| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Theaetetus by Plato: form arising out of the several combinations of harmonious elements--of
letters or of any other elements.
THEAETETUS: Very good.
SOCRATES: And it must have no parts.
THEAETETUS: Why?
SOCRATES: Because that which has parts must be a whole of all the parts.
Or would you say that a whole, although formed out of the parts, is a
single notion different from all the parts?
THEAETETUS: I should.
SOCRATES: And would you say that all and the whole are the same, or
different?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: quam plurimas civitates suo beneficio habere obstrictas volebat. Itaque
rem suscipit et a Sequanis impetrat ut per fines suos Helvetios ire
patiantur, obsidesque uti inter sese dent perficit: Sequani, ne itinere
Helvetios prohibeant, Helvetii, ut sine maleficio et iniuria transeant.
Caesari renuntiatur Helvetiis esse in animo per agrum Sequanorum et
Haeduorum iter in Santonum fines facere, qui non longe a Tolosatium
finibus absunt, quae civitas est in provincia. Id si fieret, intellegebat
magno cum periculo provinciae futurum ut homines bellicosos, populi Romani
inimicos, locis patentibus maximeque frumentariis finitimos haberet. Ob
eas causas ei munitioni quam fecerat T. Labienum legatum praeficit; ipse
in Italiam magnis itineribus contendit duasque ibi legiones conscribit et
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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 Gambara by Honore de Balzac: haughty and overbearing mistress, with whom you have struggled for him
to this day.
"Once, for an instant, you had a vision of happiness. Paolo, tumbling
from the lofty sphere where his spirit was constantly soaring, was
amazed to find reality so sweet; you fancied that his madness would be
lulled in the arms of love. But before long Music again clutched her
prey. The dazzling mirage which had cheated you into the joys of
reciprocal love made the lonely path on which you had started look
more desolate and barren.
"In the tale your husband has just told me, I could read, as plainly
as in the contrast between your looks and his, all the painful secrets
Gambara |
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 Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: The Chevalier put his hand over his eyes not to betray the vexation he
felt at his sister-in-law's short-sightedness, for she was ruining
herself by her answers. Popinot had gone straight to the mark in spite
of his apparent doublings.
"Madame," said the lawyer, indicating the Chevalier, "this gentleman,
of course, is your near connection? May we speak openly before these
other gentlemen?"
"Speak on," said the Marquise, surprised at this caution.
"Well, madame, granting that you spend only sixty thousand francs a
year, to any one who sees your stables, your house, your train of
servants, and a style of housekeeping which strikes me as far more
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