| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: other writings of Plato, throw a doubt on the genuineness of the work. The
Symposium of Xenophon, if written by him at all, would certainly show that
he wrote against Plato, and was acquainted with his works. Of this
hostility there is no trace in the Memorabilia. Such a rivalry is more
characteristic of an imitator than of an original writer. The (so-called)
Symposium of Xenophon may therefore have no more title to be regarded as
genuine than the confessedly spurious Apology.
There are no means of determining the relative order in time of the
Phaedrus, Symposium, Phaedo. The order which has been adopted in this
translation rests on no other principle than the desire to bring together
in a series the memorials of the life of Socrates.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: then yet more completely before the arms of his yet more warlike son, who
was also the son of the fierce, virile, and indomitable Olympia. (Like
almost all men remarkable for either good or evil, Alexander inherited from
his mother his most notable qualities--his courage, his intellectual
activity, and an ambition indifferent to any means that made for his own
end. Fearless in her life, she fearlessly met death "with a courage worthy
of her rank and domineering character, when her hour of retribution came";
and Alexander is incomprehensible till we recognise him as rising from the
womb of Olympia.) Nor could she have been swept clean, a few hundred years
later, from Thessaly to Sparta, from Corinth to Ephesus, her temples
destroyed, her effete women captured by the hordes of the Goths--a people
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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 Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: Eunice came to the house she discussed with pleasant intimacy the fact that
she had been forbidden to come to the house; and Babbitt tried, with no
success whatever, to be fatherly and advisory with her.
III
"Gosh all fishhooks!" Ted wailed to Eunice, as they wolfed hot chocolate,
lumps of nougat, and an assortment of glace nuts, in the mosaic splendor of
the Royal Drug Store, "it gets me why Dad doesn't just pass out from being so
poky. Every evening he sits there, about half-asleep, and if Rone or I say,
'Oh, come on, let's do something,' he doesn't even take the trouble to think
about it. He just yawns and says, 'Naw, this suits me right here.' He
doesn't know there's any fun going on anywhere. I suppose he must do some
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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 The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: and your friend. Do you know this?"
He held up a thick gold ring, set with a fairly good emerald.
"I have seen it before on the Rajah's finger," said Lingard,
looking very grave.
"It is the witness of the truth I speak--the message from Hassim
is--'Depart and forget!'"
"I don't forget," said Lingard, slowly. "I am not that kind of
man. What folly is this?"
It is unnecessary to give at full length the story told by
Jaffir. It appears that on his return home, after the meeting
with Lingard, Hassim found his relative dying and a strong party
The Rescue |
