| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: not help sharing in the general delirium, but this sub-human chanting of
'B-B!...B-B!' always filled him with horror. Of course he chanted with the
rest: it was impossible to do otherwise. To dissemble your feelings, to
control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive
reaction. But there was a space of a couple of seconds during which the
expression of his eyes might conceivably have betrayed him. And it was
exactly at this moment that the significant thing happened--if, indeed,
it did happen.
Momentarily he caught O'Brien's eye. O'Brien had stood up. He had taken
off his spectacles and was in the act of resettling them on his nose with
his characteristic gesture. But there was a fraction of a second when
1984 |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: motley crew of Lydians," etc.
[7] Zurborg, after Cobet, omits the words so rendered.
[8] See "Hipparch." ix. 3, where Xenophon in almost identical words
recommends that reform.
In the next place, seeing that there are at present numerous building
sites within the city walls as yet devoid of houses, supposing the
state were to make free grants of such land[9] to foreigners for
building purposes in cases where there could be no doubt as to the
respectability of the applicant, if I am not mistaken, the result of
such a measure will be that a larger number of persons, and of a
better class, will be attracted to Athens as a place of residence.
|
