|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 9
As a child she cared nothing for dolls and toys, but loved animals
dearly. Is it any wonder, then, that she took them for her subject
when she began to paint?
In her childhood she had two dogs and a goat for pets, and later on
kept a sheep in her Parisian apartment. Still later, when she had
become a distinguished woman, her studio included a farmyard.
Her animal paintings are so real and life-like that a study of the
faces of all the horses in that wonderful picture, "The Horse Fair,"
will reveal distinctly different expressions in each face.
Although most simple in her personal habits and in her life, Rosa
Bonheur was the greatest woman artist that ever lived.
"The Horse Fair," Rosa Bonheur's most famous painting, was bought by an
American gentleman and presented by him to the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, in New York.
LESSON XII
ALEXANDER AND THE ROBBER
_Alexander_--What! art thou that Thracian robber, of whose exploits I
have heard so much?
_Robber_--I am a Thracian, and a soldier.
_Alexander_--A soldier!--a thief, a plunderer, an assassin, the pest of
the country; but I must detest and punish thy crimes.
_Robber_--What have I done of which you can complain?
_Alexander_--Hast thou not set at defiance my authority, violated the
public peace and passed thy life in injuring the persons and properties
of thy fellow-subjects?
_Robber_--Alexander, I am your captive. I must hear what you please to
say, and endure what you please to inflict. But my soul is
unconquered; and if I reply at all to your reproaches, I will reply
like a free man.
_Alexander_--Speak freely. Far be it from me to take advantage of my
power, to silence those with whom I deign to converse.
_Robber_--I must, then, answer your question by another. How have you
passed your life?
_Alexander_--Like a hero. Ask Fame, and she will tell you. Among the
brave, the bravest; among sovereigns, the noblest; among conquerors,
the mightiest.
_Robber_--And does not Fame speak of me too? Was there ever a bolder
captain of a more valiant band? Was there ever--but I scorn to boast.
You yourself know that I have not been easily subdued.
_Alexander_--Still, what are you but a robber,--a base, dishonest
robber?
_Robber_--And what is a conqueror? Have not you too gone about the
earth like an evil genius, plundering, killing without law, without
justice, merely to gratify your thirst for dominion? What I have done
in a single province with a hundred followers, you have done to whole
nations with a hundred thousand. What; then, is the difference, but
that you were born a king, and I a private man; you have been able to
become a mightier robber than I.
_Alexander_--But if I have taken like a king, I have given like a king.
If I have overthrown empires, I have founded greater. I have cherished
arts, commerce, and philosophy.
_Robber_--I too have freely given to the poor what I took from the
rich. I know, indeed, very little of the philosophy you speak of, but
I believe neither you nor I shall ever atone to the world for the
mischief we have done it.
_Alexander_--Leave me. Take off his chains, and use him well. Are we,
then, so much alike? Alexander like a robber? Let me reflect.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|