| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Apology by Xenophon: discharge most incompatible with gaiety of mind." Schneid. conj.
{eremon} sc. {geras}.
"No," he added, "God knows I shall display no ardent zeal to bring
that about.[19] On the contrary, if by proclaiming all the blessings
which I owe to god and men; if, by blazoning forth the opinion which I
entertain with regard to myself, I end by wearying the court, even so
will I choose death rather than supplicate in servile sort for leave
to live a little longer merely to gain a life impoverished in place of
death."
[19] Or, "I will give no helping hand to that."
It was in this determination, Hermogenes states, that, when the
 The Apology |
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 La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: and the foundation perhaps of a form of true happiness which no
Parisian would care for.
"For some time past Monsieur de Merret had been satisfied to ask
Rosalie whether his wife was in bed; on the girl's replying always in
the affirmative, he at once went to his own room, with the good faith
that comes of habit and confidence. But this evening, on coming in, he
took it into his head to go to see Madame de Merret, to tell her of
his ill-luck, and perhaps to find consolation. During dinner he had
observed that his wife was very becomingly dressed; he reflected as he
came home from the club that his wife was certainly much better, that
convalescence had improved her beauty, discovering it, as husbands
 La Grande Breteche |