FABLE AND FOLKLORE 31 



brought him his dart, since which time Jupiter's eagle has 

 always been represented as holding thunderbolts in its 

 talons. The bird thus became a symbol of supreme power, 

 and a natural badge for soldiers. The emperors of im- 

 perial Rome retained it on their standards, Hadrian 

 changing its metal from silver to gold; and "the eagles 

 of Rome" came to be a common figure of speech to ex- 

 press her military prowess and imperial sway. 



By such a history, partly mythical, and partly practical 

 and glorious, this bird came to typify imperialism in gen- 

 eral. A golden eagle mounted on a spear, was the royal 

 standard of the elder Cyrus, as it had been of his 

 ancestors. 



When Napoleon I. dreamed of universal conquest he 

 revived on the regimental banners of his troops the 

 insignia of his Roman predecessors in banditry — in fact 

 he was entitled to do so, for he had inherited them by 

 right of conquest from both Italy and Austria, the 

 residuary legatees of Rome. Discontinued in favor of 

 their family bees by the Bourbons, during their brief 

 reign after the fall of Bonaparte, the eagle was restored 

 to France by a decree of Louis Napoleon in 1852. There 

 is a legend that a tame eagle was let loose before him 

 when he landed in France from England to become 

 President of the first French Republic. Now it is the 

 proper finial for flagstaffs all over the world except, 

 curiously, in France itself, where a wreath of laurel 

 legally surmounts the tricolor of the Republic, which has 

 discarded all reminders of royalty. Thus the pride of 

 conquerors has dropped to the commonplace of fashion — 



Imperial Caesar, dead and turned to clay, 

 Might stop a hole to keep the wind away. 



