| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: Forevermore be interchanged with all?
"But facts in proof are manifest," thou sayest,
"That all things grow into the winds of air
And forth from earth are nourished, and unless
The season favour at propitious hour
With rains enough to set the trees a-reel
Under the soak of bulking thunderheads,
And sun, for its share, foster and give heat,
No grains, nor trees, nor breathing things can grow."
True- and unless hard food and moisture soft
Recruited man, his frame would waste away,
Of The Nature of Things |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: in a state of composition, and sometimes of division: (2) The division or
distinction is sometimes heightened into total opposition, e.g. between one
and same, one and other: or (3) The idea, which has been already divided,
is regarded, like a number, as capable of further infinite subdivision:
(4) The argument often proceeds 'a dicto secundum quid ad dictum
simpliciter' and conversely: (5) The analogy of opposites is misused by
him; he argues indiscriminately sometimes from what is like, sometimes from
what is unlike in them: (6) The idea of being or not-being is identified
with existence or non-existence in place or time: (7) The same ideas are
regarded sometimes as in process of transition, sometimes as alternatives
or opposites: (8) There are no degrees or kinds of sameness, likeness,
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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 End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: curiously; and afterwards, after parting with him, he
remarked to an acquaintance--
"Queer person that Dutch tobacco-planter from Batu
Beru. Know anything of him?"
"Heaps of money," answered the bank manager. "I
hear he's going home by the next mail to form a com-
pany to take over his estates. Another tobacco district
thrown open. He's wise, I think. These good times
won't last for ever."
In the southern hemisphere Captain Whalley's daugh-
ter had no presentiment of evil when she opened the
End of the Tether |
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 Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: testified as much admiration for the talents as for the character of
his favorite pupil, who served as a conclusion to all his comparisons.
In fact, without any one being able to explain the ascendancy which
this young girl obtained over all who came in contact with her, she
exercised over the little world around her a prestige not unlike that
of Bonaparte upon his soldiers.
The aristocracy of the studio had for some days past resolved upon the
fall of this queen, but no one had, as yet, ventured to openly avoid
the Bonapartist. Mademoiselle Thirion's act was, therefore, a decisive
stroke, intended by her to force the others into becoming, openly, the
accomplices of her hatred. Though Ginevra was sincerely loved by
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