This panel presents multiple episodes from the ancient Roman story of Brutus and Portia. At left, with his army defeated in battle, Brutus falls on his sword, taking his own life to evade capture. At right, overcome with grief at the news of her husband’s death, Portia first attempts to stab herself and later swallows hot coals. This panel originally belonged to a cassone, a wooden chest presented as a wedding gift and decorated with themes related to love and marriage. Early modern Europeans regarded Portia’s suicide as a paragon of marital devotion.