| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: deep trenches in the moist you will come to water, and there and then
an end to further planting.
Isch. You could not put it better. We will suppose, then, the trenches
have been dug. Does your eyesight take you further?[9] Have you
noticed at what season in either case[10] the plants must be embedded?
[9] Lit. "As soon as the trenches have been dug then, have you further
noticed . . ."
[10] (1) The vulg. reading {openika . . . ekatera} = "at what precise
time . . . either (i.e. 'the two different' kinds of) plant," i.e.
"vine and olive" or "vine and fig," I suppose; (2) Breit. emend.
{opotera . . . en ekatera} = "which kind of plant . . . in either
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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 Europeans by Henry James: Mr. Wentworth meditated. "You think she will exercise a helpful influence?"
"She will exercise a civilizing--I may call it a sobering--influence.
A charming, clever, witty woman always does--especially if she is a little
of a coquette. My dear uncle, the society of such women has been half
my education. If Clifford is suspended, as you say, from college,
let Eugenia be his preceptress."
Mr. Wentworth continued thoughtful. "You think Eugenia is
a coquette?" he asked.
"What pretty woman is not?" Felix demanded in turn.
But this, for Mr. Wentworth, could at the best have been no answer,
for he did not think his niece pretty. "With Clifford,"
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