| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: had an ear or intelligence for a long and complicated sentence which is
rarely to be found in modern nations; and in order to bring the Greek down
to the level of the modern, we must break up the long sentence into two or
more short ones. Neither is the same precision required in Greek as in
Latin or English, nor in earlier Greek as in later; there was nothing
shocking to the contemporary of Thucydides and Plato in anacolutha and
repetitions. In such cases the genius of the English language requires
that the translation should be more intelligible than the Greek. The want
of more distinctions between the demonstrative pronouns is also greatly
felt. Two genitives dependent on one another, unless familiarised by
idiom, have an awkward effect in English. Frequently the noun has to take
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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 Lesson of the Master by Henry James: the gentleman with the expressionless eyes bore the name that had
set his heart beating faster (he also had contradictory
conventional whiskers - the young admirer of the celebrity had
never in a mental vision seen HIS face in so vulgar a frame) he
would have given him a sign of recognition or of friendliness,
would have heard of him a little, would know something about
"Ginistrella," would have an impression of how that fresh fiction
had caught the eye of real criticism. Paul Overt had a dread of
being grossly proud, but even morbid modesty might view the
authorship of "Ginistrella" as constituting a degree of identity.
His soldierly friend became clear enough: he was "Fancourt," but
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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 The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: went on, "or ever I ask the Dean, why not warn that fair and noble
lady of the risk she runs?"
As she spoke, Jacqueline went into the house with her husband, who had
not missed a mouthful. Tirechair, as a man grown old in the tricks of
his trade, affected to believe that the strange lady was in fact a
work-girl; still, this assumed indifference could not altogether cloak
the timidity of a courtier who respects a royal incognity. At this
moment six was striking by the clock of Saint-Denis du Pas, a small
church that stood between Notre-Dame and the Port-Saint-Landry--the
first church erected in Paris, on the very spot where Saint-Denis was
laid on the gridiron, as chronicles tell. The hour flew from steeple
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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 Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: of January, and the other the Twenty-fifth of December.
The Austere Governor
A GOVERNOR visiting a State prison was implored by a Convict to
pardon him.
"What are you in for?" asked the Governor.
"I held a high office," the Convict humbly replied, "and sold
subordinate appointments."
"Then I decline to interfere," said the Governor, with asperity; "a
man who abuses his office by making it serve a private end and
purvey a personal advantage is unfit to be free. By the way, Mr.
Warden," he added to that official, as the Convict slunk away, "in
Fantastic Fables |
