| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Theaetetus by Plato: without knowledge; and therefore I must infer that they are not the same.
THEAETETUS: That is a distinction, Socrates, which I have heard made by
some one else, but I had forgotten it. He said that true opinion, combined
with reason, was knowledge, but that the opinion which had no reason was
out of the sphere of knowledge; and that things of which there is no
rational account are not knowable--such was the singular expression which
he used--and that things which have a reason or explanation are knowable.
SOCRATES: Excellent; but then, how did he distinguish between things which
are and are not 'knowable'? I wish that you would repeat to me what he
said, and then I shall know whether you and I have heard the same tale.
THEAETETUS: I do not know whether I can recall it; but if another person
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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 Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: in the learned world, and the gentleman, who was only a
knight of the Legion of Honor, was made an officer."
"Come," said Monte Cristo, "this cross seems to me to be
wisely awarded. I suppose, had he found another additional
vertebra, they would have made him a commander."
"Very likely," said Albert.
"And who can that person be who has taken it into his head
to wrap himself up in a blue coat embroidered with green?"
"Oh, that coat is not his own idea; it is the Republic's,
which deputed David* to devise a uniform for the
Academicians."
The Count of Monte Cristo |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from King James Bible: in Egypt;
PSA 106:22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by
the Red sea.
PSA 106:23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses
his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest
he should destroy them.
PSA 106:24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his
word:
PSA 106:25 But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the
voice of the LORD.
PSA 106:26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow
King James Bible |
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 Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: the parents--For so they write, Liberi sunt de sanguine patris & matris,
sed pater & mater non sunt de sanguine liberorum.
--But this, Triptolemus, cried Didius, proves too much--for from this
authority cited it would follow, not only what indeed is granted on all
sides, that the mother is not of kin to her child--but the father
likewise.--It is held, said Triptolemus, the better opinion; because the
father, the mother, and the child, though they be three persons, yet are
they but (una caro (Vide Brook Abridg. tit. Administr. N .47.)) one flesh;
and consequently no degree of kindred--or any method of acquiring one in
nature.--There you push the argument again too far, cried Didius--for there
is no prohibition in nature, though there is in the Levitical law--but that
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