| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: bear in mind the peculiarity of our attitude to any art. No art
produces illusion; in the theatre we never forget that we are in
the theatre; and while we read a story, we sit wavering between two
minds, now merely clapping our hands at the merit of the
performance, now condescending to take an active part in fancy with
the characters. This last is the triumph of romantic story-
telling: when the reader consciously plays at being the hero, the
scene is a good scene. Now in character-studies the pleasure that
we take is critical; we watch, we approve, we smile at
incongruities, we are moved to sudden heats of sympathy with
courage, suffering or virtue. But the characters are still
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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 Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: out of the mists and clouds. You dream of the Fate God
has prepared for you in His mysterious Providence.
It's funny how that idea persists even today in novels.
As a matter of fact we know that the old-fashioned girl
met her Fate because her shrewd mother planned the
meeting--planned it with cunning and stratagem. You're
alone in a great modern city, with all the conditions
of the life of the old regime reversed or blotted out.
Your mother is not here. And if she were, her schemes
to bring about the mysterious meeting of the Fates
would be impossible. You outgrew the limits of your
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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 Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: humility, and on a prompt obedience, running, or at any rate not
crawling with laggard step, at the word of command. Such an example of
eager discipline, they are persuaded, set by themselves, will not fail
to be followed by the rest. And this is precisely what has taken
place. It[4] is reasonable to suppose that it was these same noblest
members of the state who combined[5] to lay the foundation of the
ephorate, after they had come to the conclusion themselves, that of
all the blessings which a state, or an army, or a household, can
enjoy, obedience is the greatest. Since, as they could not but reason,
the greater the power with which men fence about authority, the
greater the fascination it will exercise upon the mind of the citizen,
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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 Lesser Hippias by Plato: man will be he, for he is able to be false; whereas the bad is unable, and
for this reason is not false, as has been admitted.
HIPPIAS: True.
SOCRATES: Once more--let us examine a third case; that of the astronomer,
in whose art, again, you, Hippias, profess to be a still greater proficient
than in the preceding--do you not?
HIPPIAS: Yes, I am.
SOCRATES: And does not the same hold of astronomy?
HIPPIAS: True, Socrates.
SOCRATES: And in astronomy, too, if any man be able to speak falsely he
will be the good astronomer, but he who is not able will not speak falsely,
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