whereupon Perino,
having first caused the staging to be erected, was prepared to begin to
paint it. But before this, on his arrival in Florence, his many friends,
who had seen most excellent works by his hand in Rome, had contrived to
obtain for him the commission for that work in fresco which I mentioned,
to the end that he might leave some example of his handiwork in
Florence, which might demonstrate how spirited and how beautiful was his
genius for painting, and also to the end that he might become known and
perchance be set to work on some labour of importance by those who were
then governing. There were at that time certain craftsmen who used to
assemble in a company called the Company of the Martyrs, in the
Camaldoli at Florence; and they had proposed many times to have a wall
that was in that place painted with the story of the Martyrs being
condemned to death before two Roman Emperors, who, after they had been
taken in battle, caused them to be crucified in the wood and hanged on
trees. This story was suggested to Perino, and, although the place was
out of the way, and the price small, so much was he attracted by the
possibilities of invention in the story and by the size of the wall,
that he was disposed to undertake it; besides which, he was urged not a
little by those who were his friends, on the ground that the work would
establish him in that reputation which his talent deserved among the
citizens, who did not know him, and among his fellow-craftsmen in
Florence, where he was not known save by report. Having then determined
to do the work, he accepted the undertaking and made a small design,
which was held to be a thing divine; and having set his hand to making a
cartoon as large as the whole work, he never left off labouring at it,
and carried it so far that all the principal figures were completely
finished. And so the Apostle was abandoned, without anything more being
done.

Perino drew this cartoon on white paper, well shaded and hatched,
leaving the paper itself for the lights, and executing the whole with
admirable diligence. In it were the two Emperors on the seat of
judgment, condemning to the cross all the prisoners, who were turned
towards the tribunal, some kneeling, some standing, and others bowed,
but all naked and bound in different ways, and writhing with piteous
gestures in various attitudes, revealing the trembling of the limbs at
the prospect of the severing of the soul from the body in t