| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: While we, whom reason ought to sway,
Mistake our talents every day:
The ass was never known so stupid
To act the part of Tray or Cupid;
Nor leaps upon his master's lap,
There to be stroked, and fed with pap:
As AEsop would the world persuade;
He better understands his trade:
Nor comes whene'er his lady whistles,
But carries loads, and feeds on thistles;
Our author's meaning, I presume, is
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: propterea quod quos aliquam diu inermes sine causa timuissent hos postea
armatos ac victores superassent. Denique hos esse eosdem Germanos
quibuscum saepe numero Helvetii congressi non solum in suis sed etiam in
illorum finibus plerumque superarint, qui tamen pares esse nostro
exercitui non potuerint. Si quos adversum proelium et fuga Gallorum
commoveret, hos, si quaererent, reperire posse diuturnitate belli
defatigatis Gallis Ariovistum, cum multos menses castris se ac paludibus
tenuisset neque sui potestatem fecisset, desperantes iam de pugna et
dispersos subito adortum magis ratione et consilio quam virtute vicisse.
Cui rationi contra homines barbaros atque imperitos locus fuisset, hac ne
ipsum quidem sperare nostros exercitus capi posse. Qui suum timorem in
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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 Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: eased away and the schooner played off before the wind.
The staysail was set. The "Bertha Millner" headed to southwest,
bowling easily ahead of a good eight-knot breeze.
Next came the order "All hands aft!" and Wilbur and his mates
betook themselves to the quarterdeck. Charlie took the wheel, and
he and Kitchell began to choose the men for their watches, just as
Wilbur remembered to have chosen sides for baseball during his
school days.
"Sonny, I'll choose you; you're on my watch," said the Captain to
Wilbur, "and I will assoom the ree-sponsibility of your nautical
eddoocation."
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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 Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: enjoyment even in one's own suffering, in causing one's own
suffering--and wherever man has allowed himself to be persuaded
to self-denial in the RELIGIOUS sense, or to self-mutilation, as
among the Phoenicians and ascetics, or in general, to
desensualisation, decarnalisation, and contrition, to Puritanical
repentance-spasms, to vivisection of conscience and to Pascal-
like SACRIFIZIA DELL' INTELLETO, he is secretly allured and
impelled forwards by his cruelty, by the dangerous thrill of
cruelty TOWARDS HIMSELF.--Finally, let us consider that even the
seeker of knowledge operates as an artist and glorifier of
cruelty, in that he compels his spirit to perceive AGAINST its
Beyond Good and Evil |
