| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: Mr. Smith put the glass down. He stood before Powell unharmed,
quieted down, in a listening attitude, his head inclined on one
side, chewing his thin lips. Suddenly he blinked queerly, grabbed
Powell's shoulder and collapsed, subsiding all at once as though he
had gone soft all over, as a piece of silk stuff collapses. Powell
seized his arm instinctively and checked his fall; but as soon as
Mr. Smith was fairly on the floor he jerked himself free and backed
away. Almost as quick he rushed forward again and tried to lift up
the body. But directly he raised his shoulders he knew that the man
was dead! Dead!
He lowered him down gently. He stood over him without fear or any
Chance |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: exactly what they had to do. He imagined he was merely
recapitulating the obvious features of the situation for their
convenience. He was dressed in ill-fitting white silk clothes,
and he consulted a dingy little packet of notes as he spoke.
They put him out. He explained that he had never spoken from
notes before, but that this occasion was exceptional.
And then King Egbert spoke as he was expected to speak, and
Leblanc's spectacles moistened at that flow of generous
sentiment, most amiably and lightly expressed. 'We haven't to
stand on ceremony,' said the king, 'we have to govern the world.
We have always pretended to govern the world and here is our
The Last War: A World Set Free |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: this many brave men who are here interred lost their lives--many of them
had won victories in Sicily, whither they had gone over the seas to fight
for the liberties of the Leontines, to whom they were bound by oaths; but,
owing to the distance, the city was unable to help them, and they lost
heart and came to misfortune, their very enemies and opponents winning more
renown for valour and temperance than the friends of others. Many also
fell in naval engagements at the Hellespont, after having in one day taken
all the ships of the enemy, and defeated them in other naval engagements.
And what I call the terrible and desperate nature of the war, is that the
other Hellenes, in their extreme animosity towards the city, should have
entered into negotiations with their bitterest enemy, the king of Persia,
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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 Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: life; and he declaimed, for the benefit of the proconsul, this line
from a contemporaneous poet:
Nec crescit, nec post mortem durare videtur.
By this time Aulus was leaning over the side of the pavilion, with
pale face, a perspiring brow, and both hands outspread on his stomach.
The Sadducees pretended to be deeply moved at the sight of his
suffering, thinking that perhaps the next day the offices of
sacrificers would be theirs. Antipas appeared to be in despair at his
guest's agony. Vitellius preserved a calm demeanour, although he felt
some anxiety, for the loss of his son would mean the loss of his
fortune.
Herodias |
