| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: the anger of the gods. Their Oriental wealth, and splendour of gold and
silver, and variety of colours, seemed also to be at variance with the
simplicity of Greek notions. In the island of Atlantis, Plato is
describing a sort of Babylonian or Egyptian city, to which he opposes the
frugal life of the true Hellenic citizen. It is remarkable that in his
brief sketch of them, he idealizes the husbandmen 'who are lovers of honour
and true husbandmen,' as well as the warriors who are his sole concern in
the Republic; and that though he speaks of the common pursuits of men and
women, he says nothing of the community of wives and children.
It is singular that Plato should have prefixed the most detested of
Athenian names to this dialogue, and even more singular that he should have
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Poems by Oscar Wilde: These fields made golden with the flower of March,
The throstle singing on the feathered larch,
The cawing rooks, the wood-doves fluttering by,
The little clouds that race across the sky;
And fair the violet's gentle drooping head,
The primrose, pale for love uncomforted,
The rose that burgeons on the climbing briar,
The crocus-bed, (that seems a moon of fire
Round-girdled with a purple marriage-ring);
And all the flowers of our English Spring,
Fond snowdrops, and the bright-starred daffodil.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: that of] one." If the ideal army is to form a single organic
whole, then it follows that the resolution and spirit of its
component parts must be of the same quality, or at any rate must
not fall below a certain standard. Wellington's seemingly
ungrateful description of his army at Waterloo as "the worst he
had ever commanded" meant no more than that it was deficient in
this important particular--unity of spirit and courage. Had he
not foreseen the Belgian defections and carefully kept those
troops in the background, he would almost certainly have lost the
day.]
33. How to make the best of both strong and weak--that is a
The Art of War |
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 Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: "There is nothing in it," said the missionary.
There was a bay upon that island, a very fair bay to look upon;
but, by the native saying, it was death to bathe there. "There is
nothing in that," said the missionary; and he came to the bay, and
went swimming. Presently an eddy took him and bore him towards the
reef. "Oho!" thought the missionary, "it seems there is something
in it after all." And he swam the harder, but the eddy carried him
away. "I do not care about this eddy," said the missionary; and
even as he said it, he was aware of a house raised on piles above
the sea; it was built of yellow reeds, one reed joined with
another, and the whole bound with black sinnet; a ladder led to the
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