| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Anabasis by Xenophon: Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a
pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,
and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land
and property in Scillus, where he lived for many
years before having to move once more, to settle
in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Anabasis is his story of the march to Persia
to aid Cyrus, who enlisted Greek help to try and
take the throne from Artaxerxes, and the ensuing
return of the Greeks, in which Xenophon played a
leading role. This occurred between 401 B.C. and
Anabasis |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: this part of the New World. But the distance was terrific. In
order to reach them, we should have to traverse deserts of many
days' journey, and more than one range of mountains so steep and
vast as to seem almost impassable to the strongest man. I
nevertheless flattered myself that we might derive partial relief
from one or other of these sources: the savages might serve us as
guides, and the English receive us in their settlements.
"We journeyed on as long as Manon's strength would permit, that
is to say, about six miles; for this incomparable creature, with
her usual absence of selfishness, refused my repeated entreaties
to stop. Overpowered at length by fatigue, she acknowledged the
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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 Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: river.
"Then it was plain to Palma, Werbrust, and du Tillet that the trick
had been played. Nobody else was any the wiser. The three scholars
studied the means by which the great bubble had been created, saw that
it had been preparing for eleven months, and pronounced Nucingen the
greatest financier in Europe.
"Rastignac understood nothing of all this, but he had the four hundred
thousand francs which Nucingen had allowed him to shear from the
Parisian sheep, and he portioned his sisters. D'Aiglemont, at a hint
from his cousin Beaudenord, besought Rastignac to accept ten per cent
upon his million if he would undertake to convert it into shares in a
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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 The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: "Poor beastie," said Gluck, "it'll be dead when I come down
again, if I don't help it." Then he looked closer and closer at
it, and its eye turned on him so mournfully that he could not stand
it. "Confound the king and his gold too," said Gluck, and he
opened the flask and poured all the water into the dog's mouth.
The dog sprang up and stood on its hind legs. Its tail
disappeared; its ears became long, longer, silky, golden; its nose
became very red; its eyes became very twinkling; in three seconds
the dog was gone, and before Gluck stood his old acquaintance, the
King of the Golden River.
"Thank you," said the monarch. "But don't be frightened;
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