'" The three ladies or
goddesses are Fame, Prudence, and Justice, and they command Christine
under the supervision of Reason (or Commonsense) to build a city for the
noblest and best of her own sex. So the city was begun, and the elect,
allegorically, let into it. In varied ranks following one another came
goddesses and saintly women, Christian and heathen women--among them
walks as leader the Queen of the Amazons. "Queen" Ceres, who taught the
art and practice of agriculture. Queen Isis, who first led mankind to
the cultivation of plants. Arachne, who invented the arts of dyeing,
weaving, flax-growing, and spinning. Damphile, who discovered how to
breed silkworms. Queen Tomyris, who vanquished Cyrus. The noble
Sulpicia, who shared her husband's exile, and many others, among whom
may be seen Dame Sarah, the wife of Abraham, Penelope, Ruth, and the
Saints Katharine, Margaret, Lucia, and Dorothea. In the first miniature
on the left sits Christine with a coif upon her head and a great book on
her lap; on her left hand is the plan of her new city, while opposite
stand the three ladies already spoken of as her advisers, furnished with
building tools and giving her their advice. On the right she appears
again in elegant costume with hewn stones and a trowel assisted by two
workmen who are busily at work.
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