| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: sight of a pretty one. The click of the stranger's boot-heels offended
his taste and echoed in his heart. He felt as hampered by his own
clothes (made no doubt at home out of those of his step-father) as
that envied young man seemed at ease in his.
"That fellow must have heaps of francs in his trousers pocket,"
thought Oscar.
The young man turned round. What were Oscar's feelings on beholding a
gold chain round his neck, at the end of which no doubt was a gold
watch! From that moment the young man assumed, in Oscar's eyes, the
proportions of a personage.
Living in the rue de la Cerisaie since 1815, taken to and from school
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: which it caused her. She did not step forward to meet her lover, she
did not rise even from her seat; but the flutter of her unrest was
plain to see.[3]
[3] Lit. "the difficulty she had to keep so still was evident."
When Dionysus presently caught sight of her he loved, lightly he
danced towards her, and with show of tenderest passion gently reclined
upon her knees; his arms entwined about her lovingly, and upon her
lips he sealed a kiss;[4]--she the while with most sweet bashfulness
was fain to wind responsive arms about her lover; till the banqueters,
the while they gazed all eyes, clapped hands and cried "Encore!" But
when Dionysus rose upon his feet, and rising lifted Ariadne to her
The Symposium |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: prepared and that she took this chance to throw it at me. She
said that I did not know where I should sit; that I was a thorn
beneath her nail, and that whenever she wished to talk with
Mauriti, or with you, Macumazahn, I was ever there with my ear
open like the mouth of a gourd. She commanded me in future to
come only when I was called; all of which things I am sure
Mauriti had taught her, who in herself is too gentle even to
think them--unless you taught her, Macumazahn."
I shook my head and she went on--
"No, it was not you who also are too gentle, and having suffered
yourself, can feel for those who suffer, which Mauriti who has
|
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 Apology by Xenophon: innocently, "But the hardest thing of all to bear, Socrates, is to see
you put to death unjustly."[53]
[52] Cf. "Mem." III. xi. 17; Plut. "Cato min." 46 (Clough, iv. 417).
See Cobet, "Pros. Xen." s.n.; cf. Plat. "Symp." 173; "Phaed." 54
A, 117 D; Aelian, "V. H." i. 16; Heges. "Delph." ap. Athen. xi.
507.
[53] Diog. Laert. ii. 5. 35, ascribes the remark to Xanthippe, and so
Val. Max. 7. 2, Ext. 1.
Whereupon Socrates, it is said, gently stroked the young man's head:
"Would you have been better pleased, my dear one, to see me put to
death for some just reason rather than unjustly?" and as he spoke he
The Apology |
