| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: the bell eight, thou Pip! thou blackling! and let me call the watch.
I've the sort of mouth for that--the hogshead mouth. So, so,
(THRUSTS HIS HEAD DOWN THE SCUTTLE,) Star-bo-l-e-e-n-s, a-h-o-y!
Eight bells there below! Tumble up!
DUTCH SAILOR.
Grand snoozing to-night, maty; fat night for that. I mark this in
our old Mogul's wine; it's quite as deadening to some as filliping to
others. We sing; they sleep--aye, lie down there, like ground-tier
butts. At 'em again! There, take this copper-pump, and hail 'em
through it. Tell 'em to avast dreaming of their lasses. Tell 'em
it's the resurrection; they must kiss their last, and come to
Moby Dick |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: hot and cold, and supplied the land with all things needed for the life of
man. Here he begat a family consisting of five pairs of twin male
children. The eldest was Atlas, and him he made king of the centre island,
while to his twin brother, Eumelus, or Gadeirus, he assigned that part of
the country which was nearest the Straits. The other brothers he made
chiefs over the rest of the island. And their kingdom extended as far as
Egypt and Tyrrhenia. Now Atlas had a fair posterity, and great treasures
derived from mines--among them that precious metal orichalcum; and there
was abundance of wood, and herds of elephants, and pastures for animals of
all kinds, and fragrant herbs, and grasses, and trees bearing fruit. These
they used, and employed themselves in constructing their temples, and
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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 Across The Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson: [1882.]
CHAPTER IV - EPILOGUE TO "AN INLAND VOYAGE"
THE country where they journeyed, that green, breezy valley of the
Loing, is one very attractive to cheerful and solitary people. The
weather was superb; all night it thundered and lightened, and the
rain fell in sheets; by day, the heavens were cloudless, the sun
fervent, the air vigorous and pure. They walked separate: the
Cigarette plodding behind with some philosophy, the lean Arethusa
posting on ahead. Thus each enjoyed his own reflections by the
way; each had perhaps time to tire of them before he met his
comrade at the designated inn; and the pleasures of society and
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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 Critias by Plato: the Republic; and that though he speaks of the common pursuits of men and
women, he says nothing of the community of wives and children.
It is singular that Plato should have prefixed the most detested of
Athenian names to this dialogue, and even more singular that he should have
put into the mouth of Socrates a panegyric on him (Tim.). Yet we know that
his character was accounted infamous by Xenophon, and that the mere
acquaintance with him was made a subject of accusation against Socrates.
We can only infer that in this, and perhaps in some other cases, Plato's
characters have no reference to the actual facts. The desire to do honour
to his own family, and the connection with Solon, may have suggested the
introduction of his name. Why the Critias was never completed, whether
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