| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: left De Wardes and Malicorne at the bottom of the grand
staircase, while he himself, who shared the favor and good
graces of Monsieur with the Chevalier de Lorraine, who
always smiled at him most affectionately, though he could
not endure him, went straight to the prince's apartments,
whom he found engaged in admiring himself in the glass, and
rouging his face. In a corner of the cabinet, the Chevalier
de Lorraine was extended full length upon some cushions,
having just had his long hair curled, with which he was
playing in the same manner a woman would have done. The
prince turned round as the count entered, and perceiving who
 Ten Years Later |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: will be justified in getting up and advising them?
ALCIBIADES: About their own concerns, Socrates.
SOCRATES: You mean about shipbuilding, for example, when the question is
what sort of ships they ought to build?
ALCIBIADES: No, I should not advise them about that.
SOCRATES: I suppose, because you do not understand shipbuilding:--is that
the reason?
ALCIBIADES: It is.
SOCRATES: Then about what concerns of theirs will you advise them?
ALCIBIADES: About war, Socrates, or about peace, or about any other
concerns of the state.
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