| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: erga} seems to mean "the operatives;" cf. Latin "operae." Others
take it of "the works themselves." Possibly it may refer to
military works connecting the three fortresses named. "There might
be a system of converging (works or) lines drawn to a single point
from all the fortresses, and at the first sign of any thing
hostile," etc.
[58] I.e. "they might as well try to carry off so many tons of stone."
[59] Lit. "500 stades."
[60] Lit. "more than 600 stades."
[61] The {peripoloi}, or horse patrol to guard the frontier. See Thuc.
iv. 57, viii. 92; Arist. "Birds,"ii. 76. Young Athenians between
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: condemned to a deserved doom?''
``Say to the Grand Master,'' replied Rebecca,
``that I maintain my innocence, and do not yield
me as justly condemned, lest I become guilty of mine
own blood. Say to him, that I challenge such delay
as his forms will permit, to see if God, whose opportunity
is in man's extremity, will raise me up a
deliverer; and when such uttermost space is passed,
may His holy will be done!'' The herald retired
to carry this answer to the Grand Master.
``God forbid,'' said Lucas Beaumanoir, ``that
Ivanhoe |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Complete Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Night after night, by their blazing fires, encamped on its
borders.
Now through rushing chutes, among green islands, where plumelike
Cotton-trees nodded their shadowy crests, they swept with the
current,
Then emerged into broad lagoons, where silvery sand-bars
Lay in the stream, and along the wimpling waves of their margin,
Shining with snow-white plumes, large flocks of pelicans waded.
Level the landscape grew, and along the shores of the river,
Shaded by china-trees, in the midst of luxuriant gardens,
Stood the houses of planters, with negro-cabins and dove-cots.
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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 Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: So said Mr. Andrews: and so I say, dear boys--and so says he who
has the charge of you--to you. Therefore I beg all good boys
among you to think over this story, and settle in their own minds
whether they will be eyes or no eyes; whether they will, as they
grow up, look and see for themselves what happens: or whether
they will let other people look for them, or pretend to look; and
dupe them, and lead them about--the blind leading the blind, till
both fall into the ditch.
I say "good boys;" not merely clever boys, or prudent boys:
because using your eyes, or not using them, is a question of doing
Right or doing Wrong. God has given you eyes; it is your duty to
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