Roman Charity (or
Carità Romana) is the exemplary story of a daughter, Pero, who secretly
breastfeedsBreastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk...
her father, Cimon, after he is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation. She is found out by a jailer, but her act of selflessness impresses officials and wins her father's release.
The story is recorded in
Nine Books of Memorable Acts and Sayings of the Ancient Romans (
De Factis Dictisque Memorabilibus Libri IX) by the ancient Roman historian
Valerius MaximusValerius Maximus was a Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes. He flourished in the reign of Tiberius.-Personal History of Valerius Maximus:...
, and was presented as a great act of
filial pietyIn Confucian ideals, filial piety is one of the virtues to be held above all else: a respect for the parents and ancestors. The Confucian classic Xiao Jing or Classic of Xiào, thought to be written around 470 B.C.E., has historically been the authoritative source on the Confucian tenet of xiào /...
and Roman honor.
Roman Charity (or
Carità Romana) is the exemplary story of a daughter, Pero, who secretly
breastfeedsBreastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk...
her father, Cimon, after he is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation. She is found out by a jailer, but her act of selflessness impresses officials and wins her father's release.
The story is recorded in
Nine Books of Memorable Acts and Sayings of the Ancient Romans (
De Factis Dictisque Memorabilibus Libri IX) by the ancient Roman historian
Valerius MaximusValerius Maximus was a Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes. He flourished in the reign of Tiberius.-Personal History of Valerius Maximus:...
, and was presented as a great act of
filial pietyIn Confucian ideals, filial piety is one of the virtues to be held above all else: a respect for the parents and ancestors. The Confucian classic Xiao Jing or Classic of Xiào, thought to be written around 470 B.C.E., has historically been the authoritative source on the Confucian tenet of xiào /...
and Roman honor. Among Romans, the theme had mythological echoes in
JunoJuno was an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Juventas, Mars, and Vulcan...
's breastfeeding of the adult
HerculesHercules is the Roman name for the mythical Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmena. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italic shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength, who dedicated the Ara Maxima that became...
, an
Etruscan mythThe Etruscans were a diachronically continuous population speaking a distinct language and practicing a distinctive culture that ranged over the Po Valley and some of its alpine slopes, southward along the west coast of Italy, most intensely in Etruria, with enclaves as far south as Campania, and...
.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many famous European artists depicted the scene. Most outstandingly,
Peter Paul RubensSir Peter Paul Rubens was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality...
painted several versions. Baroque artist
CaravaggioMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily between 1593 and 1610...
also featured the deed (among others) in his work from 1606,
The Seven Works of MercyThe Seven Acts of Mercy is an oil painting by Italian painter Caravaggio, circa 1607. It is housed in the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia in Naples....
.
NeoclassicalNeoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture...
depictions tended to be more subdued.
In Jan Vermeer's famous painting
The Music LessonThe Music Lesson by Johannes Vermeer, also known as Jan Vermeer, is a painting of young female pupil receiving the titular music lesson. It has been estimated to have been painted between 1662 and 1665. The medium of the work is oil on canvas...
, in the back can be seen a painting of the Roman Charity, consistent with his habit of putting paintings within paintings.
For a 20th century fictional account of Roman Charity, see
John SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and the novella Of Mice and Men . He wrote a total of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short stories...
's
The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers, the Joads, driven from their home by drought,...
(1939). At the end of the novel, Rosasharn (Rose of Sharon) nurses a sick and starving man in the corner of a barn.
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