"The Russian Scaevola": an Etching by Ivan Terebenev (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts) and a Sculpture by Vasily Demut-Malinovsky (Russian Museum)

The subject is a Russian peasant whom the invaders meant to conscript into Napoleon's army, and whose hand they branded with the letter N; whereupon, before the astonished eyes of the intruders, he hacked off his branded hand.

The Roman Scaevola, that is to say the Left-Handed, won his fame during the siege of Rome by the Etruscans. Seized after a failed attempt on the life of the Etruscan king and brought before him for judgement and reprisal, he thrust his own right hand into the fire of a blazing altar, whether to show how little brave warriors of his stamp value the flesh, or to punish himself for his blunder at the moment of the killing.

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

"The Russian Scaevola": an Etching by Ivan Terebenev (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts) and a Sculpture by Vasily Demut-Malinovsky (Russian Museum)

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

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Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s