| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: ment to reproach him for when they chanced to end
tragically.
Bathsheba was far from dreaming that the dark and
silent shape upon which she had so carelessly thrown a
seed was a hotbed of tropic intensity. Had she known
Boldwood's moods, her blame would have been fearful,
and the stain upon her heart ineradicable. Moreover,
had she known her present power for good or evil over
this man, she would have trembled at her responsibility.
Luckily for her present, unluckily for her future tran-
quillity, her understanding had not yet told her what
Far From the Madding Crowd |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Anabasis by Xenophon: years before having to move once more, to settle
in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Anabasis is his story of the march to Persia
to aid Cyrus, who enlisted Greek help to try and
take the throne from Artaxerxes, and the ensuing
return of the Greeks, in which Xenophon played a
leading role. This occurred between 401 B.C. and
March 399 B.C.
PREPARER'S NOTE
This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though
Anabasis |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: he wiped his hands upon his sleeves; and as his hair was not
tied more than once in the two months, it was often
disgusting to behold. With such a picture, it is easy to
believe that he never married. A good teacher, gentle in
act, although violent and abusive in speech, his lessons were
apt to go over the heads of his scholars and to leave them
gaping, or more often laughing. Such was his passion for
study that he even grudged himself natural repose; and when
he grew drowsy over his books he would, if it was summer, put
mosquitoes up his sleeve; and, if it was winter, take off his
shoes and run barefoot on the snow. His handwriting was
|
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 Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: the fog. Then, feeling sure that the chances were at the best for his
escape, he let himself down knot by knot, hanging between earth and
sky, and clinging to his rope with the strength of a giant. All was
well. At the last knot but one, just as he was about to let himself
drop, a prudent impulse led him to feel for the ground with his feet,
and he found no footing. The predicament was awkward for a man bathed
in sweat, tired, and perplexed, and in a position where his life was
at stake on even chances. He was about to risk it, when a trivial
incident stopped him; his hat fell off; happily, he listened for the
noise it must make in striking the ground, and he heard not a sound.
"The prisoner felt vaguely suspicious as to this state of affairs. He
The Muse of the Department |
