| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: and Nature: or that the sin for which Brunetto is condemned by
his pupil, is mentioned in the Tesoretto with great horror.
Dante's twenty-fifth sonnet is a jocose one, addressed to
Brunetto. He died in 1295.
v. 62. Who in old times came down from Fesole.] See G. Villani
Hist. l. iv. c. 5. and Macchiavelli Hist. of Flor. b. ii.
v. 89. With another text.] He refers to the prediction of
Farinata, in Canto X.
v. 110. Priscian.] There is no reason to believe, as the
commentators observe that the grammarian of this name was stained
with the vice imputed to him; and we must therefore suppose that
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: inseparable and live together in pure and manly affection; yet they cannot
tell what they want of one another. But if Hephaestus were to come to them
with his instruments and propose that they should be melted into one and
remain one here and hereafter, they would acknowledge that this was the
very expression of their want. For love is the desire of the whole, and
the pursuit of the whole is called love. There was a time when the two
sexes were only one, but now God has halved them,--much as the
Lacedaemonians have cut up the Arcadians,--and if they do not behave
themselves he will divide them again, and they will hop about with half a
nose and face in basso relievo. Wherefore let us exhort all men to piety,
that we may obtain the goods of which love is the author, and be reconciled
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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 Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: flowers. The young girls of St. Martin and of the boroughs of Chateau-
Neuf, all envied the long brown tresses with which doubtless Blanche
had fished for a count, but much more did they desire the gold
embroidered dress, the foreign stones, the white diamonds, and the
chains with which the little darling played, and which bound her for
ever to the said seneschal. The old soldier was so merry by her side,
that his happiness showed itself in his wrinkles, his looks, and his
movements. Although he was hardly as straight as a billhook, he held
himself so by the side of Blanche, that one would have taken him for a
soldier on parade receiving his officer, and he placed his hand on his
diaphragm like a man whose pleasure stifles and troubles him.
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
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 Summer by Edith Wharton: "That so?" He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment
and his eye-brows projected in a scowl. Then his face
grew friendly again. "Well, I wanted you to go back
looking stylisher than any of them; but I guess you're
right. You're a good girl, Charity."
Their eyes met, and something rose in his that she
had never seen there: a look that made her feel ashamed
and yet secure.
"I guess you're good, too," she said, shyly and
quickly. He smiled without answering, and they went
out of the room together and dropped down to the hall
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