542 THE GREEK SAGAS: GREEK LOCAL LEGENDS
Hercules Prodicius. Engraving by T. van Thulden after a design by Peter Paul Rubens,
from C. Gevartius, Pompa Introitus Ferdinandi, Antwerp, 1642. The virtuous hero of Prod-
icus' parable of the Choice of Heracles is at the center of baroque political allegory. The
victorious Archduke Ferdinand, wearing Heracles' lionskin and holding his club, refuses
the temptations of women representing Love and Pleasure (a cupid tugs at the lionskin),
as he prepares to ascend the rocky path of Virtue pointed out to him by Athena, toward
the temple of Virtue and Honor. The allegory is set in a triumphal arch erected over the
processional way along which Ferdinand made his "Joyful Entry" into Antwerp in 1635
after his victory at Nôrdlingen, to which the cannon at the lower right of the panel al-
ludes. (The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)