| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: forgery of later times.
ION
by
Plato
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates, Ion.
SOCRATES: Welcome, Ion. Are you from your native city of Ephesus?
ION: No, Socrates; but from Epidaurus, where I attended the festival of
Asclepius.
SOCRATES: And do the Epidaurians have contests of rhapsodes at the
festival?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: the notary's confidences, was at once assailed with, "Was I not right,
dear?"--a wifely formula used on all occasions, but rather more
vehemently when the fair speaker is in the wrong. By the time they
reached home, Camusot had admitted the superiority of his partner in
life, and appreciated his good fortune in belonging to her; which
confession, doubtless, was the prelude of a blissful night.
Chesnel met his foes in a body as they left du Croisier's house, and
began to fear that du Croisier had gone to bed. In his position he was
compelled to act quickly, and any delay was a misfortune.
"In the King's name!" he cried, as the man-servant was closing the
hall door. He had just brought the King on the scene for the benefit
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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 The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: is its reliance on the progress already achieved by "Man." There
is no such thing as Man in the world: what we have to deal with
is a multitude of men, some of them great rascals, some of them
greet statesmen, others both, with a vast majority capable of
managing their personal affairs, but not of comprehending social
organization, or grappling with the problems created by their
association in enormous numbers. If "Man" means this majority,
then "Man" has made no progress: he has, on the contrary,
resisted it. He will not even pay the cost of existing
institutions: the requisite money has to be filched from him by
"indirect taxation." Such people, like Wagner's giants; must be
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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 Talisman by Walter Scott: of in the councils held in the vaults of your Preceptories, as
something which infers the aggrandizement of thy valiant and
venerable Order?"
The Templar scowled upon him with an eye of death, but answered
calmly, "By whatever Temple I swear, be assured, Lord Marquis,
my oath is sacred. I would I knew how to bind THEE by one of
equal obligation."
"I will swear truth to thee," said the Marquis, laughing, "by the
earl's coronet, which I hope to convert, ere these wars are over,
into something better. It feels cold on my brow, that same
slight coronal; a duke's cap of maintenance were a better
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