| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: succeeded? Might I not have accepted such generosity as a debt? But,
doctor," and the Count smiled with deep irony, "it is not for nothing
that we teach them arithmetic and how to count. At this moment perhaps
they are waiting for my money."
"O Monsieur le Comte, how could such an idea enter your head--you who
are kind, friendly, and humane! Indeed, if I were not myself a living
proof of the benevolence you exercise so liberally and so nobly--"
"To please myself," replied the Count. "I pay for a sensation, as I
would to-morrow pay a pile of gold to recover the most childish
illusion that would but make my heart glow.--I help my fellow-
creatures for my own sake, just as I gamble; and I look for gratitude
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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 Economist by Xenophon: asked for something back.[13] The mere look and aspect of things will
argue what wants mending;[14] and the fact of knowing where each thing
is will be like having it put into one's hand at once to use without
further trouble or debate."
[12] {dokimasometha}, "we will write over each in turn, as it were,
'examined and approved.'"
[13] Lit. "will miss the thing that is not."
[14] "Detect what needs attention."
I must tell you, Socrates, what strikes me as the finest and most
accurate arrangement of goods and furniture it was ever my fortune to
set eyes on; when I went as a sightseer on board the great Phoenician
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