| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: was on fire, and her tongue stiff in her mouth. A rap sounded on the
door.
"Oh!" cried the mother, falling on her knees, "save him! save him!"
"Yes, we will save him," said the official, giving her a look of
passion; "if it costs us our life, we will save him."
"I am lost!" she murmured, as the prosecutor raised her courteously.
"Madame," he said, with an oratorical movement, "I will owe you only--
to yourself."
"Madame, he has come," cried Brigitte, rushing in and thinking her
mistress was alone.
At sight of the public prosecutor, the old woman, flushed and joyous
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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 Tanach: 1_Kings 14: 25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem;
1_Kings 14: 26 and he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all; and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
1_Kings 14: 27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house.
1_Kings 14: 28 And it was so, that as oft as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber.
1_Kings 14: 29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
1_Kings 14: 30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
1_Kings 14: 31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.
1_Kings 15: 1 Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat began Abijam to reign over Judah.
1_Kings 15: 2 Three years reigned he in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.
1_Kings 15: 3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not whole with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.
The Tanach |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: And fight for the Gospel and the bold King of Sweden."
Thus silencing his apprehensions with the but-end of a military
ballad, he followed his guide into a sort of guard-room filled
with armed Highlanders. It was intimated to him that he must
remain here until his arrival was communicated to the Marquis.
To make this communication the more intelligible, the doughty
Captain gave to the Dunniewassel Sir Duncan Campbell's packet,
desiring, as well as he could, by signs, that it should be
delivered into the Marquis's own hand. His guide nodded, and
withdrew.
The Captain was left about half an hour in this place, to endure
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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 Crito by Plato: CRITO: I cannot tell, Socrates, for I do not know.
SOCRATES: Then consider the matter in this way:--Imagine that I am about
to play truant (you may call the proceeding by any name which you like),
and the laws and the government come and interrogate me: 'Tell us,
Socrates,' they say; 'what are you about? are you not going by an act of
yours to overturn us--the laws, and the whole state, as far as in you lies?
Do you imagine that a state can subsist and not be overthrown, in which the
decisions of law have no power, but are set aside and trampled upon by
individuals?' What will be our answer, Crito, to these and the like words?
Any one, and especially a rhetorician, will have a good deal to say on
behalf of the law which requires a sentence to be carried out. He will
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