| 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: confines of Hellas from end to end will find that, whether he voyages
by sea or by land, he is describing a circle, the centre of which is
Athens.[5]
[5] See "Geog. of Brit. Isles." J. R. and S. A. Green, ch. i. p. 7:
"London, in fact, is placed at what is very nearly the geometrical
centre of those masses of land which make up the earth surface of
the globe, and is thus more than any city of the world the natural
point of convergence for its different lines of navigation," etc.
The natural advantages of Boeotia are similarly set forth by
Ephorus. Cf. Strab. ix. 2, p. 400.
Once more, this land though not literally sea-girt has all the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: through our mouths."
[8] Cf. Cic. "de N. D." ii. 56, S. 141.
[9] Reading {edesthai te kai lupeisthai . . .} or if with Breit
reading {ote d' au lupeisthai}, transl. "then as to good and evil
we are affected pleasurably or painfully, as the case may be:
sometimes, if I am right in my conclusion, through the mind itself
alone; at other times . . ."
[10] Or, "they are mental partly, partly physical."
[11] Lit. "the incidents of waking life present sensations of a more
vivid character."
To this statement Hiero made answer: And I, for my part, O Simonides,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Phoenix and the Turtle by William Shakespeare: In a mutual flame from hence.
So they lov'd, as love in twain
Had the essence but in one;
Two distincts, division none:
Number there in love was slain.
Hearts remote, yet not asunder;
Distance, and no space was seen
'Twixt the turtle and his queen;
But in them it were a wonder.
So between them love did shine,
That the turtle saw his right
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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 The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: it will not be like it. My sympathies and interests are changed.
There shall be no more books of travel for me. I care for nothing
but the moral and the dramatic, not a jot for the picturesque or
the beautiful other than about people. It bored me hellishly to
write the EMIGRANT; well, it's going to bore others to read it;
that's only fair.
I should also write to others; but indeed I am jack-tired, and must
go to bed to a French novel to compose myself for slumber. - Ever
your affectionate friend,
R. L. S.
Letter: TO W. E. HENLEY
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