| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: "And I swear to be faithful," she returned, "if only for the sake
of having my little dog at my feet."
Not long afterward he went on business to the Quimper Assizes;
and while he was away his aunt, the widow of a great nobleman of
the duchy, came to spend a night at Kerfol on her way to the
pardon of Ste. Barbe. She was a woman of great piety and
consequence, and much respected by Yves de Cornault, and when she
proposed to Anne to go with her to Ste. Barbe no one could
object, and even the chaplain declared himself in favour of the
pilgrimage. So Anne set out for Ste. Barbe, and there for the
first time she talked with Herve de Lanrivain. He had come once
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: at frequent intervals. She was gentle, accessible, tenderly gracious,
expressive, demonstrative, almost flattering. From his own personal
point of view Bernard had no complaint to make of this maidenly urbanity,
but he kept reminding himself that he was not in question and that
everything must be looked at in the light of Gordon's requirements.
There was all this time an absurd logical twist in his view of things.
In the first place he was not to judge at all; and in the second he was
to judge strictly on Gordon's behalf. This latter clause always served
as a justification when the former had failed to serve as a deterrent.
When Bernard reproached himself for thinking too much of the girl,
he drew comfort from the reflection that he was not thinking well.
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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 The Economist by Xenophon: [3] Cf. Lycurg. "c. Leocr." 139.
[4] Al. "presidential duties."
[5] {trierarkhias [misthous]}. The commentators in general "suspect"
{misthous}. See Boeckh, "P. E. A." p. 579.
[6] See Boeckh, p. 470 f.; "Revenues," iii. 9, iv. 40.
[7] Or, "to childish matters," "frivolous affairs"; but for the full
import of the phrase {paidikois pragmasi} see "Ages." viii. 2.
Then Critobulus: I cannot gainsay what you have spoken, Socrates, it
is indeed high time that you were constituted my patronus, or I shall
become in very truth a pitiable object.
To which appeal Socrates made answer: Why, you yourself must surely be
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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 Othello by William Shakespeare: to be so fond, but it is not in my vertue to amend it
Iago. Vertue? A figge, 'tis in our selues that we are
thus, or thus. Our Bodies are our Gardens, to the which,
our Wills are Gardiners. So that if we will plant Nettels,
or sowe Lettice: Set Hisope, and weede vp Time:
Supplie it with one gender of Hearbes, or distract it with
many: either to haue it sterrill with idlenesse, or manured
with Industry, why the power, and Corrigeable authoritie
of this lies in our Wills. If the braine of our liues
had not one Scale of Reason, to poize another of Sensualitie,
the blood, and basenesse of our Natures would
Othello |
