| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Confessio Amantis by John Gower: The goddesse of batailles hote
She was, and yit sche berth the name.
Now loke, hou they be forto blame. 1220
Saturnus after his exil
Fro Crete cam in gret peril
Into the londes of Ytaile,
And ther he dede gret mervaile,
Wherof his name duelleth yit.
For he fond of his oghne wit
The ferste craft of plowh tilinge,
Of Eringe and of corn sowinge,
Confessio Amantis |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: emendation of the MS. {sundikasai}; see Demosthenes, 1137, 1.
[17] Reading {oste}, lit. "so as to get a far less just judgment."
But besides this we cannot escape the conclusion that the Athenians
have their festivals to keep, during which the courts cannot sit.[18]
As a matter of fact these festivals are twice as numerous as those of
any other people. But I will reckon them as merely equal to those of
the state which has the fewest.
[18] Lit. "it is not possible to give judgment"; or, "for juries to
sit."
This being so, I maintain that it is not possible for business affairs
at Athens to stand on any very different footing from the present,
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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 The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Glass Cat curled up on a bench as bright and clean and transparent as
ever. But she pretended not to notice them, and they passed her by
without remark.
21. The College of Athletic Arts
Dorothy and her friends arrived at the Royal Palace at an opportune
time, for Ozma was holding high court in her Throne Room, where
Professor H. M. Wogglebug, T.E., was appealing to her to punish some of
the students of the Royal Athletic College, of which he was the Principal.
This College is located in the Munchkin Country, but not far from
the Emerald City. To enable the students to devote their entire time
to athletic exercises, such as boating, foot-ball, and the like,
The Magic of Oz |
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 Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: I had finished studying the law in Paris in 1836. I lived at that time
in the Rue Corneille in a house where none but students came to lodge,
one of those large houses where there is a winding staircase quite at
the back lighted below from the street, higher up by borrowed lights,
and at the top by a skylight. There were forty furnished rooms--
furnished as students' rooms are! What does youth demand more than was
here supplied? A bed, a few chairs, a chest of drawers, a looking-
glass, and a table. As soon as the sky is blue the student opens his
window.
But in this street there are no fair neighbors to flirt with. In front
is the Odeon, long since closed, presenting a wall that is beginning
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