Today's Stichomancy for Clyde Barrow

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:

[22] Lit. "by Eros."

[23] Cf. Plat. "Prot." 318 A; Aristoph. "Thesmoph." 21, "learned conversazioni."

Hermogenes broke in: By Hera, Socrates, I much admire you for many things, and now to see how in the act of gratifying Callias you are training him in duty and true excellence.[24]

[24] Lit. "teaching him what sort of man he ought to be." This, as we know, is the very heart and essence of the Socratic (= {XS}) method. See "Mem." I. ii. 3.

Why, yes (he said), if only that his cup of happiness may overflow, I wish to testify to him how far the love of soul is better than the

The Symposium

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells:

for the latter alternative that the assembly existed.

Sooner or later this choice would have confronted mankind. The sudden development of atomic science did but precipitate and render rapid and dramatic a clash between the new and the customary that had been gathering since ever the first flint was chipped or the first fire built together. From the day when man contrived himself a tool and suffered another male to draw near him, he ceased to be altogether a thing of instinct and untroubled convictions. From that day forth a widening breach can be traced between his egotistical passions and the social need. Slowly he adapted himself to the life of the homestead, and his

The Last War: A World Set Free

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson:

Treasure Island

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 Apology by Xenophon:

in the old days he had never harshly opposed himself to the good things of life morosely,[60] so even in face of death he showed no touch of weakness, but with gaiety welcomed death's embrace, and discharged life's debt.

[58] Lit. "dear to the gods"; "highly favoured."

[59] Cf. Hom. "Od." xii. 341, {pantes men stugeroi thanatoi deiloisi brotoisin}.

[60] {prosantes}, i.e. "he faced death boldly as he had encountered life's blessings blandly." "As he had been no stoic to repudiate life's blessings, so he was no coward to," etc.

For myself indeed, as I lay to mind the wisdom of the man and his

The Apology