| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: pains and labours undergone by any man in training for a gymnastic
contest are far larger and more formidable than any which the severest
training of the horseman will involve; and for this reason, that the
greater part of gymnastic exercises are performed "in the sweat of the
brow," while equestrian exercise is performed with pleasure. Indeed,
there is no accomplishment which so nearly realises the aspiration of
a man to have the wings of a bird than this of horsemanship.[7] But
further, to a victory obtained in war attaches a far greater weight of
glory than belongs to the noblest contest of the arena.[8] Of these
the state indeed will share her meed of glory,[9] but in honour of
victory in war the very gods are wont to crown whole states with
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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 Lesser Hippias by Plato: is somewhat longer than any of them, though not verified by the testimony
of Aristotle, and in many respects at variance with the Symposium in the
description of the relations of Socrates and Alcibiades. Like the Lesser
Hippias and the Menexenus, it is to be compared to the earlier writings of
Plato. The motive of the piece may, perhaps, be found in that passage of
the Symposium in which Alcibiades describes himself as self-convicted by
the words of Socrates. For the disparaging manner in which Schleiermacher
has spoken of this dialogue there seems to be no sufficient foundation. At
the same time, the lesson imparted is simple, and the irony more
transparent than in the undoubted dialogues of Plato. We know, too, that
Alcibiades was a favourite thesis, and that at least five or six dialogues
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