| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: smaller thing, unless you can suggest a better way.
THEAETETUS: Indeed I cannot.
STRANGER: Then suppose that we work out some lesser example which will be
a pattern of the greater?
THEAETETUS: Good.
STRANGER: What is there which is well known and not great, and is yet as
susceptible of definition as any larger thing? Shall I say an angler? He
is familiar to all of us, and not a very interesting or important person.
THEAETETUS: He is not.
STRANGER: Yet I suspect that he will furnish us with the sort of
definition and line of enquiry which we want.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: limpid nourishment. By the light of a lamp in the chimney corner,
Roger enjoyed the scene of peace and comfort, and gave himself up to
the happiness of contemplating the sweet picture of the child clinging
to Caroline's white bosom as she sat, as fresh as a newly opened lily,
while her hair fell in long brown curls that almost hid her neck. The
lamplight enhanced the grace of the young mother, shedding over her,
her dress, and the infant, the picturesque effects of strong light and
shadow.
The calm and silent woman's face struck Roger as a thousand times
sweeter than ever, and he gazed tenderly at the rosy, pouting lips
from which no harsh word had ever been heard. The very same thought
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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 Symposium by Plato: should go on to the sciences, until at last the vision is revealed to him
of a single science of universal beauty, and then he will behold the
everlasting nature which is the cause of all, and will be near the end. In
the contemplation of that supreme being of love he will be purified of
earthly leaven, and will behold beauty, not with the bodily eye, but with
the eye of the mind, and will bring forth true creations of virtue and
wisdom, and be the friend of God and heir of immortality.
Such, Phaedrus, is the tale which I heard from the stranger of Mantinea,
and which you may call the encomium of love, or what you please.
The company applaud the speech of Socrates, and Aristophanes is about to
say something, when suddenly a band of revellers breaks into the court, and
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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 Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: mouth and outstretched hands, would have liked to jump upon other
folk's heads, to get a better view. Above the crowd towered a bulky
butcher, admiring the whole process with the air of a connoisseur, and
exchanging brief remarks with a gunsmith, whom he addressed as
"Gossip," because he got drunk in the same alehouse with him on
holidays. Some entered into warm discussions, others even laid wagers.
But the majority were of the species who, all the world over, look on
at the world and at everything that goes on in it and merely scratch
their noses. In the front ranks, close to the bearded civic-guards,
stood a young noble, in warlike array, who had certainly put his whole
wardrobe on his back, leaving only his torn shirt and old shoes at his
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
