| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poems by Oscar Wilde: Autumn's gaudy liveries.
But you can read the Hieroglyphs on the
great sandstone obelisks,
And you have talked with Basilisks, and you
have looked on Hippogriffs.
O tell me, were you standing by when Isis to
Osiris knelt?
And did you watch the Egyptian melt her union
for Antony
And drink the jewel-drunken wine and bend
her head in mimic awe
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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 Cavalry General by Xenophon: on the stupor into which a body of men with all the weight of
numerical advantage on their side will be betrayed by falling into an
ambuscade; or again, on the exaggerated terror mutually inspired in
belligerents during the first few days, of finding themselves posted
in face of one another.
[17] Or, "troops."
[18] Possibly on flank. See Courier, p. 35, on Spanish cavalry
tactics.
[19] Lit. "supposing both divisions to be backed by footmen," etc.
[20] Or, "achieve a much more decisive victory." Cf. "Cyrop." III.
iii. 28.
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