| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: fortify each other in their evil opinion of the King of England,
and vindicated the offence which each had taken, by putting the
most severe construction upon circumstances the most trifling;
and all this, perhaps, because they were conscious of an
instinctive reverence for the heroic monarch, which it would
require more than ordinary efforts to overcome.
They had settled, accordingly, that they should receive him on
his entrance with slight notice, and no more respect than was
exactly necessary to keep within the bounds of cold ceremonial.
But when they beheld that noble form, that princely countenance,
somewhat pale from his late illness-- the eye which had been
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: are cowards under the same conditions, as I should imagine.
LACHES: Very true.
SOCRATES: Now I was asking about courage and cowardice in general. And I
will begin with courage, and once more ask, What is that common quality,
which is the same in all these cases, and which is called courage? Do you
now understand what I mean?
LACHES: Not over well.
SOCRATES: I mean this: As I might ask what is that quality which is
called quickness, and which is found in running, in playing the lyre, in
speaking, in learning, and in many other similar actions, or rather which
we possess in nearly every action that is worth mentioning of arms, legs,
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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 Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: basis for allied intervention. Both parties were, of course,
wrong in so far as they thought the Allied Governments had
anything to do with it. Both the French and English
delegates were refused passports. This, however, was not
known in Moscow until after I left, and by then much had
happened. I think the Conference which founded the
Third International in Moscow had its origin in a desire to
counter any ill effects that might result from the expected
visit of the people of Berne.
Litvinov said he considered the sending of the Commission
from Berne the most dangerous weapon yet conceived by
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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 Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: sighs wearily at his hard fate.
The patron of the Third Company (there were five companies of
pilots at that time, I believe) is the brother-in-law of my
friend Solary (Baptistin), a broad-shouldered, deep-chested man
of forty, with a keen, frank glance which always seeks your eyes.
He greets me by a low, hearty, "He, l'ami. Comment va?" With
his clipped moustache and massive open face, energetic and at the
same time placid in expression, he is a fine specimen of the
southerner of the calm type. For there is such a type in which
the volatile southern passion is transmuted into solid force. He
is fair, but no one could mistake him for a man of the north even
Some Reminiscences |
