ure as well, no long time passed before, under the rule
of the Nine in Siena, Agostino made the design of their Palace in
Malborghetto, which was in the year 1308. In the making of this he
acquired so great a name in his country, that, returning to Siena after
the death of Giovanni, they were made, both one and the other,
architects to the State; wherefore afterwards, in the year 1317, there
was made under their direction the front of the Duomo that faces towards
the north, and in the year 1321, with the design of the same men, there
was begun the construction of the Porta Romana in that manner wherein it
stands to-day, and it was finished in the year 1326; which gate was
first called Porta S. Martino. They rebuilt, also, the Porta a Tufi,
which at first was called Porta di S. Agata all'Arco. In the same year,
with the design of the same Agostino and Agnolo, there was begun the
Church and Convent of S. Francesco in the presence of Cardinal di Gaeta,
Apostolic Legate. No long time after, by the action of some of the
Tolomei who were living as exiles at Orvieto, Agostino and Agnolo were
summoned to make certain sculptures for the work of S. Maria in that
city; wherefore, going there, they carved some prophets in marble which
are now, in comparison with the other statues in that facade, the finest
and best proportioned in that so greatly renowned work.

Now it came to pass in the year 1326, as it has been said in his Life,
that Giotto was called by means of Charles, Duke of Calabria, who was
then staying in Florence, to Naples, in order to make some things for
King Robert in S. Chiara and other places in that city; wherefore
Giotto, passing by way of Orvieto on his way to Naples, in order to see
the works that had been made and were still being made there by so many
men, wished to see everything minutely. And because the prophets of
Agostino and Agnolo of Siena pleased him more than all the other
sculptures, it came about therefore that Giotto not only commended them
and held them, much to their contentment, among his friends, but also
presented them to Piero Saccone da Pietramala as the best of all the
sculptors then living, for the making of the tomb of Bishop Guido, Lord
and Bishop of Arezzo, which has been mentioned in the Life of Giotto
himself. And so then Giotto having seen in Orvieto the works of many
sculptors and having judged the best to be those of Agostino and Agnolo
of Siena, this was the reason that the said