| 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: Q. Titurium Sabinum legatum cum sex cohortibus relinquit; castra in
altitudinem pedum XII vallo fossaque duodeviginti pedum muniri iubet.
Ab his castris oppidum Remorum nomine Bibrax aberat milia passuum
VIII. Id ex itinere magno impetu Belgae oppugnare coeperunt. Aegre eo
die sustentatum est. Gallorum eadem atque Belgarum oppugnatio est haec:
ubi circumiecta multitudine hominum totis moenibus undique in murum
lapides iaci coepti sunt murusque defensoribus nudatus est, testudine
facta portas succedunt murumque subruunt. Quod tum facile fiebat. Nam
cum tanta multitudo lapides ac tela %coicerent%, in muro consistendi
potestas erat nulli. Cum finem oppugnandi nox fecisset, Iccius Remus,
summa nobilitate et gratia inter suos, qui tum oppido praeerat, unus ex
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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 Odyssey by Homer: Then, having done all this, think it well over in your mind how,
by fair means or foul, you may kill these suitors in your own
house. You are too old to plead infancy any longer; have you not
heard how people are singing Orestes' praises for having killed
his father's murderer Aegisthus? You are a fine, smart looking
fellow; show your mettle, then, and make yourself a name in
story. Now, however, I must go back to my ship and to my crew,
who will be impatient if I keep them waiting longer; think the
matter over for yourself, and remember what I have said to you."
"Sir," answered Telemachus, "it has been very kind of you to
talk to me in this way, as though I were your own son, and I
The Odyssey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: seemed to isolate her alone with him, and now seemed to uplift her, as
on a pillory, before the congregation. For Archie continued to drink
her in with his eyes, even as a wayfarer comes to a well-head on a
mountain, and stoops his face, and drinks with thirst unassuageable. In
the cleft of her little breasts the fiery eye of the topaz and the pale
florets of primrose fascinated him. He saw the breasts heave, and the
flowers shake with the heaving, and marvelled what should so much
discompose the girl. And Christina was conscious of his gaze - saw it,
perhaps, with the dainty plaything of an ear that peeped among her
ringlets; she was conscious of changing colour, conscious of her
unsteady breath. Like a creature tracked, run down, surrounded, she
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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 The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: while the queer sounds came from him as before:
Tiddle-iddle-iddle, oom pom-pom,
Oom, pom-pom; oom pom-pom!
Tiddle-widdle-iddle, oom pom-pom,
Oom, pom-pom--pah!
Why, he's a reg'lar musicker!" said Button-Bright.
"What's a musicker?" asked Dorothy.
"Him!" said the boy.
Hearing this, the fat man sat up a little stiffer than before, as if
he had received a compliment, and still came the sounds:
Tiddle-widdle-iddle, oom pom-pom,
The Road to Oz |
