Life, 1923-02-01 · page 40 of 40
Life — February 1, 1923 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a Life magazine advertisement using the classical fable of Androcles and the Lion to promote life insurance. The illustration shows Androcles removing a thorn from a grateful lion's paw. The ad reframes the ancient moral lesson about gratitude to argue for financial responsibility. It contrasts "brute gratitude" (the lion's instinctive repayment) with "gratitude within reason"—implying that true gratitude means planning ahead for dependents. The final pitch targets husbands specifically: life insurance is presented as the ultimate expression of gratitude and responsibility toward wives and families. The tagline "If Every Wife Knew What Every Widow Knows—Every Husband Would Be Insured" suggests widows understand the financial devastation of an uninsured death. For modern readers: this reflects early-20th-century assumptions about male breadwinners and female financial vulnerability, using classical literature and moral philosophy to market insurance as a duty of masculine gratitude and honor.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
No, 3—Andrecles Androcles Never Knew His Luck OU remember Androcles —a tramp in the wilder- ness, a limping lion, a thorn, a tender heart. And a year or so later, an arena, a mad- dened, hungry lion turned loose, Androcles uneaten, Nero dumbfounded, the ani- mal given a cage of honor and Androcles a new toga! And you remember the moral —Gratitude. A touching ex- ample, it will live forever be- cause it has virtue. Of course, had Androcles been a justly con- demned criminal instead of a mild amusement for the Roman holiday, the lion, being a dumb beast, would have acted just the same. Had Androcles, on the other hand, been so unlucky as to draw a gladiator instead, both would prob- ably have carried out their parts of the pro- gram, even though Androcles had ‘extracted a full dozen aching teeth from the same gladiator the night before. That’s the difference between brute gratitude and gratitude within reason. How many of us can rise high with the lion? Life is but a debt we owe. We owe it to those who brought us into the world and nour- ished us in babyhood and cared for us in youth to manhood. It is a debt we owe to those with whom we have agreed to share the future. If there is really anything to gratitude and to the payment it demands, then life insurance provides an open doorway through which we can look with certainty and contentment. THE PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA EDWARD D. DUFFIELD President HOME OFFICE: NEWARK New Jersey If Every Wife Knew What Every Widow Knows—Every Husband Would Be Insured comicbooks.com