| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: tamen multa Caesarem ad id bellum incitabant: iniuria retentorum equitum
Romanorum, rebellio facta post deditionem, defectio datis obsidibus, tot
civitatum coniuratio, in primis ne hac parte neglecta reliquae nationes
sibi idem licere arbitrarentur. Itaque cum intellegeret omnes fere Gallos
novis rebus studere et ad bellum mobiliter celeriterque excitari, omnes
autem homines natura libertati studere et condicionem servitutis odisse,
prius quam plures civitates conspirarent, partiendum sibi ac latius
distribuendum exercitum putavit.
Itaque T. Labienum legatum in Treveros, qui proximi flumini Rheno
sunt, cum equitatu mittit. Huic imandat, Remos reliquosque Belgas adeat
atque in officio contineat Germanosque, qui auxilio a Belgis arcessiti
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: The more the number of artists increases, the more careful and
exacting the jury of admission ought to be.
The true character of the Salon was lost as soon as it spread along
the galleries. The Salon should have remained within fixed limits of
inflexible proportions, where each distinct specialty could show its
masterpieces only. An experience of ten years has shown the excellence
of the former institution. Now, instead of a tournament, we have a
mob; instead of a noble exhibition, we have a tumultuous bazaar;
instead of a choice selection we have a chaotic mass. What is the
result? A great artist is swamped. Decamps' "Turkish Cafe," "Children
at a Fountain," "Joseph," and "The Torture," would have redounded far
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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 White Moll by Frank L. Packard: her place, his eyes to the crack in the panel.
She heard a low, quick-muttered exclamation from the Pug; and then
suddenly, as the lamp was obviously extinguished, that crack of
light in the panel had vanished. But in an instant, curiously like
a jagged lightning flash, light showed through the crack again - and
vanished again. It was the flash of a revolver shot from within,
and the roar of the report came now like the roll of thunder on its
heels.
Rhoda Gray was back against the opposite wall. She saw the Pug
fling himself against the door. It was a flimsy affair. It
crashed inward. She heard him call to Pinkie:
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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 Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: Mellins, still flushed with the importance of her "turn," seemed
the most interesting guest they could invite.
As the three women seated themselves at the supper-table,
embellished by the unwonted addition of pound cake and sweet
pickles, the dress-maker's sharp swarthy person stood out vividly
between the neutral-tinted sisters. Miss Mellins was a small woman
with a glossy yellow face and a frizz of black hair bristling with
imitation tortoise-shell pins. Her sleeves had a fashionable cut,
and half a dozen metal bangles rattled on her wrists. Her voice
rattled like her bangles as she poured forth a stream of anecdote
and ejaculation; and her round black eyes jumped with acrobatic
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