill with the bow and with the iron axes, in contest
among themselves, as a means of bringing about their
destruction. She went upstairs and got the store-room key, which
was made of bronze and had a handle of ivory; she then went with
her maidens into the store-room at the end of the house, where
her husband's treasures of gold, bronze, and wrought iron were
kept, and where was also his bow, and the quiver full of deadly
arrows that had been given him by a friend whom he had met in
Lacedaemon--Iphitus the son of Eurytus. The two fell in with one
another in Messene at the house of Ortilochus, where Ulysses was
staying in order to recover a debt that was owing from the whole
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: sternness. Sentiment is more destructive than logic."
The arrival of Schwanthaler was timely, for my indignation was
rising. The sculptor received us with great cordiality, and in the
pleasure of the subsequent hour I got over to some extent the
irritation Bourgonef's talk had excited.
The next day I left Munich for the Tyrol. My parting with
Bourgonef was many degrees less friendly than it would have been a
week before. I had no wish to see him again, and therefore gave
him no address or invitation in case he should come to England. As
I rolled away in the Malleposte, my busy thoughts reviewed all the
details of our acquaintance, and the farther I was carried from his
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: There he found the ephors and the mass of the community highly
incensed agaisnt Phoebidas, "who had failed to execute the orders
assigned to him by the state." Against this general indignation,
however, Agesilaus protested.[24] If mischief had been wrought to
Lacedaemon by this deed, it was just that the doer of it should be
punished; but, if good, it was a time-honoured custom to allow full
scope for impromptu acts of this character. "The sole point you have
to look to," he urged, "is whether what has been done is good or
evil." After this, however, Leontiades presented himself to the
assembly[25] and addressed the members as follows: "Sirs,
Lacedaemonians, the hostile attitude of Thebes towards you, before the
|
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 Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: Wendy and John and Michael stood on tip-toe in the air to get
their first sight of the island. Strange to say, they all
recognized it at once, and until fear fell upon them they hailed
it, not as something long dreamt of and seen at last, but as a
familiar friend to whom they were returning home for the holidays.
"John, there's the lagoon."
"Wendy, look at the turtles burying their eggs in the sand."
"I say, John, I see your flamingo with the broken leg!"
"Look, Michael, there's your cave!"
"John, what's that in the brushwood?"
"It's a wolf with her whelps. Wendy, I do believe that's your
Peter Pan |
