Note 530 — ACTO PRIMERO

529. Susana. In the thirteenth chapter of Daniel is narrated the story of Susanna, the beautiful wife of Joachim, of whom two old men, judges during the Babylonian captivity, were enamored. They surprised her one day in her bath in the garden and, because she repelled their advances, testified that they had found her with a young man. She was condemned to death, but on the way to her execution Daniel intervened and by a clever ruse succeeded in convicting the two old men of bearing false witness. They were put to death and the innocence of Susanna proclaimed. The story has furnished a theme for many painters and from it many notable works have been produced, of which several existed in the time of Lope de Vega. In the Obras Sueltas, vol. IV, p. 450, there is a sonnet, Á una Tabla de Susana, which begins: