| 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: pollicerentur. Hoc sibi Caesar satis oportune accidisse arbitratus, quod
neque post tergum hostem relinquere volebat neque belli gerendi propter
anni tempus facultatem habebat neque has tantularum rerum occupationes
Britanniae anteponendas iudicabat, magnum iis numerum obsidum imperat.
Quibus adductis eos in fidem recipit. Navibus circiter LXXX onerariis
coactis contractisque, quot satis esse ad duas transportandas legiones
existimabat, quod praeterea navium longarum habebat quaestori, legatis
praefectisque distribuit. Huc accedebant XVIII onerariae naves, quae ex
eo loco a milibus passuum VIII vento tenebantur quo minus in eundem portum
venire possent: has equitibus tribuit. Reliquum exercitum Q. Titurio
Sabino et L. Aurunculeio Cottae legatis in Menapios atque in eos pagos
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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 Profits of Religion by Upton Sinclair: which have helped on happier nations, such as the republics of
France and America, which have put an end to the power of the
priestly caste to take property by force, and to dominate the
mind of the child without its parents' consent.
This is as far as any nation has so far gone; it has apparently
not yet occurred to any legislature that the State may owe a duty
to the child to protect its mind from being poisoned, even though
it has the misfortune to be born of poisoned parents. It is still
permitted that parents should terrify their little ones with
images of a personal devil and a hell of eternal brimstone and
sulphur; it is permitted to found schools for the teaching of
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: unique hour. There had not been the slightest shade of frivolity in
Francesca's conduct. It was noble, large, and without any second
thought. This magnanimity struck Rodolphe greatly, for in it he
recognized the difference between the Italian and the Frenchwoman. The
waters, the land, the sky, the woman, all were grandiose and suave,
even their love in the midst of this picture, so vast in its expanse,
so rich in detail, where the sternness of the snowy peaks and their
hard folds standing clearly out against the blue sky, reminded
Rodolphe of the circumstances which limited his happiness; a lovely
country shut in by snows.
This delightful intoxication of soul was destined to be disturbed. A
Albert Savarus |
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 Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: into it than to neutralize the action of sorrow.
Chance has made an artisan economical, chance has favored him with
forethought, he has been able to look forward, has met with a wife and
found himself a father, and, after some years of hard privation, he
embarks in some little draper's business, hires a shop. If neither
sickness nor vice blocks his way--if he has prospered--there is the
sketch of this normal life.
And, in the first place, hail to that king of Parisian activity, to
whom time and space give way. Yes, hail to that being, composed of
saltpetre and gas, who makes children for France during his laborious
nights, and in the day multiplies his personality for the service,
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
