| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: And all day long in their houses the people listened and shook -
All day long in their houses they listened with bated breath,
And never a soul went forth, for the sight of the priest was death.
Three were the days of his running, as the gods appointed of yore,
Two the nights of his sleeping alone in the place of gore:
The drunken slumber of frenzy twice he drank to the lees,
On the sacred stones of the High-place under the sacred trees;
With a lamp at his ashen head he lay in the place of the feast,
And the sacred leaves of the banyan rustled around the priest.
Last, when the stated even fell upon terrace and tree,
And the shade of the lofty island lay leagues away to sea,
Ballads |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: me. But he had the hardihood to send various men from Machaerus to
spread dissension and discontent throughout my domain. A curse upon
him! Since he attacks me, I shall defend myself."
"Without doubt, he has expressed his anger with too much violence,"
Phanuel replied calmly. "But do not heed that further. He must be set
free."
"One does not let loose a furious animal," said the tetrarch.
"Have no fear of him now," was the quick reply. "He will go straight
to the Arabs, the Gauls, and the Scythians. His work must be extended
to the uttermost ends of the earth."
For a moment Antipas appeared lost in thought, as one who sees a
Herodias |
