| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: anthesai pukasai te genus euanthei lakhne.}
"(Zeus destroyed the twain) ere the curls had bloomed beneath
their temples, and darked their chins with the blossom of youth."
--Butcher and Lang. Cf. Theocr. xv. 85: {praton ioulon apo
krotaphon kataballon}, "with the first down upon his cheeks"
(Lang); Aesch. "Theb." 534.
[37] {pros to opisthen}, perhaps = "ad posteriorem capitis partem,"
which would be more applicable to Critobulus, whose whiskers were
just beginning to grow, than to Callias. Possibly we should read
(after Pollux, ii. 10) {peri ten upenen}, "on the upper lip." See
Plat. "Protag." 309 B; "Il." xxiv. 348; "Od." x. 279.
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: 15, 10, forbids to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
and Paul says, 2 Cor. 13, 10, that the power given him was to
edification not to destruction? Why, therefore, do they
increase sins by these traditions?
But there are clear testimonies which prohibit the making of
such traditions, as though they merited grace or were
necessary to salvation. Paul says, Col. 2, 16-23: Let no man
judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy-day,
or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath-days. If ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to ordinances (touch not; taste
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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 A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: his words completely over-powered her, and she swooned away as he
held her.
Elfride's eyes were not closed for more than forty seconds. She
opened them, and remembered the position instantly. His face had
altered its expression from stern anger to pity. But his severe
remarks had rather frightened her, and she struggled to be free.
'If you can stand, of course you may,' he said, and loosened his
arms. 'I hardly know whether most to laugh at your freak or to
chide you for its folly.'
She immediately sank upon the lead-work. Knight lifted her again.
'Are you hurt?' he said.
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
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 Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: Maidenhead. It was as they returned that Sir Richmond took up
the thread of their overnight conversation again.
"In the night," he said, "I was thinking over the account I
tried to give you of my motives. A lot of it was terribly out
of drawing."
"Facts?" asked the doctor.
"No, the facts were all right. It was the atmosphere, the
proportions. . . . I don't know if I gave you the effect of
something Don Juanesque? . . ."
"Vulgar poem," said the doctor remarkably." I discounted
that."
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