| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: unum repugnabat, quod Diviciaci fratris summum in populum Romanum studium,
summum in se voluntatem, egregiam fidem, iustitiam, temperantiam
cognoverat; nam ne eius supplicio Diviciaci animum offenderet verebatur.
Itaque prius quam quicquam conaretur, Diviciacum ad se vocari iubet et,
cotidianis interpretibus remotis, per C. Valerium Troucillum, principem
Galliae provinciae, familiarem suum, cui summam omnium rerum fidem
habebat, cum eo conloquitur; simul commonefacit quae ipso praesente in
concilio [Gallorum] de Dumnorige sint dicta, et ostendit quae separatim
quisque de eo apud se dixerit. Petit atque hortatur ut sine eius
offensione animi vel ipse de eo causa cognita statuat vel civitatem
statuere iubeat.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: nor mirror above the mantel-shelf, for Mme. Sechard had died before
she carried out her scheme of decoration; and the "bear," unable to
conceive the use of improvements that brought in no return in money,
had left it at this point.
Hither, pede titubante, Jerome-Nicolas Sechard brought his son, and
pointed to a sheet of paper lying on the table--a valuation of plant
drawn up by the foreman under his direction.
"Read that, my boy," said Jerome-Nicolas, rolling a drunken eye from
the paper to his son, and back to the paper. "You will see what a
jewel of a printing-house I am giving you."
" 'Three wooden presses, held in position by iron tie-bars, cast-iron
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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 Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Bonaparte, Napoleon
The Vendetta
The Gondreville Mystery
Colonel Chabert
The Seamy Side of History
A Woman of Thirty
Gondreville, Malin, Comte de
The Gondreville Mystery
A Start in Life
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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 American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: Now I know what it is to sit enthroned amid the clouds of sunset
as the spirits sit in Blake's pictures. Giddiness took away all
sensation of touch or form, but the sense of blinding color
remained.
When I reached the mainland again I had sworn that I had been
floating.
The maid from New Hampshire said no word for a very long time.
Then she quoted poetry, which was perhaps the best thing she
could have done.
"And to think that this show-place has been going on all these
days an' none of we ever saw it," said the old lady from Chicago,
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