| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: Thus did he speak, and his words pleased them well, so they rose
forthwith and went to the house of Ulysses, where they took
their accustomed seats.
Then Penelope resolved that she would show herself to the
suitors. She knew of the plot against Telemachus, for the
servant Medon had overheard their counsels and had told her; she
went down therefore to the court attended by her maidens, and
when she reached the suitors she stood by one of the
bearing-posts supporting the roof of the cloister holding a veil
before her face, and rebuked Antinous saying:
"Antinous, insolent and wicked schemer, they say you are the
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: rose a steady and prolonged sound, coming from all sides at
once. It was that incessant and muffled roar which
disengages itself from all vast bodies, from oceans, from
cities, from forests, from sleeping armies, and which is
like the breathing of an infinitely great monster, alive,
palpitating.
McTeague returned to his work. At six in the morning his
shift was taken off, and he went out of the mine and back to
the bunk house. All day long he slept, flung at length upon
the strong-smelling blankets--slept the dreamless sleep of
exhaustion, crushed and overpowered with the work, flat and
McTeague |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: When the flower is on the lime,
When the small fowl builds her nest,
Sweetly sings the nightingale
And the throstle cock so bold;
Cuckoo in the dewy dale
And the turtle in the word.
But the robin I love dear,
For he singeth through the year.
Robin! Robin!
Merry Robin!
So I'd have my true love be:
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
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 Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: brother, and not the tyrant himself.
To prove his theory that Hippias was the elder, he appeals to the
evidence afforded by a public inscription in which his name occurs
immediately after that of his father, a point which he thinks shows
that he was the eldest, and so the heir. This view he further
corroborates by another inscription, on the altar of Apollo, which
mentions the children of Hippias and not those of his brothers;
'for it was natural for the eldest to be married first'; and
besides this, on the score of general probability he points out
that, had Hippias been the younger, he would not have so easily
obtained the tyranny on the death of Hipparchos.
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