The Continence of Scipio is one of a series of paintings that show scenes from ancient Roman history. They were made to decorate a room and were originally painted on wooden panel, although they have since been transferred to canvas. Their size and horizontal format suggests they were probably intended to be inserted into wall panelling, as was common practice in Renaissance Venice.

Three other pictures in the series are in the National Gallery’s collection: The Attack on Cartagena, The Rape of the Sabines and The Intervention of the Sabine Women. A further two pictures from the series are in a private collection: Coriolanus and Scipio rewarding the Soldiers.

The painting depicts an event that reveals Scipio Africanus’s clemency as a military leader. The episode is described by the Roman author Livy in his account of the Second Punic War, and is also inserted into translations of Plutarch’s Lives. During Scipio Africanus’s campaign against the Carthaginians in Iberia his troops took a beautiful young woman prisoner. In Licinio’s painting, the scene is set before the pavilions of Scipio’s camp, which is high above a distant town in a mountainous landscape. The young woman stands behind the seated Scipio in a modest pose based on classical statues of Venus (known in Latin as Venus pudica).

Rather than abusing her, Scipio has summoned the young woman’s parents and fiancé, Allucius, who have arrived with a ransom to free her. The parents are in the centre of the panel instructing their servants to unload gold and silver treasures from their camels and present them to Scipio. Allucius approaches Scipio and respectfully asks for his fiancée’s release. Scipio allows the young woman to return to her fiancé, provided that the family become friends of Rome. He then returns the ransom to them as a wedding gift, thereby showing both financial and sexual restraint.

During the Italian Renaissance, Scipio’s noble example was frequently cited and depicted as Italian states were often warring with each other and with neighbouring lands. The episode was also popular for paintings commissioned at the time of a marriage. A similar example of clemency is the generous treatment by Alexander the Great of the family of the defeated Persian king, Darius, as seen in the large painting by Veronese also in the National Gallery’s collection.