| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: "Wherefore all the more, O lady, lend my lays an ever-living
charm" (H. A. J. Munro).
That a soul whose bloom is visible alike in beauty of external form,
free and unfettered, and an inner disposition, bashful, generous; a
spirit[32] at once imperial and affable,[33] born to rule among its
fellows--that such a being will, of course, admire and fondly cling to
his beloved, is a thesis which needs no further argument on my part.
Rather I will essay to teach you, how it is natural that this same
type of lover should in turn be loved by his soul's idol.[34]
[32] Cf. Plat. "Phaedr." 252 E.
[33] The epithet {philophron} occurs "Mem." III. i. 6, of a general;
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;
And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.
I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.
XVII
The Land of Nod
A Child's Garden of Verses |
