Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/336

328 the oval beneath him is Age, figured by a man well advanced in life, he is clothed in the vestments of a Priest, and kneels before an altar, on which he places the golden tazza, containing the pair of wings. This oval is upheld on the one side by a figure representing Compassion, engaged in covering naked infants, to shield them from the cold: on the other side it is sustained by Religion, also wrapped in sacerdotal vestments; beneath is Fortitude fully armed, and this figure, proudly planting one foot on the fragment of a column, is placing balls within the jaws of a Lion. In the compartment beneath this oval is the figure of Astrology.

The last of the seven Planets, again beginning with the uppermost part, is Saturn, represented by an aged man of melancholy aspect, devouring his own children; near him is a large serpent, which holds its tail within its mouth: above the figure of Saturn is the sign Capricorn. In the oval beneath is Decrepitude, and here there is added the figure of Jupiter in the air, receiving into Heaven a naked and decrepit old man, who is kneeling before him, but is in the act of being raised by Happiness and Immortality, who are casting his mortal habiliments into the world. This oval is sustained in part by a figure of Beatitude, who is aided in her task by that of Justice, which is executed in the decorations beneath. The figure of Justice is seated, she has the sceptre in her hand, and on her shoulder is the Stork; around her are scattered arms and symbols of law: in the compartment beneath is Geometry.

The lowest portion of all, that namely which is about the grated windows and the portal, exhibits in a niche on the one side a figure of Leah, as the representative of Active Life, as distinguished from life passed in Contemplation, and on the opposite side of the same division is Industry, with the Cornucopia, and holding a pair of spurs in her hand: close to the portal is a story wherein are exhibited numerous workmen, architects and stonemasons, all engaged in the examination of the Gate of Cosmopoli, a city built by the Signor Duke Cosimo, in the Island of Elba, and which he constructed after the plan of Porto Ferrajo.

Between this story and the frieze whereon are displayed the Liberal Arts, is seen the Lake Thrasymenus, around which are moving Nymphs, who have issued from the waters,