| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: ac tela vitare, hostes neque a fronte ex inferiore loco subeuntes
intermittere et ab utroque latere instare et rem esse in angusto vidit,
neque ullum esse subsidium quod submitti posset, scuto ab novissimis [uni]
militi detracto, quod ipse eo sine scuto venerat, in primam aciem
processit centurionibusque nominatim appellatis reliquos cohortatus
milites signa inferre et manipulos laxare iussit, quo facilius gladiis uti
possent. Cuius adventu spe inlata militibus ac redintegrato animo, cum
pro se quisque in conspectu imperatoris etiam in extremis suis rebus
operam navare cuperet, paulum hostium impetus tardatus est.
Caesar, cum VII. legionem, quae iuxta constiterat, item urgeri ab
hoste vidisset, tribunos militum monuit ut paulatim sese legiones
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Persuasion by Jane Austen: and by the sea; and the grandeur of the country, and the retirement
of Lyme in the winter, appeared exactly adapted to Captain Benwick's
state of mind. The sympathy and good-will excited towards Captain Benwick
was very great.
"And yet," said Anne to herself, as they now moved forward
to meet the party, "he has not, perhaps, a more sorrowing heart
than I have. I cannot believe his prospects so blighted for ever.
He is younger than I am; younger in feeling, if not in fact;
younger as a man. He will rally again, and be happy with another."
They all met, and were introduced. Captain Harville was a tall,
dark man, with a sensible, benevolent countenance; a little lame;
Persuasion |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: year; but to-day, four days after the anniversary of the twenty-first
of January, one does not feel sorry to see the ghastly procession."
"Why not?" asked the abbe. "That is not said like a Christian."
"Eh! but it is the execution of Robespierre's accomplices. They
defended themselves as long as they could, but now it is their turn to
go where they sent so many innocent people."
The crowd poured by like a flood. The abbe, yielding to an impulse of
curiosity, looked up above the heads, and there in the tumbril stood
the man who had heard mass in the garret three days ago.
"Who is it?" he asked; "who is the man with----"
"That is the headsman," answered M. Ragon, calling the executioner--
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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 Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: behold the pauper of the rue Coquilliere, the Ferragus of Ida, the
lodger in the rue Soly, the Bourignard of Justin, the convict of the
police, and the dead man of the day before.
"Monsieur, not a sound, not a word," said Bourignard, whose voice he
recognized. The man was elegantly dressed; he wore the order of the
Golden-Fleece, and a medal on his coat. "Monsieur," he continued, and
his voice was sibilant like that of a hyena, "you increase my efforts
against you by having recourse to the police. You will perish,
monsieur; it has now become necessary. Do you love Madame Jules? Are
you beloved by her? By what right do you trouble her peaceful life,
and blacken her virtue?"
Ferragus |
