Today's Stichomancy for H. P. Lovecraft

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato:

equivalent to legein. And therefore, as I was saying, in the Attic dialect the heroes turn out to be rhetoricians and questioners. All this is easy enough; the noble breed of heroes are a tribe of sophists and rhetors. But can you tell me why men are called anthropoi?--that is more difficult.

HERMOGENES: No, I cannot; and I would not try even if I could, because I think that you are the more likely to succeed.

SOCRATES: That is to say, you trust to the inspiration of Euthyphro.

HERMOGENES: Of course.

SOCRATES: Your faith is not vain; for at this very moment a new and ingenious thought strikes me, and, if I am not careful, before to-morrow's dawn I shall be wiser than I ought to be. Now, attend to me; and first,

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad:

gone mad! I suppose the end of the world will be something like that; and a man may have the heart to see it coming once and be done with it - but to have to face it day after day - I don't blame anybody. I was precious little better than the rest. Only - I was an officer of that old coal-waggon, anyhow - "

"I quite understand," I conveyed that sincere assurance into his ear. He was out of breath with whispering; I could hear him pant slightly. It was all very simple. The same strung-up force which had given twenty-four men a chance, at least, for their lives, had, in a sort of recoil, crushed an unworthy mutinous existence.

But I had no leisure to weigh the merits of the matter - footsteps

'Twixt Land & Sea

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon:

to be captured in foreign countries--about Mount Pangaeus and Cittus beyond Macedonia;[1] or again, in Nysa beyond Syria, and upon other mountains suited to the breeding of large game.

[1] Of these places, Mt. Pangaeus (mod. Pirnari) (see "Hell." V. ii. 17), Cittus (s. Cissus, mod. Khortiatzi), N. W. of the Chalcidice, Mysian Olympus, and Pindus are well known. Nysa has not been verified hitherto, I think. Sturz cf. Bochart, "Hieroz." Part I. lib. iii. c. 1, p. 722. Strabo, 637 (xv. 1. 7), mentions a Mount Nysa in India sacred to Dionysus, and cites Soph. "Frag." 782--

{othen kateidon ton bebakkhiomenen brotoisi kleinon Nusan . . . k.t.l.},

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 Eryxias by Platonic Imitator:

weak. There is no power over language, or beauty of style; and there is a certain abruptness and agroikia in the conversation, which is very un- Platonic. The best passage is probably that about the poets:--the remark that the poet, who is of a reserved disposition, is uncommonly difficult to understand, and the ridiculous interpretation of Homer, are entirely in the spirit of Plato (compare Protag; Ion; Apol.). The characters are ill- drawn. Socrates assumes the 'superior person' and preaches too much, while Alcibiades is stupid and heavy-in-hand. There are traces of Stoic influence in the general tone and phraseology of the Dialogue (compare opos melesei tis...kaka: oti pas aphron mainetai): and the writer seems to have been acquainted with the 'Laws' of Plato (compare Laws). An incident