| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Crito by Plato: any other place unless when you were on military service; nor did you
travel as other men do. Nor had you any curiosity to know other states or
their laws: your affections did not go beyond us and our state; we were
your especial favourites, and you acquiesced in our government of you; and
here in this city you begat your children, which is a proof of your
satisfaction. Moreover, you might in the course of the trial, if you had
liked, have fixed the penalty at banishment; the state which refuses to let
you go now would have let you go then. But you pretended that you
preferred death to exile (compare Apol.), and that you were not unwilling
to die. And now you have forgotten these fine sentiments, and pay no
respect to us the laws, of whom you are the destroyer; and are doing what
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: of action likely to confirm them. Under the influence of religious feeling
or by an effort of thought, any one beginning with the ordinary rules of
morality may create out of them for himself ideals of holiness and virtue.
They slumber in the minds of most men, yet in all of us there remains some
tincture of affection, some desire of good, some sense of truth, some fear
of the law. Of some such state or process each individual is conscious in
himself, and if he compares his own experience with that of others he will
find the witness of their consciences to coincide with that of his own.
All of us have entered into an inheritance which we have the power of
appropriating and making use of. No great effort of mind is required on
our part; we learn morals, as we learn to talk, instinctively, from
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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 White Moll by Frank L. Packard: become interwoven! She had owed him much; but last night she had
repaid him and squared accounts. She had told him so. She owed him
nothing more. If a sense of gratitude had once caused her to look
upon him with - with - She bit her lips. What was the use of that?
Had it become so much a part of her life, so much a habit, this
throwing of dust in the eyes of others, this constant passing of
herself off for some one else, this constant deception, warranted
though it might be, that she must now seek to deceive herself! Why
not frankly admit to her own soul, already in the secret, that she
cared in spite of herself - for a thief? Why not admit that a great
hurt had come, one that no one but herself would ever know, a hurt
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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 Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: For so your doctors hold it very meet,
Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy:
Therefore they thought it good you hear a play,
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.
SLY.
Marry, I will; let them play it. Is not a commonty a
Christmas gambold or a tumbling-trick?
PAGE.
No, my good lord; it is more pleasing stuff.
The Taming of the Shrew |
