| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: sufficient for his own immediate wants; and he wondered how she
could have managed to buy such excellent wines, and such rare
delicacies, things which he could no longer procure with his
modest resources.
He incurred some debts and was soon reduced to absolute poverty.
One morning, finding himself without a cent in his pocket, he
resolved to sell something, and, immediately, the thought
occurred to him of disposing of his wife's paste jewels. He
cherished in his heart a sort of rancor against the false gems.
They had always irritated him in the past, and the very sight of
them spoiled somewhat the memory of his lost darling.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: turvy.'"
[10] "And sacrifices." Cf. Dem. "c. Lept." 137, {en toinun tois peri
touton nomois o Drakon . . . katharon diorisen einai}. "Now in the
laws upon this subject, Draco, although he strove to make it
fearful and dreadful for a man to slay another, and ordained that
the homicide should be excluded from lustrations, cups, and drink-
offerings, from the temples and the market-place, specifying
everything by which he thought most effectually to restrain people
from such a practice, still did not abolish the rule of justice,
but laid down the cases in which it should be lawful to kill, and
declared that the killer under such circumstances should be deemed
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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 Critias by Plato: with gold. In the interior of the temple the roof was of ivory, curiously
wrought everywhere with gold and silver and orichalcum; and all the other
parts, the walls and pillars and floor, they coated with orichalcum. In
the temple they placed statues of gold: there was the god himself standing
in a chariot--the charioteer of six winged horses--and of such a size that
he touched the roof of the building with his head; around him there were a
hundred Nereids riding on dolphins, for such was thought to be the number
of them by the men of those days. There were also in the interior of the
temple other images which had been dedicated by private persons. And
around the temple on the outside were placed statues of gold of all the
descendants of the ten kings and of their wives, and there were many other
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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 The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: the old man drank a great deal and gave him back the bottle two
thirds empty. Then he bade him good speed, and Gluck went on again
merrily. And the path became easier to his feet, and two or three
blades of grass appeared upon it, and some grasshoppers began
singing on the bank beside it, and Gluck thought he had never heard
such merry singing.
Then he went on for another hour, and the thirst increased
on him so that he thought he should be forced to drink. But as
he raised the flask he saw a little child lying panting by the
roadside, and it cried out piteously for water. Then Gluck
struggled with himself and determined to bear the thirst a little
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