| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: seriously. But in the sixth book his enmity towards the Sophists abates;
he acknowledges that they are the representatives rather than the
corrupters of the world. He also becomes more dogmatic and constructive,
passing beyond the range either of the political or the speculative ideas
of the real Socrates. In one passage Plato himself seems to intimate that
the time had now come for Socrates, who had passed his whole life in
philosophy, to give his own opinion and not to be always repeating the
notions of other men. There is no evidence that either the idea of good or
the conception of a perfect state were comprehended in the Socratic
teaching, though he certainly dwelt on the nature of the universal and of
final causes (cp. Xen. Mem.; Phaedo); and a deep thinker like him, in his
The Republic |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: grandfather, and read it to-night; it was on the whole much
appreciated, and I kind of hope it ain't bad myself. 'Tis a
third writing, but it wants a fourth. By next mail, I
believe I might send you 3 chapters. That is to say FAMILY
ANNALS, THE SERVICE OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, and THE BUILDING
OF THE BELL ROCK. Possibly even 4 - A HOUSEFUL OF BOYS. I
could finish my grandfather very easy now; my father and
Uncle Alan stop the way. I propose to call the book:
NORTHERN LIGHTS: MEMOIRS OF A FAMILY of ENGINEERS. I tell
you, it is going to be a good book. My idea in sending Ms.
would be to get it set up; two proofs to me, one to Professor
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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 Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: the talk of the town for a whole winter. But her husband's great
fortune, great name, and high position, but for the admirable
management of that true statesman--whose conduct to his wife, they
say, was perfect--she would have been ruined; in her position no other
woman would have remained respected as she is."
"And how was Sancerre when you came away?" asked Madame de la
Baudraye, to change the subject.
"Monsieur de la Baudraye announced that your expected confinement
after so many years made it necessary that it should take place in
Paris, and that he had insisted on your going to be attended by the
first physicians," replied Monsieur de Clagny, guessing what it was
The Muse of the Department |
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 Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: myself, were the sisters of the men who fought at Marathon and
Salamis; the mothers of many a man among the ten thousand whom
Xenophon led back from Babylon to the Black Sea shore; the
ancestresses of many a man who conquered the East in Alexander's
host, and fought with Porus in the far Punjab. And were these
women mere dolls? These men mere gladiators? Were they not the
parents of philosophy, science, poetry, the plastic arts? We talk
of education now. Are we more educated than were the ancient
Greeks? Do we know anything about education, physical,
intellectual, or aesthetic, and I may say moral likewise--
religious education, of course, in our sense of the world, they
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