| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: me as by no means wonderful, as these are thoughts distinctive to all
men of high ambition. Far more wonderful to my mind was the pitch of
perfection to which he had brought his army. There was no labour which
his troops would shrink from, either by night or by day; there was no
danger they would flinch from; and, with the scantiest provisions,
their discipline never failed them.
And so, when he gave his last orders to them to prepare for impending
battle, they obeyed with alacrity. He gave the word; the cavalry fell
to whitening their helmets, the heavy infantry of the Arcadians began
inscribing their clubs as the crest on their shields,[12] as though
they were Thebans, and all were engaged in sharpening their lances and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: here and a man there; but though they heard and saw them cheering on
their pack the Wolf-Brethren attacked them no more, for they saved
their strength for the last fight of all.
The road was long up the mountain, and the soldiers knew little of the
path, and ever the ghost-wolves harried on their flanks. So it was
evening before they came to the feet of the stone Witch, and began to
climb to the platform of her knees. There, on her knees as it were,
they saw the Wolf-Brethren standing side by side, such a pair as were
not elsewhere in the world, and they seemed afire, for the sunset beat
upon them, and the wolves crept round their feet, red with blood and
fire.
Nada the Lily |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: notion.
Which is surely a correct one, said Simmias.
Also I believe that the earth is very vast, and that we who dwell in the
region extending from the river Phasis to the Pillars of Heracles inhabit a
small portion only about the sea, like ants or frogs about a marsh, and
that there are other inhabitants of many other like places; for everywhere
on the face of the earth there are hollows of various forms and sizes, into
which the water and the mist and the lower air collect. But the true earth
is pure and situated in the pure heaven--there are the stars also; and it
is the heaven which is commonly spoken of by us as the ether, and of which
our own earth is the sediment gathering in the hollows beneath. But we who
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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 Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: "I don't know what he is driving at," he answered drily. "But as
to his mother she is not as volatile as all that. I suspect it was
business. It may have been a deep plot to get a picture out of
Allegre for somebody. My cousin as likely as not. Or simply to
discover what he had. The Blunts lost all their property and in
Paris there are various ways of making a little money, without
actually breaking anything. Not even the law. And Mrs. Blunt
really had a position once - in the days of the Second Empire - and
so. . ."
I listened open-mouthed to these things into which my West-Indian
experiences could not have given me an insight. But Mills checked
The Arrow of Gold |
