| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Juana by Honore de Balzac: placed by public opinion on the bench of infamy where many an able man
was already seated. On that bench is the aristocracy of evil. It is
the upper Chamber of scoundrels of high life. Diard was, therefore,
not a mere commonplace gambler who is seen to be a blackguard, and
ends by begging. That style of gambler is no longer seen in society of
a certain topographical height. In these days bold scoundrels die
brilliantly in the chariot of vice with the trappings of luxury.
Diard, at least, did not buy his remorse at a low price; he made
himself one of these privileged men. Having studied the machinery of
government and learned all the secrets and the passions of the men in
power, he was able to maintain himself in the fiery furnace into which
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: EXO 25:14 And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of
the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
EXO 25:15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not
be taken from it.
EXO 25:16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall
give thee.
EXO 25:17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and
a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth
thereof.
EXO 25:18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work
shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
King James Bible |
