| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: beetroots. I recognized among the company two or three artillery
captains of the regiment in which I had first served. I was welcomed
with a shout of acclamation, which would have amazed me greatly on the
other side of the Beresina; but at this moment the cold was less
intense; my fellow-officers were resting, they were warm, they had
food, and the room, strewn with trusses of straw, gave the promise of
a delightful night. We did not ask for so much in those days. My
comrades could be philanthropists /gratis/--one of the commonest ways
of being philanthropic. I sat down to eat on one of the bundles of
straw.
"At the end of the table, by the side of the door opening into the
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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 Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: although any one had done penance in that way for a hundred
years, he would still not have known whether he had finished
his penance. That meant forever to do penance and never to
come to repentance.
Here now the Holy See at Rome, coming to the aid of the poor
Church, invented indulgences, whereby it forgave and remitted
[expiation or] satisfaction, first, for a single instance, for
seven years, for a hundred years and distributed them among
the cardinals and bishops, so that one could grant indulgence
for a hundred years and another for a hundred days. But he
reserved to himself alone the power to remit the entire
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