| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: a ridge, but forms a kind of furrow on the back" (John Martyn); "a
full back," as we say.
[24] Or, "in proportion to." See Courier ("Du Commandement de la
Cavalerie at de l'Equitation": deux livres de Xenophon, traduits
par un officier d'artillerie a cheval), note ad loc. p. 83.
[25] i.e. "and keep in good condition."
The broader and shorter the loins the more easily will the horse raise
his forequarters and bring up his hindquarters under him. Given these
points, moreover, the belly will appear as small as possible, a
portion of the body which if large is partly a disfigurement and
partly tends to make the horse less strong and capable of carrying
On Horsemanship |
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 Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: that kirkyaird; an it had been His wull," indicating Heaven, "I
would ha'e likit weel to ha'e made out the fower hunner." But it
was not to be; this tragedian of the fifth act had now another part
to play; and the time had come when others were to gird and carry
him.
II
I would fain strike a note that should be more heroical; but the
ground of all youth's suffering, solitude, hysteria, and haunting
of the grave, is nothing else than naked, ignorant selfishness. It
is himself that he sees dead; those are his virtues that are
forgotten; his is the vague epitaph. Pity him but the more, if
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