| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: He stood there, feeling already the terrible emotions his adventure
offered him, and yielding to the fears of a prisoner who,
nevertheless, retains some glimmer of hope. His mistress illumined
each difficulty. To him she was no longer a woman, but a supernatural
being seen through the incense of his desires. A feeble cry, which he
fancied came from the hotel de Poitiers, restored him to himself and
to a sense of his true situation. Throwing himself on his pallet to
reflect on his course, he heard a slight movement which echoed faintly
from the spiral staircase. He listened attentively, and the whispered
words, "He has gone to bed," said by the old woman, reached his ear.
By an accident unknown probably to the architect, the slightest noise
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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 Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: for the vehemence of his gestures, was M. le procureur-general
Vinet. Groups formed in the audience chamber; the sitting was, in
fact, informally suspended.
After a few moments' delay M. le president rings his bell.
/The Ushers/.--Take your seats, gentlemen.
The deputies hasten on all sides to do so.
/The President/.--M. de Sallenauve has the floor.
M. de Sallenauve, who, during the few moments that the sitting was
interrupted by his entrance, has been talking with M. de Canalis
and M. d'Arthez, goes to the tribune. His manner is modest, but he
shows no sign of embarrassment. Every one is struck by his
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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 Symposium by Xenophon: quarters.
[23] Or, "to the city," i.e. of Athens.
Whereat the jester: An excellent idea, upon my word; and when it
happens, may I be there to see that mighty orator[24] Peisander
learning to throw somersaults[25] into swords; since incapacity to
look a row of lances in the face at present makes him shy of military
service.[26]
[24] Or, "tribune of the people." Cf. Plat. "Gorg." 520 B; "Laws," 908
D.
[25] Or, "learning to go head over heels into swords."
[26] For Peisander see Cobet, "Pros. Xen." p. 46 foll. A thoroughgoing
The Symposium |
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 Philebus by Plato: lights in which the whole moral world has been regarded by different
thinkers and successive generations of men. If we ask: Which of these
many theories is the true one? we may answer: All of them--moral sense,
innate ideas, a priori, a posteriori notions, the philosophy of experience,
the philosophy of intuition--all of them have added something to our
conception of Ethics; no one of them is the whole truth. But to decide how
far our ideas of morality are derived from one source or another; to
determine what history, what philosophy has contributed to them; to
distinguish the original, simple elements from the manifold and complex
applications of them, would be a long enquiry too far removed from the
question which we are now pursuing.
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