The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: KING. - "And how much will it cost to make the change of arms?"
INVENTOR. - "Fifty millions."
KING. - "And the war will Cost - ?"
INVENTOR. - "But consider the glory and the spoils!"
KING. - "Exactly. But if I am not seeking these advantages? What
if I decline to purchase?"
INVENTOR. - "There is no economy in that. Though a patriot, I am
poor; if my own country will not patronise me, I must seek a market
elsewhere."
KING (to Prime Minister). - "Take this blackmailer and cut off his
head."
 Fantastic Fables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: him:--he wanted to know why you, who never before wrote a line of poetry,
now that you are in prison are turning Aesop's fables into verse, and also
composing that hymn in honour of Apollo.
Tell him, Cebes, he replied, what is the truth--that I had no idea of
rivalling him or his poems; to do so, as I knew, would be no easy task.
But I wanted to see whether I could purge away a scruple which I felt about
the meaning of certain dreams. In the course of my life I have often had
intimations in dreams 'that I should compose music.' The same dream came
to me sometimes in one form, and sometimes in another, but always saying
the same or nearly the same words: 'Cultivate and make music,' said the
dream. And hitherto I had imagined that this was only intended to exhort
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