| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: him, which could be felt if not defined, the counsel uttered his last
words in a tone of passionate excitement caused by his conviction:--
"In the name of the accused," he cried, "I forgive you for the fatal
error you are about to commit, and which nothing can repair! We are
the victims of some mysterious and Machiavellian power. Marthe Michu
was inveigled by vile perfidy. You will discover this too late, when
the evil you now do will be irreparable."
Bordin simply claimed the acquittal of the prisoners on the testimony
of the senator himself.
The president summed up the case with all the more impartiality
because it was evident that the minds of the jurors were already made
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: and threats of the reason.
The liver is imagined by Plato to be a smooth and bright substance, having
a store of sweetness and also of bitterness, which reason freely uses in
the execution of her mandates. In this region, as ancient superstition
told, were to be found intimations of the future. But Plato is careful to
observe that although such knowledge is given to the inferior parts of man,
it requires to be interpreted by the superior. Reason, and not enthusiasm,
is the true guide of man; he is only inspired when he is demented by some
distemper or possession. The ancient saying, that 'only a man in his
senses can judge of his own actions,' is approved by modern philosophy too.
The same irony which appears in Plato's remark, that 'the men of old time
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