| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: "As many as five," replied the man. "Criminal, the head of which was
Vidoeq; secret police, which keeps an eye on the other police, the
head of it being always unknown; political police,--that's Fouche's.
Then there's the police of Foreign Affairs, and finally, the palace
police (of the Emperor, Louis XVIII., etc.), always squabbling with
that of the quai Malaquais. It came to an end under Monsieur Decazes.
I belonged to the police of Louis XVIII.; I'd been in it since 1793,
with that poor Contenson."
The four gentlemen looked at each other with one thought: "How many
heads he must have brought to the scaffold!"
"Now-a-days, they are trying to get on without us. Folly!" continued
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: my ruin. And in the river Aegyptus I stayed my curved
ships. Then verily I bade my loved companions to abide
there by the ships, and to guard the ship, and I sent forth
scouts to range the points of outlook. Now they gave place
to wantonness, being the fools of their own force, and soon
they fell to wasting the fields of the Egyptians, exceeding
fair, and carried away their wives and infant children, and
slew the men. And the cry came quickly to the city, and the
people heard the shout and came forth at the breaking of
the day; and all the plain was filled with footmen and
horsemen and with the glitter of bronze. And Zeus, whose
The Odyssey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: deal.'
"'Well,' says Andy, 'it does seem kind of hard on one's professional
pride to lope off with a bearded pard's competency, especially after
he has nominated you custodian of his bundle in the sappy insouciance
of his urban indiscrimination. Suppose we wake him up and see if we
can formulate some commercial sophistry by which he will be enabled to
give us both his money and a good excuse.'
"We wakes up Whiskers. He stretches himself and yawns out the
hypothesis that he must have dropped off for a minute. And then he
says he wouldn't mind sitting in at a little gentleman's game of
poker. He used to play some when he attended high school in Brooklyn;
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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 Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: Sabino et L. Aurunculeio Cottae legatis in Menapios atque in eos pagos
Morinorum a quibus ad eum legati non venerant ducendum dedit.
P. Sulpicium Rufum legatum cum eo praesidio quod satis esse arbitrabatur
portum tenere iussit.
His constitutis rebus, nactus idoneam ad navigandum tempestatem III.
fere vigilia solvit equitesque in ulteriorem portum progredi et naves
conscendere et se sequi iussit. A quibus cum paulo tardius esset
administratum, ipse hora diei circiter IIII. cum primis navibus
Britanniam attigit atque ibi in omnibus collibus expositas hostium copias
armatas conspexit. Cuius loci haec erat natura atque ita montibus
angustis mare continebatur, uti ex locis superioribus in litus telum adigi
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