| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: enough, I admit, in connexion with what had gone before--a
coincidence at all events superficially striking. At Munich,
returning from a tour in the Tyrol with two of his sisters, he had
found himself at the table d'hote of his inn opposite to the full
presentment of that face of which the mere clumsy copy had made him
dream and desire. He had been tossed by it to a height so
vertiginous as to involve a retreat from the board; but the next
day he had dropped with a resounding thud at the very feet of his
apparition. On the following, with an equal incoherence, a
sacrifice even of his bewildered sisters, whom he left behind, he
made an heroic effort to escape by flight from a fate of which he
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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 Symposium by Xenophon: Call. And so, of course, your one prayer is that you may never more be
rich, and if you are visited by a dream of luck your one thought is to
offer sacrifice to Heaven to avert misfortune.[54]
[54] Or, "you wake up in a fright, and offer sacrifice to the
'Averters.'" For {tois apotropaiois} see Aristoph. "Plutus," 359;
Plat. "Laws," 854 B; "Hell." III. iii. 4.
Char. No, that I do not. On the contrary, I run my head into each
danger most adventurously. I endure, if haply I may see a chance of
getting something from some quarter of the sky some day.
Come now (Socrates exclaimed), it lies with you, sir, you,
Antisthenes, to explain to us, how it is that you, with means so
The Symposium |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: who are annually soliciting admission to captivity, and wish that
it were lawful for me to warn them of their danger."
"My dear Imlac," said the Prince, "I will open to thee my whole
heart. I have long meditated an escape from the Happy Valley. I
have examined the mountain on every side, but find myself
insuperably barred - teach me the way to break my prison; thou
shalt be the companion of my flight, the guide of my rambles, the
partner of my fortune, and my sole director in the CHOICE OF LIFE.
"Sir," answered the poet, "your escape will be difficult, and
perhaps you may soon repent your curiosity. The world, which you
figure to yourself smooth and quiet as the lake in the valley, you
|
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 Georgics by Virgil: The current sweeps him down the hurrying tide.
Us too behoves Arcturus' sign observe,
And the Kids' seasons and the shining Snake,
No less than those who o'er the windy main
Borne homeward tempt the Pontic, and the jaws
Of oyster-rife Abydos. When the Scales
Now poising fair the hours of sleep and day
Give half the world to sunshine, half to shade,
Then urge your bulls, my masters; sow the plain
Even to the verge of tameless winter's showers
With barley: then, too, time it is to hide
Georgics |
