| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: love of money for the money's sake brooded in her heart,
driving out by degrees every other natural affection. She
grew thin and meagre; her flesh clove tight to her small
skeleton; her small pale mouth and little uplifted chin grew
to have a certain feline eagerness of expression; her long,
narrow eyes glistened continually, as if they caught and
held the glint of metal. One day as she sat in her room,
the empty brass match-box and the limp chamois bag in her
hands, she suddenly exclaimed:
"I could have forgiven him if he had only gone away and left
me my money. I could have--yes, I could have forgiven him
McTeague |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: that none might know of his coming. When the King of Cyprus heard
of me he sent me ambassadors. The two Kings of Libya who are
brothers brought me gifts of amber.
I took the minion of Caesar from Caesar and made him my playfellow.
He came to me at night in a litter. He was pale as a narcissus, and
his body was like honey.
The son of the Praefect slew himself in my honour, and the Tetrarch
of Cilicia scourged himself for my pleasure before my slaves.
The King of Hierapolis who is a priest and a robber set carpets for
me to walk on.
Sometimes I sit in the circus and the gladiators fight beneath me.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: longing.
At this point Hermogenes protested: I find it most unlike you,
Socrates, to treat thus negligently one so passion-crazed as
Critobulus.
Socrates replied: Do you suppose the sad condition of the patient
dates from the moment only of our intimacy?
Herm. Since when, then?
Soc. Since when? Why, look at him: the down begins to mantle on his
cheeks,[36] and on the nape[37] of Cleinias' neck already mounts. The
fact is, when they fared to the same school together, he caught the
fever. This his father was aware of, and consigned him to me, hoping I
The Symposium |
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 Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: himself, as he was to others. 'Genuine fortitude,' he would assert,
'consisted in governing our own emotions, and making allowance for
the weaknesses in our friends, that we would not tolerate in
ourselves.' But where is my fond regret leading me!
"'Women must be submissive,' said my landlady. 'Indeed what
could most women do? Who had they to maintain them, but their
husbands? Every woman, and especially a lady, could not go through
rough and smooth, as she had done, to earn a little bread.'
"She was in a talking mood, and proceeded to inform me how
she had been used in the world. 'She knew what it was to have a
bad husband, or she did not know who should.' I perceived that she
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