| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: citizenship; he has not broken the shell as yet of ordinary
manhood.
[6] Lit. "in that case, I think I should best be able to point out the
'differentia' of either."
Thus it was that Simonides spoke first: Well then, as to private
persons, for my part I observe,[7] or seem to have observed, that we
are liable to various pains and pleasures, in the shape of sights,
sounds, odours, meats, and drinks, which are conveyed through certain
avenues of sense--to wit, the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth. And there
are other pleasures, those named of Aphrodite, of which the channels
are well known. While as to degree of heat and cold, things hard and
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: dresses, and that beardless sophomores are not college boys, but
college men. Halsey required less personal supervision, and as
they both got their mother's fortune that winter, my
responsibility became purely moral. Halsey bought a car, of
course, and I learned how to tie over my bonnet a gray baize
veil, and, after a time, never to stop to look at the dogs one
has run down. People are apt to be so unpleasant about their
dogs.
The additions to my education made me a properly equipped maiden
aunt, and by spring I was quite tractable. So when Halsey
suggested camping in the Adirondacks and Gertrude wanted Bar
The Circular Staircase |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: other; and a man who is wholly given up to another; shall they be
deemed equal in similitude? praise be to God! nay, but most of them
know not!
Verily, thou shalt die, and, verily, they shall die; then, verily,
on the resurrection day before your Lord shall ye dispute.
And who is more unjust than he who lies against God, and calls the
truth a lie when it comes to him? Is there not in hell a resort for
those who misbelieve? but whoso brings the truth and believes in it,
these are they who fear.
For them is what they please with their Lord, that is the reward
of those who do well; that God may cover for them their offences which
The Koran |
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 The Cavalry General by Xenophon: all, they make a final charge across the field, before dismissal;
after which they come to a halt en masse, in battle order; and, as now
customary,[19] ride up to salute the senate, and disband. These
evolutions will at once approve themselves, I think, not only for
their novelty, but for their resemblacne to real warfare. The notion
that the hipparch is to ride at a slower pace than his phylarchs, and
to handle his horse precisely in their style, seems to me below the
dignity of the office.
[16] In the hippodrome near Munychia, I suppose.
[17] Lit. ". . . it would be beautiful to form with extended front, so
as to fill the hippodrome with horses and drive out the people
|
