This is the second of two panels from a cassone (a large chest made for a domestic setting). Cassoni were often associated with marriages, and were often decorated with relevant stories from classical literature, history and poetry. These two panels depict one of the founding stories of ancient Rome. When the Romans couldn't find wives, their leader Romulus came up with a devious plan: he invited the neighbouring Sabines to attend some celebratory games so that, at a given signal, the Romans could abduct the young Sabine women.

The first panel, The Rape of the Sabines (before the signal), shows the young Sabine women happily watching a joust. In this painting, Romulus, who appears on a green dais in the centre, has given the signal by standing up and drawing his cloak around him. The young men in his entourage have cast off their cloaks, which sit in two piles beside Romulus, and are dragging away their guests. Other men, presumably more Romans, seem to be rushing to join the action; one climbs a ladder to get up to the stands. In the foreground, a knight in armour on a white horse watches the scene, while his mounted squire hands his helmet to an assistant. Another rider, his sword drawn, charges away to the left, perhaps in pursuit of the fleeing Sabines, who were said to have run away when the trap was sprung.

In spite of its unpromising start, the story ended peaceably: the Sabine women accepted their new husbands and persuaded their families to do so also. They were held up as examples of feminine peacemaking and appropriate role models for Renaissance wives.