Plenty of ink has been spilled on the topic of old soldiers,
here are a few pictures (maybe) worth a thousand words….
The Brown University Library offers a collection of
mid-19th century photographs of old soldiers, veterans of the Napoleonic
Wars in the early years of that century.
Here are a few
examples, very likely taken on May 5, 1858, in Paris during a veterans’ celebration:
Quartermaster Fabry of the 1st Hussars
Sergeant Taria,Grenadiere de la Garde, 1809-1815
Monsieur Moret of the 2nd Regiment, 1814-1815
These photos suggest to me a somewhat macabre
passivity….these old gents submitted to the photographer after squeezing into
their uniforms yet again, they consciously or unconsciously disdained the
passage of time, perhaps not even imagining that they were much closer to death
than to their days of glory….
I think of the possibly apocryphal words reportedly whispered
by slaves in ritual warning to proud Roman generals as they paraded in triumph:
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Memento mori.
[Thus passes the glory of the world.]
[Remember (that you have) to die.]
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2014
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