| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: meant no offence, but his intercourse was charac-
terised by that sort of frank disregard of suscepti-
bilities a man of seven foot six, living in a world of
dwarfs, would naturally assume, without in the
least wishing to be unkind. But amongst men of
his own stature, or nearly, this frank use of his ad-
vantages, in such matters as the awful towage bills
for instance, caused much impotent gnashing of
teeth. When attentively considered it seemed ap-
palling at times. He was a strange beast. But
maybe women liked it. Seen in that light he was
Falk |
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 On Horsemanship by Xenophon: [5] {agein bia}, vi agere, vi uti, Sturz; al. "go his own gait by
sheer force."
A spirited horse should be kept in check, so that he does not dash off
at full speed; and on the same principle, you should absolutely
abstain from setting him to race against another; as a general rule,
your fiery-spirited horse is only too fond of contention.[6]
[6] Reading {skhedon gar kai phil oi thum}, or if {. . . oi thil kai
th.} transl. "the more eager and ambitious a horse is, the more
mettlesome he will tend to become."
Smooth bits are better and more serviceable than rough; if a rough bit
be inserted at all, it must be made to resemble a smooth one as much
On Horsemanship |
