| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: and still less from arguments respecting the suitableness of this little
work to aid Socrates at the time of his trial or the reverse, can any
evidence of the date be obtained.
EUTHYPHRO
by
Plato
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates, Euthyphro.
SCENE: The Porch of the King Archon.
EUTHYPHRO: Why have you left the Lyceum, Socrates? and what are you doing
in the Porch of the King Archon? Surely you cannot be concerned in a suit
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: to break with me, for he watches you. It is time that we should part,
for the Duke is rigidly virtuous. You must turn prude; I advise you to
do so. The Duke is vain; he will be proud of his wife.'--'Oh!' cried
she, bursting into tears, 'Henri, if only you had spoken! Yes, if you
had chosen'--it was I who was to blame, you understand--'we would have
gone to live all our days in a corner, married, happy, and defied the
world.'--'Well, it is too late now,' said I, kissing her hands, and
putting on a victimized air.--'Good God! But I can undo it all!' said
she.--'No, you have gone too far with the Duke. I ought indeed to go a
journey to part us more effectually. We should both have reason to
fear our own affection----'--'Henri, do you think the Duke has any
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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 Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: last moment. The sergeant had moved away out of the line of fire, and
he stood there alone, waiting, erect and with his head held high, his
eyes upon the grey mass of musketeers - blurred alike by mist and
semi-darkness - some twenty paces distant along the line of which glowed
eight red fuses.
Wentworth's voice rang out with the words of command.
"Blow your matches!"
Brighter gleamed the points of light, and under their steel pots the
faces of the musketeers, suffused by a dull red glow, sprang for a
moment out of the grey mass, to fade once more into the general
greyness at the word, "Cock your matches!"
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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 Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: God--that is, by the promise of His grace--so that the glory may
be to the Divine majesty, which has saved us who believe, not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His
mercy, by the word of His grace.
>From all this it is easy to perceive on what principle good works
are to be cast aside or embraced, and by what rule all teachings
put forth concerning works are to be understood. For if works are
brought forward as grounds of justification, and are done under
the false persuasion that we can pretend to be justified by them,
they lay on us the yoke of necessity, and extinguish liberty
along with faith, and by this very addition to their use they
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