| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Hero of Our Time by M.Y. Lermontov: him by the arms; the Cossacks burst in; and
three minutes had not elapsed before they had
the criminal bound and led off under escort.
The people dispersed, the officers congratulated
me -- and indeed there was cause for congratula-
tion.
After all that, it would hardly seem possible
to avoid becoming a fatalist? But who knows
for certain whether he is convinced of anything
or not? And how often is a deception of the
senses or an error of the reason accepted as a
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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 Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: kept succeeding each other in my soul,--hatred of her, since she
tortured myself and the children by her absence, but would
finally return just the same, and fear lest she might return and
make some attempt upon herself. But where should I look for her?
At her sister's? It seemed so stupid to go to ask where one's
wife is. Moreover, may God forbid, I hoped, that she should be
at her sister's! If she wishes to torment any one, let her
torment herself first. And suppose she were not at her sister's.
Suppose she were to do, or had already done, something.
"Eleven o'clock, midnight, one o'clock. . . . I did not sleep. I
did not go to my chamber. It is stupid to lie stretched out all
The Kreutzer Sonata |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: wings of the wind (Il.).'
These are the sort of things which I should say that the prophet ought to
consider and determine.
ION: And you are quite right, Socrates, in saying so.
SOCRATES: Yes, Ion, and you are right also. And as I have selected from
the Iliad and Odyssee for you passages which describe the office of the
prophet and the physician and the fisherman, do you, who know Homer so much
better than I do, Ion, select for me passages which relate to the rhapsode
and the rhapsode's art, and which the rhapsode ought to examine and judge
of better than other men.
ION: All passages, I should say, Socrates.
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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 A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: has committed a folly out of sheer vanity. Well, vanity may inspire
fine deeds in war and may advance him in the career of a soldier.
Besides, six years of military service will put some lead into his
head; and as he has only his last legal examination to pass, it won't
be much ill-luck for him if he doesn't become a lawyer till he is
twenty-six; that is, if he wants to continue in the law after paying,
as they say, his tax of blood. By that time, at any rate, he will have
been severely punished, he will have learned experience, and
contracted habits of subordination. Before making his probation at the
bar he will have gone through his probations in life."
"If that is your decision for a son," said Madame Clapart, "I see that
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