| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: third kind of life which is seated between the midriff and the navel, and
is altogether passive and incapable of reflection.
When the creators had furnished all these natures for our sustenance, they
cut channels through our bodies as in a garden, watering them with a
perennial stream. Two were cut down the back, along the back bone, where
the skin and flesh meet, one on the right and the other on the left, having
the marrow of generation between them. In the next place, they divided the
veins about the head and interlaced them with each other in order that they
might form an additional link between the head and the body, and that the
sensations from both sides might be diffused throughout the body. In the
third place, they contrived the passage of liquids, which may be explained
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Numa out instead. Acting upon the thought he uttered a low
growl. Immediately he was rewarded by the sound of a move-
ment within the cave and an instant later a wild-eyed, haggard
lion rushed forth ready to face the devil himself were he edible.
When Numa saw Tarzan, fat and sleek, perched in the tree
he became suddenly the embodiment of frightful rage. His
eyes and his nose told him that this was the creature respon-
sible for his predicament and also that this creature was good
to eat. Frantically the lion sought to scramble up the bole of
the tree. Twice he leaped high enough to catch the lowest
branches with his paws, but both times he fell backward to
Tarzan the Untamed |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: persons paupers by comparison with the large number of tyrants who
deserve the title;[15] since the criterion of enough, or too much, is
not fixed by mere arithmetic, but relatively to the needs of the
individual.[16] In other words, whatever exceeds sufficiency is much,
and what falls short of that is little.[17]
[14] Reading as vulg. {alla mentoi kai penetas opsei oukh outos
oligous ton idioton os pollous ton turannon}. Lit. "however that
may be, you will see not so few private persons in a state of
penury as many despots." Breitenbach del. {oukh}, and transl.,
"Daher weist du auch in dem Masse wenige Arme unter den Privat-
leuten finden, als viele unter den Tyrannen." Stob., {penetas
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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 Paz by Honore de Balzac: appearance, and his mental equipment. There are two species of Pole,
as there are two species of Englishwoman. When an Englishwoman is not
very handsome she is horribly ugly. Comte Adam belonged in the second
category of human beings. His small face, rather sharp in expression,
looked as if it had been pressed in a vise. His short nose, and fair
hair, and reddish beard and moustache made him look all the more like
a goat because he was small and thin, and his tarnished yellow eyes
caught you with that oblique look which Virgil celebrates. How came
he, in spite of such obvious disadvantages, to possess really
exquisite manners and a distinguished air? The problem is solved
partly by the care and elegance of his dress, and partly by the
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