| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: "We have," he said, "neither investigated the northern shore from the site
of Cape Antibes to the strait that brought us to Gibraltar, nor have we
followed the southern shore that stretches from the strait to the Gulf
of Cabes. It is the old coast, and not the new, that we have been tracing;
as yet, we cannot say positively that there is no outlet to the south;
as yet, we cannot assert that no oasis of the African desert has escaped
the catastrophe. Perhaps, even here in the north, we may find that
Italy and Sicily and the larger islands of the Mediterranean may still
maintain their existence."
"I entirely concur with you," said Count Timascheff.
"I quite think we ought to make our survey of the confines
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: immediately after the death of his wife, he would have done a wiser
thing had he then resolved never to revisit it. Nature, providentially
ordered, provides that if those whose nearest and dearest are struck
by the hand of death accept the decree with the resignation which
ought to follow the execution of all necessary law, they will not
remain too long under the influence of their grief. Rousseau has said,
in his famous letter against suicide: "Sadness, weariness of spirit,
regret, despair are not lasting sorrows, rooted forever in the soul;
experience will always cast out that feeling of bitterness which makes
us at first believe our grief eternal."
But this truth ceases to be true for imprudent and wilful persons, who
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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 Protagoras by Plato: good and evil. As there are two things, let us call them by two names--
first, good and evil, and then pleasant and painful. Assuming this, let us
go on to say that a man does evil knowing that he does evil. But some one
will ask, Why? Because he is overcome, is the first answer. And by what
is he overcome? the enquirer will proceed to ask. And we shall not be able
to reply 'By pleasure,' for the name of pleasure has been exchanged for
that of good. In our answer, then, we shall only say that he is overcome.
'By what?' he will reiterate. By the good, we shall have to reply; indeed
we shall. Nay, but our questioner will rejoin with a laugh, if he be one
of the swaggering sort, 'That is too ridiculous, that a man should do what
he knows to be evil when he ought not, because he is overcome by good. Is
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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 A Hero of Our Time by M.Y. Lermontov: without a single complaint, without a single
reproach for his lengthy absence! . . . Even I
was angry with him by this time!
"'Good heavens!' I said; 'why, I tell you,
Kazbich was here on the other side of the river
just a moment ago, and we shot at him. How
easily you might have run up against him, you
know! These mountaineers are a vindictive
race! Do you suppose he does not guess that you
gave Azamat some help? And I wager that he
recognised Bela to-day! I know he was desper-
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