| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Theaetetus by Plato: the Trojan warriors in the horse, but have a common centre of perception,
in which they all meet. This common principle is able to compare them with
one another, and must therefore be distinct from them (compare Republic).
And as there are facts of sense which are perceived through the organs of
the body, there are also mathematical and other abstractions, such as
sameness and difference, likeness and unlikeness, which the soul perceives
by herself. Being is the most universal of these abstractions. The good
and the beautiful are abstractions of another kind, which exist in relation
and which above all others the mind perceives in herself, comparing within
her past, present, and future. For example; we know a thing to be hard or
soft by the touch, of which the perception is given at birth to men and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Poems by Bronte Sisters: I taste a heaven in this brief rest,
This gipsy-halt beside the way.
England's wild flowers are fair to view,
Like balm is England's summer dew
Like gold her sunset ray.
But the white violets, growing here,
Are sweeter than I yet have seen,
And ne'er did dew so pure and clear
Distil on forest mosses green,
As now, called forth by summer heat,
Perfumes our cool and fresh retreat--
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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 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: The ruffians bound him securely, in an upright attitude, with his
feet on the ground at the head of the bed, the end which was most
remote from the window, and nearest to the fireplace.
When the last knot had been tied, Thenardier took a chair and seated
himself almost facing M. Leblanc.
Thenardier no longer looked like himself; in the course of a few
moments his face had passed from unbridled violence to tranquil
and cunning sweetness.
Marius found it difficult to recognize in that polished smile
of a man in official life the almost bestial mouth which had
been foaming but a moment before; he gazed with amazement
Les Miserables |
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 Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: castra contendit.
Ibi cum alii fossas complerent, alii multis telis coniectis defensores
vallo munitionibusque depellerent, auxiliaresque, quibus ad pugnam non
multum Crassus confidebat, lapidibus telisque subministrandis et ad
aggerem caespitibus comportandis speciem atque opinionem pugnantium
praeberent, cum item ab hostibus constanter ac non timide pugnaretur
telaque ex loco superiore missa non frustra acciderent, equites circumitis
hostium castris Crasso renuntiaverunt non eadem esse diligentia ab
decumana porta castra munita facilemque aditum habere.
Crassus equitum praefectos cohortatus, ut magnis praemiis
pollicitationibusque suos excitarent, quid fieri vellet ostendit. Illi,
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