The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: " 'Is it possible?' asked Desroches; 'why, he is tied more than ever
to Mme. Roguin.'
" 'TIED--he?--You do not know him.'
" 'Do you know how Nucingen and du Tillet stand?' asked Desroches.
" 'Like this,' said Taillefer; 'Nucingen is just the man to swallow
down his old master's capital, and then to disgorge it.'
" 'Ugh! ugh!' coughed Werbrust, 'these churches are confoundedly damp;
ugh! ugh! What do you mean by "disgorge it"?'
" 'Well, Nucingen knows that du Tillet has a lot of money; he wants to
marry him to Malvina; but du Tillet is shy of Nucingen. To a looker-
on, the game is good fun.'
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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 The Cavalry General by Xenophon: III
I come at length to certain duties which devolve upon the general of
cavalry himself in person: and first and foremost, it concerns him to
obtain the favour of the gods by sacrifices in behalf of the state
cavalry; and in the next place to make the great procession at the
festivals a spectacle worth seeing; and further, with regard to all
those public shows demanded by the state, wherever held,[1] whether in
the grounds of the Acadamy or the Lyceum, at Phaleron or within the
hippodrome, it is his business as commander of the knights to see that
every pageant of the sort is splendidly exhibited.
[1] Cf. Theophr. "Ch." vii. (Jebb ad loc. p. 204, n. 25).
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