The third group, also ascending to the right of Christ, is that of the
Blessed. Among all these saints, some of whom show the instrument of
their execution, others the marks of their martyrdom, there is one head
especially remarkable for beauty and tenderness: it is that of a mother
who is protecting her daughter, turning her eyes, filled with faith and
hope, towards the Christ.

Above the host of saints, you see a fourth group of angelic spirits,
some bearing the Cross, others the Crown of Thorns,--instruments and
emblems of the Saviour's Passion.

The fifth group, parallel to the fourth which we have just pointed out,
is composed of angels; such, at least, they seem to be by the splendour
of their youth and the aërial lightness of their movements; and these
also bear, as if in triumph, other emblems of the divine expiation--the
column, the ladder, and the sponge.

Above these angels, on the same plane as the saints and to the left of
Christ, is the choir of the just; the patriarchs, the prophets, the
apostles, the martyrs, and the holy personages form this sixth group.

The seventh is the most horrible of all and the one in which the art of
Michael Angelo has displayed itself in all its terrific grandeur: it is
composed of the rejected ones, overwhelmed by the decree and led away to
punishment by the rebel angels. The very coldest spectator could not
remain unmoved by this spectacle. You believe yourself in hell; you hear
the cries of anguish and the gnashing of the teeth of the wretched, who,
according to the terrible Dantesque expression, vainly desire a second
death.