| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: angry, and hinted that Cecily's sensitiveness to reflections and
other things might be a trifle beyond her mother's ken. 'She
responds instantly, intimately, to the beautiful everywhere,' he
declared.
'Aren't the opportunities of life on board ship rather limited to
demonstrate that?' I inquired. 'I know--you mean sunsets. Cecily
is very fond of sunsets. She is always asking me to come and look
at them.'
'I was thinking of last night's sunset,' he confessed. 'We looked
at it together.'
'What did she say?' I asked idly.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: Ask you whether a man shall engage in the administration of
the State who has engaged in such an Administration as this? Ask
me too if he shall govern; and again I will answer, Fool, what
greater government shall he hold than he holds already?
CXVIII
Such a man needs also to have a certain habit of body. If he
appears consumptive, thin and pale, his testimony has no longer
the same authority. He must not only prove to the unlearned by
showing them what his Soul is that it is possible to be a good
man apart from all that they admire; but he must also show them,
by his body, that a plain and simple manner of life under the
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: nay, worse than fictitious or idle; for a thing may be imaginary,
yet desirable, if it were possible: but this, their ideal of woman,
is, according to our common idea of the marriage relation, wholly
undesirable. The woman, we say, is not to guide, nor even to think
for herself. The man is always to be the wiser; he is to be the
thinker, the ruler, the superior in knowledge and discretion, as in
power.
Is it not somewhat important to make up our minds on this matter?
Are all these great men mistaken, or are we? Are Shakespeare and
AEschylus, Dante and Homer, merely dressing dolls for us; or, worse
than dolls, unnatural visions, the realization of which, were it
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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 Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: wealth may be acquired, since by riches the value of a man is judged):--
When, I say, we are thus in earnest, and you, who agree in other respects,
fall to disputing about a matter of such moment, that is, about wealth, and
not merely whether it is black or white, light or heavy, but whether it is
a good or an evil, whereby, although you are now the dearest of friends and
kinsmen, the most bitter hatred may arise betwixt you, I must hinder your
dissension to the best of my power. If I could, I would tell you the
truth, and so put an end to the dispute; but as I cannot do this, and each
of you supposes that you can bring the other to an agreement, I am
prepared, as far as my capacity admits, to help you in solving the
question. Please, therefore, Critias, try to make us accept the doctrines
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