| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: of the consummate skill with which he induced the whole state of
Sparta to regard an honourable death as preferable to an ignoble life.
And indeed if any one will investigate the matter, he will find that
by comparison with those who make it a principle to retreat in face of
danger, actually fewer of these Spartans die in battle, since, to
speak truth, salvation, it would seem, attends on virtue far more
frequently than on cowardice--virtue, which is at once easier and
sweeter, richer in resource and stronger of arm,[1] than her opposite.
And that virtue has another familiar attendant--to wit, glory--needs
no showing, since the whole world would fain ally themselves after
some sort in battle with the good.
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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 Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: hill. Barney went ahead, taking the girl's hand in his to help
her, and thus they came to the top, to stand hand in hand,
breathing heavily after the stiff climb.
The girl's hair had come loose about her temples and a
lock was blowing over her face. Her cheeks were very red
and her eyes bright. Barney thought he had never looked
upon a lovelier picture. He smiled down into her eyes and
she smiled back at him.
"I wished, back there a way," he said, "that that little
brook had been as wide as the ocean--now I wish that
this little hill had been as high as Mont Blanc."
The Mad King |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: without doors, girls are often the only comfort within. They but
too frequently waste their health and spirits attending a dying
parent, who leaves them in comparative poverty. After closing,
with filial piety, a father's eyes, they are chased from the paternal
roof, to make room for the first-born, the son, who is to carry
the empty family-name down to posterity; though, occupied with
his own pleasures, he scarcely thought of discharging, in the
decline of his parent's life, the debt contracted in his childhood.
My mother's conduct led me to make these reflections. Great as
was the fatigue I endured, and the affection my unceasing solicitude
evinced, of which my mother seemed perfectly sensible, still, when
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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 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: confirmed this.
"Oh, it is really too late," said Count Orlov, looking at the camp.
As often happens when someone we have trusted is no longer before
our eyes, it suddenly seemed quite clear and obvious to him that the
sergeant was an impostor, that he had lied, and that the whole Russian
attack would be ruined by the absence of those two regiments, which he
would lead away heaven only knew where. How could one capture a
commander in chief from among such a mass of troops!
"I am sure that rascal was lying," said the count.
"They can still be called back," said one of his suite, who like
Count Orlov felt distrustful of the adventure when he looked at the
War and Peace |
