| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Salome by Oscar Wilde: fruit mur. Oui, je baiserai ta bouche, Iokanaan. Je te l'ai dit,
n'est-ce pas? je te l'ai dit. Eh bien! je la baiserai maintenant .
. . Mais pourquoi ne me regardes-tu pas, Iokanaan? Tes yeux qui
etaient si terribles, qui etaient si pleins de colere et de mepris,
ils sont fermes maintenant. Pourquoi sont-ils fermes? Ouvre tes
yeux! Souleve tes paupieres, Iokanaan. Pourquoi ne me regardes-tu
pas? As-tu peur de moi, Iokanaan, que tu ne veux pas me regarder? .
. . Et ta langue qui etait comme un serpent rouge dardant des
poisons, elle ne remue plus, elle ne dit rien maintenant, Iokanaan,
cette vipere rouge qui a vomi son venin sur moi. C'est etrange,
n'est-ce pas? Comment se fait-il que la vipere rouge ne remue plus?
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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 Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: promise."
"Armand!" she cried. "What do you mean? Great heavens! Can
you imagine that I am to be the prize of a crime? Do you want to
kill me? Why! you cannot have any religion in you! For my own
part, I fear God. M. de Langeais may have given me reason to
hate him, but I wish him no manner of harm."
M. de Montriveau beat a tattoo on the marble chimneypiece, and
only looked composedly at the lady.
"Dear," continued she, "respect him. He does not love me, he
is not kind to me, but I have duties to fulfil with regard to
him. What would I not do to avert the calamities with which you
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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 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: the ignorance of infancy or imbecility of age. We are long before
we are able to think, and we soon cease from the power of acting.
The true period of human existence may be reasonably estimated at
forty years, of which I have mused away the four-and-twentieth
part. What I have lost was certain, for I have certainly possessed
it; but of twenty months to come, who can assure me?"
The consciousness of his own folly pierced him deeply, and he was
long before he could be reconciled to himself. "The rest of my
time," said he, "has been lost by the crime or folly of my
ancestors, and the absurd institutions of my country; I remember it
with disgust, yet without remorse: but the months that have passed
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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 Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: except such as was necessary to action, vanished from my brain,
and I was in the condition of a beast, and of a man under the
influence of physical excitement pending a danger, who acts
imperturbably, without haste, and yet without losing a minute,
pursuing a definite object.
"The first thing that I did was to take off my boots, and now,
having only stockings on, I advanced toward the wall, over the
sofa, where firearms and daggers were hanging, and I took down a
curved Damascus blade, which I had never used, and which was very
sharp. I took it from its sheath. I remember that the sheath
fell upon the sofa, and that I said to myself: 'I must look for
The Kreutzer Sonata |
