| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: like being.[15] For if I rightly understand this blessed gift, this
faculty of command over willing followers, by no means is it, in its
entirety, a merely human quality, but it is in part divine. It is a
gift plainly given to those truly initiated[16] in the mystery of
self-command. Whereas despotism over unwilling slaves, the heavenly
ones give, as it seems to me, to those whom they deem worthy to live
the life of Tantalus in Hades, of whom it is written[17] "he consumes
unending days in apprehension of a second death."
[11] According to Sturz, "Lex." s.v., the {epitropos} is (as a rule,
see "Mem." II. viii.) a slave or freedman, the {epistates} a free
man. See "Mem." III. v. 18.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: advanced, and retreated before my dizzy eyes. My time
after office hours was spent in climbing dim stairways,
interviewing unenthusiastic females in kimonos, and
peering into ugly bedrooms papered with sprawly and
impossible patterns and filled with the odors of
dead-and-gone dinners. I found one room less impossible
than the rest, only to be told that the preference was to
be given to a man who had "looked" the day before.
"I d'ruther take gents only," explained the ample
person who carried the keys to the mansion. "Gents goes
early in the morning and comes in late at night, and
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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 Redheaded Outfield by Zane Grey: already made up, and soon we had all retired.
In the morning very early I was awakened by a
disturbance. It sounded like a squeal. I heard
an astonished exclamation, another squeal, the
pattering of little feet, then hoarse uproar of
laughter from the ball players in the upper berths.
Following that came low, excited conversation
between the porter and somebody, then an angry
snort from the Rube and the thud of his heavy
feet in the aisle. What took place after that was
guess-work for me. But I gathered from the
The Redheaded Outfield |
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 Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: consciences, also, that God requires faith to believe such
absolution as a voice sounding from heaven, and that such
faith in Christ truly obtains and receives the forgiveness of
sins. Aforetime satisfactions were immoderately extolled; of
faith and the merit of Christ and the righteousness of faith
no mention was made; wherefore, on this point, our churches
are by no means to be blamed. For this even our adversaries
must needs concede to us that the doctrine concerning
repentance has been most diligently treated and laid open by
our teachers.
But of Confession they teach that an enumeration of sins is
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