The ancient prints - Engravings

SCIPIONE CONTINENCE
Etching and engraving engraving, mm. 646x484; impression: mm. 594x423; figurative part: mm. 583x401.
"P. P. Rubbens pinxit / S. à Bolswert sculpsit "(bottom left).
Inscriptions: "SCIPIO AFRICANVS Valerius Max: Lib. 4. de abstinentia et continentia. "
The artist in this table depicts a legend, frequent in the writings of historians of antiquity, according to which among the prisoners
of Scipio the African, after he had conquered the city of New Carthage, there was also a beautiful one
girl, already betrothed to a young man. Scipio, with a noble gesture, sent to call his family, the
he released, returning it to the future husband. According to what was handed down by historians, even Alexander the Great showed the
same benevolence and humanity dealing with extreme respect the mother, wife and daughters of his rival Dario, defeated
from the Macedonian king during the battle of Isso.