| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: which receive payment are likewise to be comprehended under the notion of
wealth, also touches a question of modern political economy. (5) The
distinction of post hoc and propter hoc, often lost sight of in modern as
well as in ancient times. These metaphysical conceptions and distinctions
show considerable power of thought in the writer, whatever we may think of
his merits as an imitator of Plato.
ERYXIAS
by
Platonic Imitator (see Appendix II above)
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates, Eryxias, Erasistratus, Critias.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells: was a vast array of idols--Polynesian, Mexican, Grecian,
Phoenician, every country on earth I should think. And here,
yielding to an irresistible impulse, I wrote my name upon the
nose of a steatite monster from South America that particularly
took my fancy.
`As the evening drew on, my interest waned. I went through
gallery after gallery, dusty, silent, often ruinous, the exhibits
sometimes mere heaps of rust and lignite, sometimes fresher. In
one place I suddenly found myself near the model of a tin-mine,
and then by the merest accident I discovered, in an air-tight
case, two dynamite cartridges! I shouted "Eureka!" and smashed
The Time Machine |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: uncontrollable passion by the recollections which this speech
excited--"why stop you me with such follies?"
The terrified clerk of the chamber-door, astonished at the burst
of resentment he had so unconsciously produced, dropped his staff
of office from his hand, and gazed on the incensed Earl with a
foolish face of wonder and terror, which instantly recalled
Leicester to himself.
"I meant but to try if thou hadst the audacity which befits thine
office," said he hastily. "Come to Kenilworth, and bring the
devil with thee, if thou wilt."
"My wife, sir, hath played the devil ere now, in a Mystery, in
Kenilworth |
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 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: such multitudes as not to be resisted, or, at least, to come so
many and so often as would quite desolate the island, and starve
them. Will Atkins, therefore, who notwithstanding his wound kept
always with them, proved the best counsellor in this case: his
advice was, to take the advantage that offered, and step in between
them and their boats, and so deprive them of the capacity of ever
returning any more to plague the island. They consulted long about
this; and some were against it for fear of making the wretches fly
to the woods and live there desperate, and so they should have them
to hunt like wild beasts, be afraid to stir out about their
business, and have their plantations continually rifled, all their
Robinson Crusoe |
