| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: task the whole strength of a will and intelligence but little
corrupted in the course of a life of mechanical and passive obedience.
So emulous was he of a calm and tranquil courage greater than his own,
that at last, perhaps unconsciously, something of that mysterious
nature passed into his own soul. His admiration became an instinctive
zeal for this man, a boundless love for and belief in him, such a love
as soldiers feel for their leader when he has the power of swaying
other men, when the halo of victories surrounds him, and the magical
fascination of genius is felt in all that he does. The poor outcast
was murmuring to herself:
"Ah! miserable wretch that I am! Have I not suffered enough to expiate
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: philosopher or of the aristocrat to wear shabby clothes. But,
unluckily, it is easy to find penny-wise people who will prove weak,
wasteful, or incompetent in the capital things of life.
The cashier wore the ribbon of the Legion of Honor at his button-
hole, for he had been a major of dragoons in the time of the Emperor.
M. de Nucingen, who had been a contractor before he became a banker,
had had reason in those days to know the honorable disposition of his
cashier, who then occupied a high position. Reverses of fortune had
befallen the major, and the banker out of regard for him paid him five
hundred francs a month. The soldier had become a cashier in the year
1813, after his recovery from a wound received at Studzianka during
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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 Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: myself, not perhaps any more noble, but both more intelligent and
nearer home.
Let us tell each other sad stories of the bestiality of the beast
whom we feed. What he likes is the newspaper; and to me the press
is the mouth of a sewer, where lying is professed as from an
university chair, and everything prurient, and ignoble, and
essentially dull, finds its abode and pulpit. I do not like
mankind; but men, and not all of these - and fewer women. As for
respecting the race, and, above all, that fatuous rabble of
burgesses called 'the public,' God save me from such irreligion! -
that way lies disgrace and dishonour. There must be something
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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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: assistants and protectors. But when Clodius rested his defense
upon this point, that he was not then at Rome, but at a distance
in the country, Cicero testified that he had come to his house
that day, and conversed with him on several matters; which thing
was indeed true, although Cicero was thought to testify it not
so much for the truth's sake as to preserve his quiet with
Terentia his wife. For she bore a grudge against Clodius on
account of his sister Clodia's wishing, as it was alleged, to
marry Cicero, and having employed for this purpose the
intervention of Tullus, a very intimate friend of Cicero's; and
his frequent visits to Clodia, who lived in their neighborhood,
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