| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: The orphans of those who had fallen in the war (Thuc. ii. 46) were
specially cared for.
[11] Or, "help to swell the state exchequer."
III
At this point I propose to offer some remarks in proof of the
attractions and advantages of Athens as a centre of commercial
enterprise. In the first place, it will hardly be denied that we
possess the finest and safest harbourage for shipping, where vessels
of all sorts can come to moorings and be laid up in absolute
security[1] as far as stress of weather is concerned. But further than
that, in most states the trader is under the necessity of lading his
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Macbeth by William Shakespeare: With twenty trenched gashes on his head;
The least a Death to Nature
Macb. Thankes for that:
There the growne Serpent lyes, the worme that's fled
Hath Nature that in time will Venom breed,
No teeth for th' present. Get thee gone, to morrow
Wee'l heare our selues againe.
Exit Murderer.
Lady. My Royall Lord,
You do not giue the Cheere, the Feast is sold
That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a making:
Macbeth |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: on Ares the destroyer, because he is fair and straight of
limb, but as for me, feeble was I born. Howbeit, there is
none to blame but my father and mother,--would they had
never begotten me! But now shall ye see where these have
gone up into my bed, and sleep together in love; and I am
troubled at the sight. Yet, methinks, they will not care to
lie thus even for a little while longer, despite their
great love. Soon will they have no desire to sleep
together, but the snare and the bond shall hold them, till
her sire give back to me the gifts of wooing, one and all,
those that I bestowed upon him for the hand of his
The Odyssey |
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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: money, and so wear them out, and consume them insensibly; when they had
wasted their strength upon one another, they would both become ready to
submit to the king. Tisaphernes readily pursued his counsel, and so
openly expressed the liking and admiration which he had for him, that
Alcibiades was looked up to by the Greeks of both parties, and the
Athenians, now in their misfortunes, repented them of their severe
sentence against him. And he, on the other side, began to be troubled
for them, and to fear lest, if that commonwealth were utterly destroyed,
he should fall into the hands of the Lacedaemonians, his enemies.
At that time the whole strength of the Athenians was in Samos. Their
fleet maintained itself here, and issued from these head-quarters to
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