Today's Stichomancy for Ambrose Bierce

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde:

THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET

Sole Lessee: Mr. Herbert Beerbohm Tree Managers: Mr. Lewis Waller and Mr. H. H. Morell January 3rd, 1895

THE EARL OF CAVERSHAM, Mr. Alfred Bishop. VISCOUNT GORING, Mr. Charles H. Hawtrey. SIR ROBERT CHILTERN, Mr. Lewis Waller. VICOMTE DE NANJAC, Mr. Cosmo Stuart. MR. MONTFORD, Mr. Harry Stanford. PHIPPS, Mr. C. H. Brookfield. MASON, Mr. H. Deane.

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon:

Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical marks have been lost.

WAYS AND MEANS

A Pamphlet On Revenues

For myself I hold to the opinion that the qualities of the leading statesmen in a state, whatever they be, are reproduced in the character of the constitution itself.[1]

[1] "Like minister, like government." For the same idea more fully expressed, see "Cyrop." VIII. i. 8; viii. 5.

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe:

hand, if he had told all the particulars, and given a full account of his rambles and success, to any comrade, any brother thief, or to his employers, as I may justly call them, then all was well with him, and he slept as quietly as other people.

As the publishing this account of my life is for the sake of the just moral of very part of it, and for instruction, caution, warning, and improvement to every reader, so this will not pass, I hope, for an unnecessary digression concerning some people being obliged to disclose the greatest secrets either of their own or other people's affairs.

Under the certain oppression of this weight upon my mind, I

Moll Flanders

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 Art of War by Sun Tzu:

is the planning of an attack." It would be hard to find a better epitome of the root-principle of war.]

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IV. TACTICAL DISPOSITIONS

[Ts`ao Kung explains the Chinese meaning of the words for the title of this chapter: "marching and countermarching on the part of the two armies with a view to discovering each other's condition." Tu Mu says: "It is through the dispositions of an army that its condition may be discovered. Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory,; show your dispositions, and your condition will

The Art of War