has filled all
these works of his with such writings, of which the greater number,
being destroyed by time, cannot be deciphered. He makes some lame old
men say--

Da che prosperitade ci ha lasciati.
O morte medecina d'ogni pena
Deh vieni a darne omai l'ultima cena,

with other words which cannot be made out, and similar lines composed
in the old style by Orcagna himself, as I have discovered, for he was
addicted to poetry, and wrote some sonnets. About these bodies are
some devils, who take their souls out of their mouths and carry them
to gulfs full of fire upon the top of a very high mountain. On the
other hand, there are some angels who, in like manner, take the souls
of the dead, who happen to have been good, out of their mouths, and
carry them flying to Paradise. In this scene is a large scroll, held
by two angels, containing the following words:

Ischermo di savere e di richezza,
Di nobilitate ancora e di prodezza,
Vale neente ai colpi di costei,

with some other words which cannot easily be understood. Underneath
in the ornamentation of these scenes are nine angels who hold some
words written in the border of the painting, in the vulgar tongue and
in Latin, put there because they would spoil the scene if placed
higher, and to omit them altogether did not appear fitting to the
author, who considered this method very fine, and perhaps it was to
the taste of that age. The greater part of these are omitted here in
order not to tire the reader with impertinent matter of little
interest, and moreover the greater number of the scrolls are
obliterated, while the remainder are in a very imperfect condition.
After this Orcagna made the Last Judgment. He placed Jesus Christ on
high above the clouds in the midst of his twelve Apostles to judge
the quick and the dead, exhibiting on the one side, with great art
and vigour, the despair of the damned, as they are driven weeping to
Hell by furious demons; and on the other side the joy and rejoicing
of the elect, who are transported to the right hand side of the
blessed by a troop of Angels led by the Archangel Michael. It is
truly lamentable that for lack of writers, the names and identity of
few or none of these can be ascertained out of such a multitude of
magistrates, knights and other lords, who are evidently drawn from
life, although the pope there is said to be Innocent IV. the friend
of Manfred