| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Georgics by Virgil: And share-beam with its double back they fix.
For yoke is early hewn a linden light,
And a tall beech for handle, from behind
To turn the car at lowest: then o'er the hearth
The wood they hang till the smoke knows it well.
Many the precepts of the men of old
I can recount thee, so thou start not back,
And such slight cares to learn not weary thee.
And this among the first: thy threshing-floor
With ponderous roller must be levelled smooth,
And wrought by hand, and fixed with binding chalk,
 Georgics |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: of the nature of right and truth. A man must be an extraordinary man, and
have made great strides in wisdom, before he could have seen his way to
bring such an action.
EUTHYPHRO: Indeed, Socrates, he must.
SOCRATES: I suppose that the man whom your father murdered was one of your
relatives--clearly he was; for if he had been a stranger you would never
have thought of prosecuting him.
EUTHYPHRO: I am amused, Socrates, at your making a distinction between one
who is a relation and one who is not a relation; for surely the pollution
is the same in either case, if you knowingly associate with the murderer
when you ought to clear yourself and him by proceeding against him. The
|