| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: them; but if one is not at hand, they are heard of only when they are
great, and then one can no longer remedy them. Besides this, the
country is not pillaged by your officials; the subjects are satisfied
by prompt recourse to the prince; thus, wishing to be good, they have
more cause to love him, and wishing to be otherwise, to fear him. He
who would attack that state from the outside must have the utmost
caution; as long as the prince resides there it can only be wrested
from him with the greatest difficulty.
The other and better course is to send colonies to one or two places,
which may be as keys to that state, for it is necessary either to do
this or else to keep there a great number of cavalry and infantry. A
The Prince |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: horrors beyond man's power to bear? If so, they must be horrors
of the mind alone, for in some way the second of April had put
a stop to whatever monstrous menace had begun its siege of mankind's
soul.
That evening, after a day of hurried cabling and arranging,
I bade my host adieu and took a train for San Francisco. In less
than a month I was in Dunedin; where, however, I found that little
was known of the strange cult-members who had lingered in the
old sea-taverns. Waterfront scum was far too common for special
mentnon; though there was vague talk about one inland trip these
mongrels had made, during which faint drumming and red flame were
Call of Cthulhu |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Disputation of the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Dr. Martin Luther: liberior.
20. [45] Docendi sunt christiani, quod, qui videt egenum et
neglecto eo dat pro veniis, non idulgentias Pape sed indignationem
dei sibi vendicat.
21. [46] Docendi sunt christiani, quod nisi superfluis abundent
necessaria tenentur domui sue retinere et nequaquam propter venias
effundere.
22. [47] Docendi sunt christiani, quod redemptio veniarum est
libera, non precepta.
23. [48] Docendi sunt christiani, quod Papa sicut magis eget ita
magis optat in veniis dandis pro se devotam orationem quam
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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 Parmenides by Plato: younger than itself, if it is to have something to become older than.
What do you mean?
I mean this:--A thing does not need to become different from another thing
which is already different; it IS different, and if its different has
become, it has become different; if its different will be, it will be
different; but of that which is becoming different, there cannot have been,
or be about to be, or yet be, a different--the only different possible is
one which is becoming.
That is inevitable.
But, surely, the elder is a difference relative to the younger, and to
nothing else.
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