| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: benefit his country there was no toil he shrank from, no danger he
avoided, no money he stinted, no excuse whether of age or body he
admitted, but deemed it ever the true function of a good king[2] to
shower blessings to the utmost on the subjects of his rule.
[1] Lit. "love for his own city."
[2] Or, "regarded it as the cardinal virtue of a real prince." See
"Mem." III. ii. 3.
And for my part I hold it as chief among the magnificent benefits so
conferred by him upon his country that, being the most powerful member
of the state, he made no secret of his absolute submission to the
laws,[3] since what lesser man, seeing the king's obedience, would
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: they dared not touch it; for there was a law which permitted sixty
days to lapse between the staking and the filing, during which
time a claim was immune. The whole country knew of Olaf Nelson's
disappearance, and scores of men made preparation for the jumping
and for the consequent race to Fort Cudahy.
But competition at Forty Mile was limited. With the camp devoting
its energies to the equipping either of Jack Harrington or Louis
Savoy, no man was unwise enough to enter the contest single-
handed. It was a stretch of a hundred miles to the Recorder's
office, and it was planned that the two favorites should have four
relays of dogs stationed along the trail. Naturally, the last
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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 Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: newcomers found friends in the drawing room, and the scene ended in
handshakings. The little sickly looking light-haired man bore one
of the greatest names in France. Furthermore, the eleven announced
that others were to follow them, and, in fact, the door opened every
few moments, and men in white gloves and official garb presented
themselves. They were still coming from the ball at the Ministry.
Fauchery jestingly inquired whether the minister was not coming,
too, but Nana answered in a huff that the minister went to the
houses of people she didn't care a pin for. What she did not say
was that she was possessed with a hope of seeing Count Muffat enter
her room among all that stream of people. He might quite have
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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 Menexenus by Plato: in the Phaedrus, and this may have suggested the subject, in the same
manner that the Cleitophon appears to be suggested by the slight mention of
Cleitophon and his attachment to Thrasymachus in the Republic; and the
Theages by the mention of Theages in the Apology and Republic; or as the
Second Alcibiades seems to be founded upon the text of Xenophon, Mem. A
similar taste for parody appears not only in the Phaedrus, but in the
Protagoras, in the Symposium, and to a certain extent in the Parmenides.
To these two doubtful writings of Plato I have added the First Alcibiades,
which, of all the disputed dialogues of Plato, has the greatest merit, and
is somewhat longer than any of them, though not verified by the testimony
of Aristotle, and in many respects at variance with the Symposium in the
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