| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: exercising itself about them. The Colonel and the Countess seemed
perfectly to understand that accident had placed them in an awkward
position. Martial, as they came forward, had hastened to join the
group of men by the fireplace, that he might watch Madame de
Vaudremont with the jealous anxiety of the first flame of passion,
from behind the heads which formed a sort of rampart; a secret voice
seemed to warn him that the success on which he prided himself might
perhaps be precarious. But the coldly polite smile with which the
Countess thanked Monsieur de Soulanges, and her little bow of
dismissal as she sat down by Madame de Gondreville, relaxed the
muscles of his face which jealousy had made rigid. Seeing Soulanges,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: wishes it, and so let it be."
"And yet you do not resemble those easy-tempered fathers who
volunteer as stepping-stones for their children," said the
king.
"I am determined enough against the viciously disposed, but
not so against men of upright character. Raoul is suffering;
he is in great distress of mind: his disposition, naturally
light and cheerful, has become gloomy and melancholy. I do
not wish to deprive your majesty of the services he may be
able to render."
"I understand you," said the king; "and what is more, I
Ten Years Later |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: them, should he chance to be weaker the wolf attacks him, or if
stronger, the wolf will slaughter[23] his quarry and make off. At
other times, if the pack be strong enough to make light of the
guardians of a flock, they will marshal their battalions, as it were,
some to drive off the guard and others to effect the capture, and so
by stealth or fair fight they provide themselves with the necessaries
of life. I say, if dumb beasts are capable of conducting a raid with
so much sense and skill, it is hard if any average man cannot prove
himself equally intelligent with creatures which themselves fall
victims to the craft of man.
[19] e.g. defiles, bridges, outposts, stores, etc.
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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 Timaeus by Plato: ground, and their heads were crushed into strange oblong forms. Some of
them have four feet, and some of them more than four,--the latter, who are
the more senseless, drawing closer to their native element; the most
senseless of all have no limbs and trail their whole body on the ground.
The fourth kind are the inhabitants of the waters; these are made out of
the most senseless and ignorant and impure of men, whom God placed in the
uttermost parts of the world in return for their utter ignorance, and
caused them to respire water instead of the pure element of air. Such are
the laws by which animals pass into one another.
And so the world received animals, mortal and immortal, and was fulfilled
with them, and became a visible God, comprehending the visible, made in the
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