PUBLIC LIBRARY R ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS 1916 Copyright, 1894, By WILLIAM FINLEY & CO. Press of The Jas. B. Rodgers Printing Co., JULIUS CAESAR INVADING BRITAIN. ANTONY ENTERS CLEOPATRA'S BARGE. HENRY IV. AND LA BELLE FOSSEUSE THE CONQUERORS. (SEE FRONTISPIECE.) IN 1892 Pierre Fritel astonished the world of art with his picture of "The Conquerors," exhibited at the Paris Salon. In this work the daring genius of the artist has brought together in one impressive scene the war-heroes of all ages. As inspired prophets have revealed to the imagination the future changes of nations in one vast vision, here the painter, rising above the limitations of his art, forces not merely upon the bodily eye, but upon the aroused mind the almost superhuman grandeur of those leaders who have from age to age changed the destinies of the world. In the centre of the van rides Julius Cæsar, whom Shakespeare has pronounced "the foremost man of all this world." On his right are the Egyptian called by the Greeks Sesostris, now known to be Rameses II., Attila, "the Scourge of God," Hannibal the Carthaginian, and Tamerlane the Tartar. On his left march Napoleon, the last world-conqueror, Alexander of Macedon, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, that "head of gold" in the great image seen in his vision as interpreted by the prophet Daniel, and Charlemagne, who restored the fallen Roman Empire. Straight onward, mounted on horseback or riding in chariots, march these mighty men of the past at the head of armies whose lines of spears stretch back into the dim distance. On either side lie prostrate the naked bodies of those who have yielded their lives that these men might exercise power. The Conquerors, their hosts and their victims, all belong to the world of the dead. Yet their power and glory are made fearful realities. Their influence and work are felt to pervade the world, to reach even to us, the living spectators. They are presented as dead, yet living and sending forth a mighty effect upon ages yet to come. The mighty sacrifices by which the glory of the world is achieved are here realized as never before. 4 |