| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: immense. She received her society with the grace and dignity which are
never learned, but which come to certain naturally fine spirits like a
second nature; assimilating choice things wherever they are met. If
her reputation for virtue was unexplained, it gave at any rate much
authority to her actions, her conversation, and her character.
Mother and daughter had a true friendship for each other, beyond the
filial and maternal sentiment. They suited one another, and their
perpetual contact had never produced the slightest jar. Consequently
many persons explained Madame Evangelista's actions by maternal love.
But although Natalie consoled her mother's persistent widowhood, she
may not have been the only motive for it. Madame Evangelista had been,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: But now a new tumult arose just within the gates. A file of white
mules entered the courtyard, mounted by men in priestly garb. These
were the Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were drawn to Machaerus by
the same ambition: the one party hoping to be appointed public
sacrificers, the other determined to retain those offices. Their faces
were dark, particularly those of the Pharisees, who were enemies of
Rome and of the tetrarch. The flowing skirts of their tunics
embarrassed their movements as they attempted to pass through the
throng; and their tiaras sat unsteadily upon their brows, around which
were bound small bands of parchment, showing lines of writing.
Almost at the same moment, the soldiers of the advance guard arrived.
Herodias |
