| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: their injustice; others have done rightly and come to no good.
SOCRATES: Well, but granting that the just and the expedient are ever so
much opposed, you surely do not imagine that you know what is expedient for
mankind, or why a thing is expedient?
ALCIBIADES: Why not, Socrates?--But I am not going to be asked again from
whom I learned, or when I made the discovery.
SOCRATES: What a way you have! When you make a mistake which might be
refuted by a previous argument, you insist on having a new and different
refutation; the old argument is a worn-our garment which you will no longer
put on, but some one must produce another which is clean and new. Now I
shall disregard this move of yours, and shall ask over again,--Where did
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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 Riverman by Stewart Edward White: the pattern of the brown carpet caught his attention, he sprang into
life. Balancing his peavy across his body, he made his way by short
dashes to the point of threatened congestion. There, working
vigorously, swept down stream with the mass, he pulled, hauled, and
heaved, forcing the heavy, reluctant timbers from the cohesion that
threatened trouble later. Oblivious to his surroundings, he
wrenched and pried desperately. The banks of the river drifted by.
Point succeeded point, as though withdrawn up stream by some
invisible manipulator. The river appeared stationary, the banks in
motion. Finally he heard at his elbow the voice of the man
stationed below him, who had run out from his own point.
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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 Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: --and she would run out to his call. Mrs. Smith
called her a shameless hussy. She answered noth-
ing. She said nothing at all to anybody, and went
on her way as if she had been deaf. She and I alone
all in the land, I fancy, could see his very real
beauty. He was very good-looking, and most
graceful in his bearing, with that something wild
as of a woodland creature in his aspect. Her moth-
er moaned over her dismally whenever the girl came
to see her on her day out. The father was surly,
but pretended not to know; and Mrs. Finn once
Amy Foster |
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 Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw: get tired of.
JOHNNY. But what question?
LORD SUMMERHAYS. The question which particular young man some young
woman will mate with.
PERCIVAL. As if it mattered!
HYPATIA. _[sharply]_ Whats that you said?
PERCIVAL. I said: As if it mattered.
HYPATIA. I call that ungentlemanly.
PERCIVAL. Do you care about that? you who are so magnificently
unladylike!
JOHNNY. Look here, Mr Percival: youre not supposed to insult my
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