| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: at the turmoil of the dance; he could see a hundred pretty heads
turning about in obedience to the figures; he could read in some
faces, as in those of the Countess and his friend Martial, the secrets
of their agitation; and then, looking round, he wondered what
connection there could be between the gloomy looks of the Comte de
Soulanges, still seated on the sofa, and the plaintive expression of
the fair unknown, on whose features the joys of hope and the anguish
of involuntary dread were alternately legible. Montcornet stood like
the king of the feast. In this moving picture he saw a complete
presentment of the world, and he laughed at it as he found himself the
object of inviting smiles from a hundred beautiful and elegant women.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: bedew us with a frequent mizzle[53] of small glasses, we shall not be
violently driven on by wine to drunkenness, but with sweet seduction
reach the goal of sportive levity.
[46] Cf. Plat. "Laws," 649; Aristoph. "Knights," 96:
Come, quick now, bring me a lusty stoup of wine,
To moisten my understanding and inspire me (H. Frere).
[47] Cf. Plat. "Rep." vi. 488 C; Dem. "Phil." iv. 133. 1; Lucian v.,
"Tim." 2; lxxiii., "Dem. Enc." 36. See "Othello," iii. 3. 330:
Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world;
"Antony and Cl." i. 5, 4.
The Symposium |
