Returning to Panel 1, the two figures at the right represent Lust, another of the strong forces of the early peoples.
You have now reached your first group beyond the gap.
The first figure is Greed, the third motive in this history of life. He has been holding onto the material things of life - there they are, rolled into a great ball. He realizes how futile his life has been and looks back upon the past, longing to retrace his steps and live to nobler purpose.
Then comes the old man who has the spiritual understanding, and he knows that the only hope for his companion is the realization of the spiritual, the consciousness of immortality, and so he gives to her the winged beetle, the symbol of renewed life.
The time has now arrived for her to leave her mortal life, and she passes into that sleep by which her material body is cast aside.
Thereby the man has his first sorrow. She whom he loved is gone, and he is cast down in despair - because his outlook is not a spiritual one.
The hand of Destiny has drawn these lives unto itself. The law has been fulfilled.
I have taken the liberty of culling the chief ideas from the article on the subject, written for the November "International Studio," adding a few ideas which seem consistent with the work before us.
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This fountain, done in pierced relief, is most decorative in the Court of the Ages. It is, from a technical standpoint, a most remarkable composition.