| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: follow his humour, he says to Socrates: "If the cap is to fit, you
must liken me to one who quits 'assault and battery' for
'compliments [sotto voce, "lies"] and flattery.'"
Soc. Why now, you are like a person apt to pick a quarrel, since you
imply they are all his betters.[18]
[18] When Socrates says {ei pant' autou beltio phes einai, k.t.l.},
the sense seems to be: "No, if you say that all these prime
creatures are better than he is, you are an abusive person still."
Phil. What, would you have me then compare him to worse villains?
Soc. No, not even to worse villains.
Phil. What, then, to nothing, and to nobody?
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: away and such a very grown up little woman has come back. Let's
see--twenty is it? My, you make me feel old--but you say I
haven't changed much."
"You haven't. A little bit of gray, a number of tiny wrinkles
about your eyes"--the tips of two dainty fingers touched them
lightly--"and you're a bit thinner--that's all. Why you look so
good to me, Uncle Martin, I could fall in love with you myself,
if you weren't auntie's husband."
It was an innocent remark, and he understood it as such, but its
effect on him was dynamic.
"You always were as pretty as a picture," he said slowly, his
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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 The Message by Honore de Balzac: luckless comrade, thinking to save himself, jumped to the edge of
a newly-ploughed field, instead of following the fortunes of the
vehicle and clinging tightly to the roof, as I did. He either
miscalculated in some way, or he slipped; how it happened, I do
not know, but the coach fell over upon him, and he was crushed
under it.
We carried him into a peasant's cottage, and there, amid the
moans wrung from him by horrible sufferings, he contrived to give
me a commission--a sacred task, in that it was laid upon me by a
dying man's last wish. Poor boy, all through his agony he was
torturing himself in his young simplicity of heart with the
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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 Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: "No; no--no--it contained private matters, things too personal to
ourselves. I burned it."
"So your husband runs into debt?"
She hesitated again, and then murmured: "I do not know."
Thereupon I said bluntly: "I have not five thousand francs at my
disposal at this moment, my dear cousin."
She uttered a cry, as if she were in pair; and said: "Oh! oh! I
beseech you, I beseech you to get them for me."
She got excited and clasped her hands as if she were praying to
me! I heard her voice change its tone; she wept and sobbed,
harassed and dominated by the irresistible order that she had
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