| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: both occasions (in B.C. 369 and B.C. 362 alike). The encomiast
after his manner appears to treat them as one. Once and again his
hero "cunctando restituit rem," but it was by the same strategy.
After the invading army had retired, no one will gainsay the sound
sense of his behaviour. Old age debarred him from active service on
foot or horse, and what the city chiefly needed now, he saw, was
money, if she looked to gain allies. To the task therefore of
providing that he set himself. Everything that could be done by
stopping at home he deftly turned his hand to; or when the call arose
and he could better help his country by departure he had no false
pride; he set off on foreign service, not as general, but as
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: found a staircase with damp, slippery steps, such as to an Italian
nobleman could only seem a ladder.
Invited to the first floor by the glimmer of a lamp and a strong smell
of cooking, he pushed a door which stood ajar and saw a room dingy
with dirt and smoke, where a wench was busy laying a table for about
twenty customers. None of the guests had yet arrived.
After looking round the dimly lighted room where the paper was
dropping in rags from the walls, the gentleman seated himself by a
stove which was roaring and smoking in the corner.
Attracted by the noise the Count made in coming in and disposing of
his cloak, the major-domo presently appeared. Picture to yourself a
Gambara |
