| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: POLUS: Said the reverse! nay, that is what I assert.
SOCRATES: No, by the great--what do you call him?--not you, for you say
that power is a good to him who has the power.
POLUS: I do.
SOCRATES: And would you maintain that if a fool does what he thinks best,
this is a good, and would you call this great power?
POLUS: I should not.
SOCRATES: Then you must prove that the rhetorician is not a fool, and that
rhetoric is an art and not a flattery--and so you will have refuted me; but
if you leave me unrefuted, why, the rhetoricians who do what they think
best in states, and the tyrants, will have nothing upon which to
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: he saw something black lying on the snow. When he came closer he
saw it was a Serpent to all appearance dead. But he took it up
and put it in his bosom to warm while he hurried home. As soon as
he got indoors he put the Serpent down on the hearth before the
fire. The children watched it and saw it slowly come to life
again. Then one of them stooped down to stroke it, but thc
Serpent raised its head and put out its fangs and was about to
sting the child to death. So the Woodman seized his axe, and with
one stroke cut the Serpent in two. "Ah," said he,
"No gratitude from the wicked."
The Bald Man and the Fly
Aesop's Fables |
