| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: generation. What sort of a word will this be, and how shall we rightly
begin the praises of these brave men? In their life they rejoiced their
own friends with their valour, and their death they gave in exchange for
the salvation of the living. And I think that we should praise them in the
order in which nature made them good, for they were good because they were
sprung from good fathers. Wherefore let us first of all praise the
goodness of their birth; secondly, their nurture and education; and then
let us set forth how noble their actions were, and how worthy of the
education which they had received.
And first as to their birth. Their ancestors were not strangers, nor are
these their descendants sojourners only, whose fathers have come from
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: good cheer, and while she signifies to him that his death will secure the
freedom of the provinces, she hails him as a conqueror, and extends to him
a laurel crown. As the wreath approaches his head, Egmont moves like
one asleep, and reclines with his face towards her. She holds the wreath
suspended over his head,--martial music is heard in the distance, at the
first sound the vision disappears. The music grows louder and louder.
Egmont awakes. The prison is dimly illuminated by the dawn.--His first
impulse is to lift his hand to his head, he stands up, and gazes round, his
hand still upraised.)
The crown is vanished! Beautiful vision, the light of day has frighted thee!
Yes, their revealed themselves to my sight uniting in one radiant form the
Egmont |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: our strength, we will shoot, and box, and wrestle, against
any men on earth.'
And Alcinous smiled, and answered, 'I believe you, gallant
guests; with your long limbs and broad shoulders, we could
never match you here. For we care nothing here for boxing,
or for shooting with the bow; but for feasts, and songs, and
harping, and dancing, and running races, to stretch our limbs
on shore.'
So they danced there and ran races, the jolly merchant kings,
till the night fell, and all went in.
And then they ate and drank, and comforted their weary souls,
|
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 Finished by H. Rider Haggard: Zulus) stands on the very place where the king died--His bed was
on the left of the door-hole of the hut," and so forth, but no
certain word as to the exact reason of this sudden and violent
death or by whom it was caused. The name of that destroyer of a
king is for ever hid.
In this story the actual and immediate cause of the declaration
of war against the British Power is represented as the appearance
of the white goddess, or spirit of the Zulus, who is, or was,
called Nomkubulwana or Inkosazana-y-Zulu, i.e. the Princess of
Heaven. The exact circumstances which led to this decision are
not now ascertainable, though it is known that there was much
|
