| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: the argument, when my brother and I told you how astonished we were to find
that of all the professing panegyrists of justice--beginning with the
ancient heroes of whom any memorial has been preserved to us, and ending
with the men of our own time--no one has ever blamed injustice or praised
justice except with a view to the glories, honours, and benefits which flow
from them. No one has ever adequately described either in verse or prose
the true essential nature of either of them abiding in the soul, and
invisible to any human or divine eye; or shown that of all the things of a
man's soul which he has within him, justice is the greatest good, and
injustice the greatest evil. Had this been the universal strain, had you
sought to persuade us of this from our youth upwards, we should not have
The Republic |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: and suffocating me--I cannot!
And then suddenly I wake up, shaken and bathed in perspiration; I
light a candle and find that I am alone, and after that crisis,
which occurs every night, I at length fall asleep and slumber
tranquilly till morning.
June 2. My state has grown worse. What is the matter with me? The
bromide does me no good, and the shower-baths have no effect
whatever. Sometimes, in order to tire myself out, though I am
fatigued enough already, I go for a walk in the forest of
Roumare. I used to think at first that the fresh light and soft
air, impregnated with the odor of herbs and leaves, would instill
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