| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: But if you turn on me with the question, "Do you really mean that even
in the event of unjust attacks upon our city on the part of any, we
are still resolutely to observe peace towards that offender?" I answer
distinctly, No! But, on the contrary, I maintain that we shall all the
more promptly retaliate on such aggression in proportion as we have
done no wrong to any one ourselves. Since that will be to rob the
aggressor of his allies.[21]
[21] Reading, after Cobet, {ei medena uparkhoimen adikountes}. Or, if
the vulgate {ei medena parakhoimen adikounta}, transl. "if we can
show complete innocence on our own side."
VI
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: The pleasant whining of a mandoline
And a clatter and a chatter from within
Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls
Of Magnus Martyr hold
Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold.
The river sweats
Oil and tar
The barges drift
With the turning tide
Red sails 270
Wide
The Waste Land |
