The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: "Well, the tragic is not lacking in your play," said Gazonal.
"It is six o'clock. Before we take you to see Odry in 'Les
Saltimbauques' to-night," said Leon to Gazonal, "we must go and pay a
visit to Madame Cadine,--an actress whom your committee-man Massol
cultivates, and to whom you must therefore pay the most assiduous
court."
"And as it is all important that you conciliate that power, I am going
to give you a few instructions," said Bixiou. "Do you employ workwomen
in your manufactory?"
"Of course I do," replied Gazonal.
"That's all I want to know," resumed Bixiou. "You are not married, and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: my opinion by the following arguments:--
(a) Because almost all epistles purporting to be of the classical age of
Greek literature are forgeries. (Compare Bentley's Works (Dyce's
Edition).) Of all documents this class are the least likely to be
preserved and the most likely to be invented. The ancient world swarmed
with them; the great libraries stimulated the demand for them; and at a
time when there was no regular publication of books, they easily crept into
the world.
(b) When one epistle out of a number is spurious, the remainder of the
series cannot be admitted to be genuine, unless there be some independent
ground for thinking them so: when all but one are spurious, overwhelming
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