'Efficacior Pictura: Morality and the Arts in Valerius Maximus'

In Book 5 of Facta et Dicta Memorabilia Valerius Maximus relates the stories of two exemplary women so pious that they breastfeed their imprisoned parents. The latter, Pero, became the embodiment of Romana Caritas in Renaissance art. This paper examines the visuality of Pero's story within the moral framework of the FDM as well as the contradictions between her visual representation as domestica bona and Valerius' written description.