| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: word for him hecause he is down, an' mebbe last night he might
hev scared you, you bein' fresh from the East."
Madeline liked the old fellow for his loyalty to the cowboy he
evidently cared for; but as there did not seem anything for her
to say, she remained silent.
"Miss Majesty, the day of the cattleman is about over. An' the
day of the cowboy, such as Gene Stewart, is over. There's no
place for Gene. If these weren't modern days he'd come near
bein' a gun-man, same as we had in Texas, when I ranched there in
the 'seventies. But he can't fit nowhere now; he can't hold a
job, an' he's goin' down."
The Light of Western Stars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: arcessendi; acies instruenda; milites cohortandi; signum dandum. Quarum
rerum magnam partem temporis brevitas et incursus hostium impediebat. His
difficultatibus duae res erant subsidio, scientia atque usus militum, quod
superioribus proeliis exercitati quid fieri oporteret non minus commode
ipsi sibi praescribere quam ab aliis doceri poterant, et quod ab opere
singulisque legionibus singulos legatos Caesar discedere nisi munitis
castris vetuerat. Hi propter propinquitatem et celeritatem hostium nihil
iam Caesaris imperium expectabant, sed per se quae videbantur
administrabant.
Caesar, necessariis rebus imperatis, ad cohortandos milites, quam [in]
partem fors obtulit, decucurrit et ad legionem decimam devenit. Milites
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Aeneid by Virgil: For this are various penances enjoin'd;
And some are hung to bleach upon the wind,
Some plung'd in waters, others purg'd in fires,
Till all the dregs are drain'd, and all the rust expires.
All have their manes, and those manes bear:
The few, so cleans'd, to these abodes repair,
And breathe, in ample fields, the soft Elysian air.
Then are they happy, when by length of time
The scurf is worn away of each committed crime;
No speck is left of their habitual stains,
But the pure ether of the soul remains.
Aeneid |
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 Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: for they saw her defenders could soon be overcome and that
from her deck they could command the deck of the better-manned ship.
As they charged a shout of warning came from Kulan Tith,
upon the bridge of his own ship, and with it an
appreciation of the valour of the act that had put the
smaller vessel in these sore straits.
"Who is it," he cried, "that offers his life in the service
of Kulan Tith? Never was wrought a nobler deed of self-
sacrifice upon Barsoom!"
The green horde was scrambling over the Thuria's
side as there broke from the bow the device of Carthoris,
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
