| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: 533. 2.
[11] And not as in the case described (Thuc. iv. 74), where the people
(at Megara) were compelled to give sentence on the political
opponents of the oligarchs by an open vote. Cf. Lysias, 133, 12,
{ten de psephon ouk eis kadiskous, alla phaneran epi tas trapezas
tautas dei tithenai}.
Accordingly the boy and girl began to register the votes in secret,
while Socrates directed the proceedings. He would have the lamp-
stand[12] this time brought close up to Critobulus; the judges must on
no account be taken in; the victor in the suit would get from the two
judges, not a wreath of ribands[13] for a chaplet, but some kisses.
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: "Right, my son," said Blondet; "but we, and we alone, can comprehend
that this means bringing war into the financial world. A banker is a
conquering general making sacrifices on a tremendous scale to gain
ends that no one perceives; his soldiers are private people's
interests. He has stratagems to plan out, partisans to bring into the
field, ambushes to set, towns to take. Most men of this stamp are so
close upon the borders of politics, that in the end they are drawn
into public life, and thereby lose their fortunes. The firm of Necker,
for instance, was ruined in this way; the famous Samuel Bernard was
all but ruined. Some great capitalist in every age makes a colossal
fortune, and leaves behind him neither fortune nor a family; there was
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: Princess's ladies begged to enter; a man, it appeared, had brought a
line for the Freiherr von Gondremark. It proved to be a pencil
billet, which the crafty Greisengesang had found the means to
scribble and despatch under the very guns of Otto; and the daring of
the act bore testimony to the terror of the actor. For
Greisengesang had but one influential motive: fear. The note ran
thus: 'At the first council, procuration to be withdrawn. - CORN.
GREIS.'
So, after three years of exercise, the right of signature was to be
stript from Seraphina. It was more than an insult; it was a public
disgrace; and she did not pause to consider how she had earned it,
|
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 Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: of this nor of her delay; and I was following her quite at my
leisure and picking my way, when the sudden report of a carbine,
a second report, and a yell of alarm in front thrilled me
through.
On the instant, while the sound was still in my ears, I saw it
all. Like a hot iron piercing my brain the truth flashed into my
mind. We were attacked! We were attacked, and I was here
helpless in this pit, this trap! The loss of a second while I
fumbled here, Mademoiselle's horse barring the way, might be
fatal.
There was but one way. I turned my horse straight at the steep
|
