| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: On land, as well as on sea, the remote distance had completely disappeared,
and it seemed as though the globe had assumed a more decided convexity.
At the pace at which they were walking, it was very evident that the captain
and his attendant would not take long to accomplish the three miles that lay
between the gourbi and the place of rendezvous. They did not exchange a word,
but each was conscious of an unusual buoyancy, which appeared to lift up their
bodies and give as it were, wings to their feet. If Ben Zoof had expressed
his sensations in words, he would have said that he felt "up to anything,"
and he had even forgotten to taste so much as a crust of bread, a lapse
of memory of which the worthy soldier was rarely guilty.
As these thoughts were crossing his mind, a harsh bark was heard to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: even in our own day against statesmen of the highest character. (3) While
we know that in this matter there is a great gulf fixed between Greek and
Christian Ethics, yet, if we would do justice to the Greeks, we must also
acknowledge that there was a greater outspokenness among them than among
ourselves about the things which nature hides, and that the more frequent
mention of such topics is not to be taken as the measure of the prevalence
of offences, or as a proof of the general corruption of society. It is
likely that every religion in the world has used words or practised rites
in one age, which have become distasteful or repugnant to another. We
cannot, though for different reasons, trust the representations either of
Comedy or Satire; and still less of Christian Apologists. (4) We observe
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