| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: X. - THE MAN AND HIS FRIEND.
A MAN quarrelled with his friend.
"I have been much deceived in you," said the man.
And the friend made a face at him and went away.
A little after, they both died, and came together before the great
white Justice of the Peace. It began to look black for the friend,
but the man for a while had a clear character and was getting in
good spirits.
"I find here some record of a quarrel," said the justice, looking
in his notes. "Which of you was in the wrong?"
"He was," said the man. "He spoke ill of me behind my back."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: EUTHYPHRO: Exactly.
SOCRATES: And of the many and fair things done by the gods, which is the
chief or principal one?
EUTHYPHRO: I have told you already, Socrates, that to learn all these
things accurately will be very tiresome. Let me simply say that piety or
holiness is learning how to please the gods in word and deed, by prayers
and sacrifices. Such piety is the salvation of families and states, just
as the impious, which is unpleasing to the gods, is their ruin and
destruction.
SOCRATES: I think that you could have answered in much fewer words the
chief question which I asked, Euthyphro, if you had chosen. But I see
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