| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: is still in my possession, and was carefully studied by me when I was a
child. Therefore if you hear names such as are used in this country, you
must not be surprised, for I have told how they came to be introduced. The
tale, which was of great length, began as follows:--
I have before remarked in speaking of the allotments of the gods, that they
distributed the whole earth into portions differing in extent, and made for
themselves temples and instituted sacrifices. And Poseidon, receiving for
his lot the island of Atlantis, begat children by a mortal woman, and
settled them in a part of the island, which I will describe. Looking
towards the sea, but in the centre of the whole island, there was a plain
which is said to have been the fairest of all plains and very fertile.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: bruised. In most families the settlement of "dots" and the deeds of
gift required by a marriage contract give rise to primitive emotions
of hostility, caused by self-love, by the lesion of certain
sentiments, by regret for the sacrifices made, and by the desire to
diminish them. When difficulties arise there is always a victorious
side and a vanquished one. The parents of the future pair try to
conclude the matter, which is purely commercial in their eyes, to
their own advantage; and this leads to the trickery, shrewdness, and
deception of such negotiations. Generally the husband alone is
initiated into the secret of these discussions, and the wife is kept,
like Natalie, in ignorance of the stipulations which make her rich or
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: the state by means of general taxation.[52]
[49] "And police agents."
[50] Cf. "Mem." II. viii. 1.
[51] {phoros}, tributum. Al. "property-tax." Cf. "Econ." ii. 6.
[52] {telos}, vectigal. Sturz, "Lex. Xen." s.v. Cf. "Pol. Ath." i. 3.
And there is another thing. So long as I was rich, they threw in my
teeth as a reproach that I was friends with Socrates, but now that I
am become a beggar no one troubles his head two straws about the
matter. Once more, the while I rolled in plenty I had everything to
lose, and, as a rule, I lost it; what the state did not exact, some
mischance stole from me. But now that is over. I lose nothing, having
The Symposium |
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 Professor by Charlotte Bronte: coloured, green, dewy, with a spring sky, piled with glittering
yet showery clouds; for my childhood was not all sunshine--it had
its overcast, its cold, its stormy hours. Second, X----, huge,
dingy; the canvas cracked and smoked; a yellow sky, sooty clouds;
no sun, no azure; the verdure of the suburbs blighted and
sullied--a very dreary scene.
Third, Belgium; and I will pause before this landscape. As to the
fourth, a curtain covers it, which I may hereafter withdraw, or
may not, as suits my convenience and capacity. At any rate, for
the present it must hang undisturbed. Belgium! name unromantic
and unpoetic, yet name that whenever uttered has in my ear a
The Professor |
