| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: The Agesilaus 1
The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2
Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into
English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The
diacritical marks have been lost.
Hiero
by Xenophon
Translation by H. G. Dakyns
The Hiero is an imaginary dialogue, c. 474 B.C.,
between Simonides of Ceos, the poet; and Hieron,
of Syracuse and Gela, the despot.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: fine animal of a man, whose every gesture labelled him the cock of
the walk and the admiration of the ladies - had apparently
despaired of the fire, and now strode up and down, sneezing hard,
bitterly blowing his nose, and proffering a continual stream of
bluster, complaint, and barrack-room oaths.
Fenn showed me in with the brief form of introduction: 'Gentlemen
all, this here's another fare!' and was gone again at once. The
old man gave me but the one glance out of lack-lustre eyes; and
even as he looked a shiver took him as sharp as a hiccough. But
the other, who represented to admiration the picture of a Beau in a
Catarrh, stared at me arrogantly.
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