| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: Tencterorum, quam supra commemoravi praedandi frumentandi causa Mosam
transisse neque proelio interfuisse, post fugam suorum se trans Rhenum in
fines Sugambrorum receperat seque cum his coniunxerat. Ad quos cum Caesar
nuntios misisset, qui postularent eos qui sibi Galliae bellum intulissent
sibi dederent, responderunt: populi Romani imperium Rhenum finire; si se
invito Germanos in Galliam transire non aequum existimaret, cur sui
quicquam esse imperii aut potestatis trans Rhenum postularet? Ubii autem,
qui uni ex Transrhenanis ad Caesarem legatos miserant, amicitiam fecerant,
obsides dederant, magnopere orabant ut sibi auxilium ferret, quod graviter
ab Suebis premerentur; vel, si id facere occupationibus rei publicae
prohiberetur, exercitum modo Rhenum transportaret: id sibi auxilium
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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 Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: Then he, too, drew his sword and came out of the pantry;
then, putting themselves into position, they came slowly together,
with grim and angry looks; but suddenly Little John lowered his point.
"Hold, good Cook!" said he. "Now, I bethink me it were ill of us
to fight with good victuals standing so nigh, and such a feast
as would befit two stout fellows such as we are. Marry, good friend,
I think we should enjoy this fair feast ere we fight.
What sayest thou, jolly Cook?"
At this speech the Cook looked up and down, scratching his head
in doubt, for he loved good feasting. At last he drew a long
breath and said to Little John, "Well, good friend, I like thy plan
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: window, and there has not been a blast from the peacock for a
week. He seems ashamed of the summer shortness of his tail. He
keeps glancing at it over his shoulder to see if it is not
looking better than yesterday, while the staring eyes of the
old tail are in the bushes all about."
"Poor, dear little thing!" said coaxing Katie. "Is she tired
of autumn, before it is begun?"
"I am never tired of anything," said Aunt Jane, "except my maid
Ruth, and I should not be tired of her, if it had pleased
Heaven to endow her with sufficient strength of mind to sew on
a button. Life is very rich to me. There is always something
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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 Phaedo by Plato: The tale, my friend, he said, is as follows:--In the first place, the
earth, when looked at from above, is in appearance streaked like one of
those balls which have leather coverings in twelve pieces, and is decked
with various colours, of which the colours used by painters on earth are in
a manner samples. But there the whole earth is made up of them, and they
are brighter far and clearer than ours; there is a purple of wonderful
lustre, also the radiance of gold, and the white which is in the earth is
whiter than any chalk or snow. Of these and other colours the earth is
made up, and they are more in number and fairer than the eye of man has
ever seen; the very hollows (of which I was speaking) filled with air and
water have a colour of their own, and are seen like light gleaming amid the
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