| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: "Who is the man you always stand at attention to salute?" said a young
workman one day to an old captain and pensioner.
"I will tell you, boy," replied the officer.
The "boy" stood resigned, as a man does to listen to an old gossip.
"In 1809," said the captain, "we were covering the flank of the main
army, marching on Vienna under the Emperor's command. We came to a
bridge defended by three batteries of cannon, one above another, on a
sort of cliff; three redoubts like three shelves, and commanding the
bridge. We were under Marshal Massena. That man whom you see there was
Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and I was one of them. Our columns
held one bank of the river, the batteries were on the other. Three
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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 Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: Archaeology is to social nature what comparative anatomy is to
organized nature. A mosaic tells the tale of a society, as the
skeleton of an ichthyosaurus opens up a creative epoch. All things are
linked together, and all are therefore deducible. Causes suggest
effects, effects lead back to causes. Science resuscitates even the
warts of the past ages.
Hence the keen interest inspired by an architectural description,
provided the imagination of the writer does not distort essential
facts. The mind is enabled by rigid deduction to link it with the
past; and to man, the past is singularly like the future; tell him
what has been, and you seldom fail to show him what will be. It is
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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 Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: "Ages." 6 (Clough, iv. 6); Aristot. "Pol." ii. 9, 29.
[2] For these {oi omoioi}, see "Cyrop." I. v. 5; "Hell." III. iii. 5.
[3] Lit. "supplies and necessaries."
But I will resume at a somewhat higher point and describe the manner
in which the king sets out on an expedition. As a preliminary step,
before leaving home he offers sacrifice (in company with[4] his staff)
to Zeus Agetor (the Leader), and if the victims prove favourable then
and there the priest,[5] who bears the sacred fire, takes thereof from
off the altar and leads the way to the boundaries of the land. Here
for the second time the king does sacrifice[6] to Zeus and Athena; and
as soon as the offerings are accepted by those two divinities he steps
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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 Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: many miseries beyond riches as on this side them: and if you have a
competence, enjoy it with a meek, cheerful, thankful heart. I will tell
you, Scholar, I have heard a grave Divine say, that God has two
dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart;
which Almighty God grant to me, and to my honest Scholar. And so
you are welcome to Tottenham High-Cross.
Venator. Well, Master, I thank you for all your good directions; but for
none more than this last, of thankfulness, which I hope I shall never
forget. And pray let's now rest ourselves in this sweet shady arbour,
which nature herself has woven with her own fine fingers; 'tis such a
contexture of woodbines, sweetbriar, jasmine, and myrtle; and so
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