| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poems of William Blake by William Blake: Ah! Thel is like a watry bow, and like a parting cloud,
Like a reflection in a glass: like shadows in the water
Like dreams of infants, like a smile upon an infants face.
Like the doves voice, like transient day, like music in the air:
Ah! gentle may I lay me down and gentle rest my head.
And gentle sleep the sleep of death, and gently hear the voice
Of him that walketh in the garden in the evening time.
The Lilly of the valley breathing in the humble grass
Answerd the lovely maid and said: I am a watry weed,
And I am very small and love to dwell in lowly vales:
So weak the gilded butterfly scarce perches on my head
Poems of William Blake |
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 Agesilaus by Xenophon: he proposed a series of prizes: one set for the cavalry squadron which
rode best, another for the heavy infantry divisions which presented
the best physique, another again for various light troops, peltasts,
and bowmen, which showed themselves most efficient in their respective
duties.
[12] B.C. 395; see "Hell." III. iv. 16; Plut. "Marcel." (Clough, ii.
262); Polyb. xii. 20, 7.
Thereupon it was a sight to see the gymnasiums thronged with warriors
going through their exercises, the racecourses crowded with troopers
on prancing steeds, the archers and the javelin men shooting at the
butts. Nay, the whole city in which he lay was transformed into a
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