| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Euthydemus by Plato: carried away by my incredulity, and asked Euthydemus whether Dionysodorus
could dance.
Certainly, he replied.
And can he vault among swords, and turn upon a wheel, at his age? has he
got to such a height of skill as that?
He can do anything, he said.
And did you always know this?
Always, he said.
When you were children, and at your birth?
They both said that they did.
This we could not believe. And Euthydemus said: You are incredulous,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: For some time past the old couple had lost the ability to sleep. At
the present moment they sat there silent, like two persons in their
dotage, gazing about them at things they did not see. Their deserted
salon, so filled with memories to them, was feebly lighted by a single
lamp which seemed expiring. Without the sparkling of the flame upon
the hearth, they might soon have been in total darkness.
A friend had just left them; and the chair on which he had been
sitting, remained where he left it, between the two Corsicans. Piombo
was casting glances at that chair,--glances full of thoughts, crowding
one upon another like remorse,--for the empty chair was Ginevra's.
Elisa Piombo watched the expressions that now began to cross her
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