| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: no other means of destroying the bad gas but by dispersing
it in little explosions, before its buoyancy had collected
it in too great quantities in the heights of the galleries.
The monk, as we called him, with his face masked, his head muffled up,
all his body tightly wrapped in a thick felt cloak, crawled along
the ground. He could breathe down there, when the air was pure;
and with his right hand he waved above his head a blazing torch.
When the firedamp had accumulated in the air, so as to form
a detonating mixture, the explosion occurred without being fatal,
and, by often renewing this operation, catastrophes were prevented.
Sometimes the 'monk' was injured or killed in his work,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: THEODORUS: Nay, Socrates, he is not one of the disputatious sort--he is
too good for that. And, in my opinion, he is not a god at all; but divine
he certainly is, for this is a title which I should give to all
philosophers.
SOCRATES: Capital, my friend! and I may add that they are almost as hard
to be discerned as the gods. For the true philosophers, and such as are
not merely made up for the occasion, appear in various forms unrecognized
by the ignorance of men, and they 'hover about cities,' as Homer declares,
looking from above upon human life; and some think nothing of them, and
others can never think enough; and sometimes they appear as statesmen, and
sometimes as sophists; and then, again, to many they seem to be no better
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: IV. LIGHT AND DARKNESS
V. MYTHS OF THE BARBARIC WORLD
VI. JUVENTUS MUNDI
VII. THE PRIMEVAL GHOST-WORLD
NOTE
MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS.
I. THE ORIGINS OF FOLK-LORE.
FEW mediaeval heroes are so widely known as William Tell. His
exploits have been celebrated by one of the greatest poets and
one of the most popular musicians of modern times. They are
doubtless familiar to many who have never heard of Stauffacher
Myths and Myth-Makers |
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 Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: v. 126. The good Gherardo.] Gherardo di Camino of Trevigi.
He is honourably mentioned in our Poet's "Convito." Opere di
Dante, t. i. p. 173 Venez. 8vo. 1793. And Tiraboschi supposes
him to have been the same Gherardo with whom the Provencal poets
were used to meet with hospitable reception. See Mr. Matthias's
edition, t. i. p. 137, v. 127.
Conrad.] Currado da Palazzo, a gentleman of Brescia.
v. 127. Guido of Castello.] Of Reggio. All the Italians were
called Lombards by the French.
v. 144. His daughter Gaia.] A lady equally admired for her
modesty, the beauty of her person, and the excellency of her
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
