| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: fumbling airs that breathe and bend over the bed itself, here you can
neither touch nor destroy. Upon which, wearily, ghostlily, as if they
had feather-light fingers and the light persistency of feathers, they
would look, once, on the shut eyes, and the loosely clasping fingers,
and fold their garments wearily and disappear. And so, nosing,
rubbing, they went to the window on the staircase, to the servants'
bedrooms, to the boxes in the attics; descending, blanched the apples
on the dining-room table, fumbled the petals of roses, tried the
picture on the easel, brushed the mat and blew a little sand along the
floor. At length, desisting, all ceased together, gathered together,
all sighed together; all together gave off an aimless gust of
To the Lighthouse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: doubtless to hold debate with those who are preferred to us in honour
than with people on an equal footing with ourselves.
[12] Lit. "attends the footsteps of the princely ruler." Cf. "Cyrop."
II. i. 23, Plat. "Laws," 667 B, for a similar metaphorical use of
the word.
[13] {to arkhein}, "his princely power makes him more noble as a man,
and we behold him fairer exercising rule than when he functioned
as a common citizen." Reading {kallio}, or if {edion}, transl. "we
feast our eyes more greedily upon him."
Why, the minion (with regard to whom you had the gravest fault to find
with tyranny), the favourite of a ruler, is least apt to quarrel[14]
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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 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: said grimly (but his mind was turned away again) that very few people
liked it as much as they said they did. But, he added, there is
considerable merit in some of the plays nevertheless, and Mrs Ramsay
saw that it would be all right for the moment anyhow; he would laugh at
Minta, and she, Mrs Ramsay saw, realising his extreme anxiety about
himself, would, in her own way, see that he was taken care of, and
praise him, somehow or other. But she wished it was not necessary:
perhaps it was her fault that it was necessary. Anyhow, she was free
now to listen to what Paul Rayley was trying to say about books one had
read as a boy. They lasted, he said. He had read some of Tolstoi at
school. There was one he always remembered, but he had forgotten the
To the Lighthouse |
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 Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: Aquilina's breast. That damsel turned to say in Jenny's ear, "Go to
Leon, and tell him not to come till one o'clock. If you do not find
him, and he comes here during the leave-taking, keep him in your
room.--Well," she went on, setting free Castanier, and giving a tweak
to the tip of his nose, "never mind, handsomest of seals that you are.
I will go to the theatre with you this evening? But all in good time;
let us have dinner! There is a nice little dinner for you--just what
you like."
"It is very hard to part from such a woman as you!" exclaimed
Castanier.
"Very well then, why do you go?" asked she.
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