| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: Bacchus, and saying it was to be feared they were too fond of wine,
since a golden vine had been discovered in the Temple.
The priests did not understand his sneers, and Phineas, of Galilean
origin, refused to translate them. Aulus suddenly became angry, the
more so because the little Asiatic, frightened at the tumult, had
disappeared. The feast no longer pleased the noble glutton; the dishes
were vulgar, and not sufficiently disguised with delicate flavourings.
After a time his displeasure abated, as he caught sight of a dish of
Syrian lambs' tails, dressed with spices, a favourite dainty.
To Vitellius the character of the Jews seemed frightful. Their God was
like Moloch, several altars to whom he had passed upon his route; and
Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: have nothing of the slave about them, and proclaim you of noble
birth. I should have said that you were one of those who should
wash well, eat well, and lie soft at night as old men have a
right to do; but tell me, and tell me true, whose bondman are
you, and in whose garden are you working? Tell me also about
another matter. Is this place that I have come to really Ithaca?
I met a man just now who said so, but he was a dull fellow, and
had not the patience to hear my story out when I was asking him
about an old friend of mine, whether he was still living, or was
already dead and in the house of Hades. Believe me when I tell
you that this man came to my house once when I was in my own
The Odyssey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: duty if I kept away from them and allowed them to
fight."
"That's a fact, Ozma," commented Dorothy.
"You've got to go up to the Gillikin Country and make
these people behave themselves and make up their
quarrels. But how are you going to do it?"
"That is what is puzzling me also, your Majesty,"
said the Sorceress. "It may be dangerous for you to go
into those strange countries, where the people are
possibly fierce and warlike."
"I am not afraid," said Ozma, with a smile.
Glinda of Oz |
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 Silas Marner by George Eliot: Mr. Godfrey Cass, as every one said in the village, did very kindly
by the weaver; and it was nothing but right a man should be looked
on and helped by those who could afford it, when he had brought up
an orphan child, and been father and mother to her--and had lost
his money too, so as he had nothing but what he worked for week by
week, and when the weaving was going down too--for there was less
and less flax spun--and Master Marner was none so young. Nobody
was jealous of the weaver, for he was regarded as an exceptional
person, whose claims on neighbourly help were not to be matched in
Raveloe. Any superstition that remained concerning him had taken an
entirely new colour; and Mr. Macey, now a very feeble old man of
Silas Marner |
