| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: the round-up until," etc.; or "Write to Cheyenne and say that if
they will hold a meeting next Monday week, I will," etc. And then
the Virginian would write such communications with ease.
But his first message to his lady was scarcely written with ease.
It must be classed, I think, among those productions which are
styled literary EFFORTS. It was completed in pencil before it was
copied in ink; and that first draft of it in pencil was well-nigh
illegible with erasures and amendments. The state of mind of the
writer during its composition may be gathered without further
description on my part from a slight interruption which occurred
in the middle.
The Virginian |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: who knew and had practised the art, and had the best teachers?
MELESIAS: I think that we should.
SOCRATES: But would there not arise a prior question about the nature of
the art of which we want to find the masters?
MELESIAS: I do not understand.
SOCRATES: Let me try to make my meaning plainer then. I do not think that
we have as yet decided what that is about which we are consulting, when we
ask which of us is or is not skilled in the art, and has or has not had a
teacher of the art.
NICIAS: Why, Socrates, is not the question whether young men ought or
ought not to learn the art of fighting in armour?
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