| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: where the rope had bruised it. His eyes felt congested; he
could no longer close them. His tongue was swollen with
thirst; he relieved its fever by thrusting it forward from
between his teeth into the cold air. How softly the turf had
carpeted the untraveled avenue -- he could no longer feel the
roadway beneath his feet!
Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while
walking, for now he sees another scene -- perhaps he has
merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of
his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and
beautiful in the morning sunshine. He must have traveled the
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: Restitutus," vol. i. 333; G. Sauppe, "Append. de Frag. Xen." p.
293; probably by Antisthenes (Bergk. ii. 497).
[5] Or, "such technical work is for the most part sedentary."
Lycurgus pursued a different path. Clothes were things, he held, the
furnishing of which might well enough be left to female slaves. And,
believing that the highest function of a free woman was the bearing of
children, in the first place he insisted on the training of the body
as incumbent no less on the female than the male; and in pursuit of
the same idea instituted rival contests in running and feats of
strength for women as for men. His belief was that where both parents
were strong their progeny would be found to be more vigorous.
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