144.
[141] _Averroes et l'Averroisme_, pp.

236-316.
[142] In the chapel.

They are the work of Taddeo di Bartolo, and bear this inscription: "Specchiatevi in costoro, voi che reggete." The mediaeval painters of Italy learned lessons of civility and government as willingly from classical tradition, as they deduced the lessons of piety and godly living from the Bible.

Herein they were akin to Dante, who chose Virgil for the symbol of the human understanding and Beatrice for the symbol of divine wisdom, revealed to man in Theology.
[143] He began his work in 1337.
[144] A similar mode of symbolising the Commune is chosen in the bas-reliefs of Archbishop Tarlati's tomb at Arezzo, where the discord of the city is represented by an old man of gigantic stature, throned and maltreated by the burghers, who are tearing out his hair by handfuls.
Over this figure is written "Il Comune Pelato." [145] These were adopted as the ensign of Siena, in the Middle Ages.
[146] In the year 1336, just before Ambrogio began to paint, the Sienese Republic had concluded a league with Florence for the maintenance of the Guelf party.

The Monte de' Nove still ruled the city with patriotic spirit and equity, and had not yet become a forceful oligarchy.