| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: various other things? These are useful and yet they are not wealth.
SOCRATES: Clearly we have not yet answered the question, What is wealth?
That wealth must be useful, to be wealth at all,--thus much is acknowledged
by every one. But what particular thing is wealth, if not all things? Let
us pursue the argument in another way; and then we may perhaps find what we
are seeking. What is the use of wealth, and for what purpose has the
possession of riches been invented,--in the sense, I mean, in which drugs
have been discovered for the cure of disease? Perhaps in this way we may
throw some light on the question. It appears to be clear that whatever
constitutes wealth must be useful, and that wealth is one class of useful
things; and now we have to enquire, What is the use of those useful things
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Desert Gold by Zane Grey: and walked beside the horse, steadying with one firm hand the
helpless, dangling Yaqui.
The sun cleared the eastern ramparts, and the coolness of morning
fled as if before a magic foe. The whole desert changed. The grays
wore bright; the mesquites glistened; the cactus took the silver
hue of frost, and the rocks gleamed gold and red. Then, as the
heat increased, a wind rushed up out of the valley behind Gale,
and the hotter the sun blazed down the swifter rushed the wind.
The wonderful transparent haze of distance lost its bluish hue for
one with tinge of yellow. Flying sand made the peaks dimly outlined.
Gale kept pace with his horse. He bore the twinge of pain that
Desert Gold |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: supposed for a minute, as you did, that I was still upon the earth.
No! the earth, attended by her moon, continued to rotate along
her proper orbit. But we, gentlemen, have nothing to complain of;
our destiny might have been far worse; we might all have been crushed
to death, or the comet might have remained in adhesion to the earth;
and in neither of these cases should we have had the satisfaction
of making this marvelous excursion through untraversed solar regions.
No, gentlemen, I repeat it, we have nothing to regret."
And as the professor spoke, he seemed to kindle with the emotion of such
supreme contentment that no one had the heart to gainsay his assertion.
Ben Zoof alone ventured an unlucky remark to the effect that if the comet
|
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 The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: the wreck. She will be in a bad way, sir."
"You mean that she - still cares about her husband?"
The cat crawled over on to my knee, and rubbed its bead against my
hand invitingly. Jennie stared at the undulating line of the
mountain crests, a colossal sun against a blue ocean of sky. "Yes,
she cares," she said softly. "Women are made like that. They say
they are cats, but Peter there in your lap wouldn't come back and
lick your hand if you kicked him. If - if you have to tell her the
truth, be as gentle as you can, sir. She has been good to me - that's
why I have played the spy here all summer. It's a thankless thing,
spying on people."
The Man in Lower Ten |
