| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: his wild oats in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but
eighty thousand francs a year at the age of seventy, it is because I
ran through the capital at thirty. Oh! with my wife--in decency and
honor. However, your imperfections will not interfere with my
introducing you at the Pavillon Planat. Remember, you have promised to
come, and I shall expect you."
"What an odd little old man!" said Longueville to himself. "He is so
jolly and hale; but though he wishes to seem a good fellow, I will not
trust him too far."
Next day, at about four o'clock, when the house party were dispersed
in the drawing-rooms and billiard-room, a servant announced to the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: If by opposing winds 't is combated.
The infernal hurricane that never rests
Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;
Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.
When they arrive before the precipice,
There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments,
There they blaspheme the puissance divine.
I understood that unto such a torment
The carnal malefactors were condemned,
Who reason subjugate to appetite.
And as the wings of starlings bear them on
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
