| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: hurricane deck on the City of Denver. By that time my mind
was pretty much made down again, its natural condition: I told
myself that I was bound for Paris or Fontainebleau to resume
the study of the arts; and I thought no more of Carthew or
Bellairs, or only to smile at my own fondness. The one I could
not serve, even if I wanted; the other I had no means of finding,
even if I could have at all influenced him after he was found.
And for all that, I was close on the heels of an absurd
adventure. My neighbour at table that evening was a 'Frisco
man whom I knew slightly. I found he had crossed the plains
two days in front of me, and this was the first steamer that had
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: "Would you really fight for him?"
"I would do anything," replied Fix, in a tone which betrayed determined will,
"to get him back living to Europe!"
Passepartout felt something like a shudder shoot through his frame,
but his confidence in his master remained unbroken.
Was there any means of detaining Mr. Fogg in the car, to avoid a meeting
between him and the colonel? It ought not to be a difficult task,
since that gentleman was naturally sedentary and little curious.
The detective, at least, seemed to have found a way; for, after a few moments,
he said to Mr. Fogg, "These are long and slow hours, sir, that we are passing
on the railway."
Around the World in 80 Days |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: task when I see you thus discomfited.
STRANGER: Say no more of ourselves; but until we find some one or other
who can speak of not-being without number, we must acknowledge that the
Sophist is a clever rogue who will not be got out of his hole.
THEAETETUS: Most true.
STRANGER: And if we say to him that he professes an art of making
appearances, he will grapple with us and retort our argument upon
ourselves; and when we call him an image-maker he will say, 'Pray what do
you mean at all by an image?'--and I should like to know, Theaetetus, how
we can possibly answer the younker's question?
THEAETETUS: We shall doubtless tell him of the images which are reflected
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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 The Republic by Plato: having proper nurture, must necessarily grow and mature into all virtue,
but, if sown and planted in an alien soil, becomes the most noxious of all
weeds, unless he be preserved by some divine power. Do you really think,
as people so often say, that our youth are corrupted by Sophists, or that
private teachers of the art corrupt them in any degree worth speaking of?
Are not the public who say these things the greatest of all Sophists? And
do they not educate to perfection young and old, men and women alike, and
fashion them after their own hearts?
When is this accomplished? he said.
When they meet together, and the world sits down at an assembly, or in a
court of law, or a theatre, or a camp, or in any other popular resort, and
The Republic |
