Today's Stichomancy for Michael York

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon:

ward while others sleep, brave mercenaries.

[7] The author is perhaps thinking of some personal experiences. He works out his theory of a wage-earning militia for the protection of the state in the "Cyropaedia." See esp. VII. v. 69 foll.

And what will be the effect on the neighbour states conterminous with yours?[8] Will not this standing army lead them to desire peace beyond all other things? In fact, a compact force like this, so organised, will prove most potent to preserve the interests of their friends and to damage those of their opponents.

[8] Or, "that lie upon your borders," as Thebes and Megara were "nigh- bordering" to Athens. Cf. Eur. "Rhes." 426; Soph. "Fr." 349.

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare:

Whose bare out-bragg'd the web it seemed to wear: Yet show'd his visage by that cost more dear; And nice affections wavering stood in doubt If best were as it was, or best without.

His qualities were beauteous as his form, For maiden-tongued he was, and thereof free; Yet if men mov'd him, was he such a storm As oft 'twixt May and April is to see, When winds breathe sweet, unruly though they be. His rudeness so with his authoriz'd youth Did livery falseness in a pride of truth.

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri:

"The nature of that motion, which keeps quiet The centre and all the rest about it moves, From hence begins as from its starting point.

And in this heaven there is no other Where Than in the Mind Divine, wherein is kindled The love that turns it, and the power it rains.

Within a circle light and love embrace it, Even as this doth the others, and that precinct He who encircles it alone controls.

Its motion is not by another meted, But all the others measured are by this,

The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

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 Hermione's Little Group of Serious Thinkers by Don Marquis:

have made complete placidity impossible. She has a fondness for rich brocades and pretty fans are chocolate candy and big bowls of roses and com- fortable chairs. When she was Hermione's age she used to do water color sketches; the outlines were penciled in by her drawing teacher, and she washed on the color very smoothly and neatly; but she heard a great many stories concerning the dis- silute lives that artists lead and she gave it up. Nevertheless, she sometimes says: "Hermione comes by her interest in Art quite naturally."