| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: under the influence of Dionysus but not when they are in their right mind.
And the soul of the lyric poet does the same, as they themselves say; for
they tell us that they bring songs from honeyed fountains, culling them out
of the gardens and dells of the Muses; they, like the bees, winging their
way from flower to flower. And this is true. For the poet is a light and
winged and holy thing, and there is no invention in him until he has been
inspired and is out of his senses, and the mind is no longer in him: when
he has not attained to this state, he is powerless and is unable to utter
his oracles. Many are the noble words in which poets speak concerning the
actions of men; but like yourself when speaking about Homer, they do not
speak of them by any rules of art: they are simply inspired to utter that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: here."
"Sukhanov thinks that we do less harm than anybody else,"
said Pavlovitch, and laughed. "Go and talk to him and he'll
tell you all there is to be said against us. And there's lots to
say."
Sukhanov was an extremely bitter enemy of the Bolsheviks,
and was very angry with me when, over a year ago, I told
him I was convinced that sooner or later he would be
working with them. I told Pavlovitch the story, and he
laughed again. "A long time ago," he said, "Sukhanov made
overtures to me through Miliutin. I agreed, and everything
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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 House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: had been grafted on a nature originally reluctant and cautious,
with the result that it would have seemed hardly needful for Mrs.
Gryce to extract his promise about the overshoes, so little
likely was he to hazard himself abroad in the rain. After
attaining his majority, and coming into the fortune which the
late Mr. Gryce had made out of a patent device for excluding
fresh air from hotels, the young man continued to live with his
mother in Albany; but on Jefferson Gryce's death, when another
large property passed into her son's hands, Mrs. Gryce thought
that what she called his "interests" demanded his presence in New
York. She accordingly installed herself in the Madison Avenue
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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 1492 by Mary Johntson: turned to the Admiral with loud praise and gratulation. He
was girded with a sword, cross-hilted. Drawing it, he set
its point in the sand. Then with one hand upon the cross,
and one lifted and wrapped in the banner folds, he, with a
great voice, proclaimed Spain's ownership. To the King
and Queen of the Spains all lands unchristian and idolatrous
that we might find and use and hold, all that were clearly
away from the line of the King of Portugal, drawn for him
by the Holy Father! In the name of God, in the name of
Holy Church, in the name of Isabella, Queen of Castile,
and Ferdinand, King of Aragon and their united Power,
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