Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1925)

and the Soul-Ladder 117

Dec. 13), the little king of Mercia, lay hidden1. A column of light
protected the church at Deventer, beneath which was the grave of
Saint Lebuinus (Nov. 12)2. A column of light gleamed above Saint
Livinus of Ghent (Nov. 12) at his baptism in Ireland3. A column
of fire was beheld by Saint Keyne of Wales (Oct. 8), when she lay
dying in her cell4. Etc. etc. Hagiography, like history, tends to
repetition.

As to the soul-path, an Orphic poem in praise of the cosmic
Zeus speaks of the sky as his face, the clustering stars as his golden
locks, the sun and moon as his eyes3, and in the midst of this
pantheistic extravaganza declares :

Two golden bull's-horns stretch on either side—
The east and west, roads of the heavenly gods0.

The poet is describing the Galaxy from an Orphic view-point.
Quintus Smyrnaeus too, when he makes the ghost of Achilles
appear by night to his son and demand the sacrifice of Polyxene,
ends with an Orphic or Pythagorean flourish :

Then like a waft of wind he leapt away,

So reached the Elysian plain, where there is wrought

Ascent and descent from the heaven's height

For blest immortals".

The same notion, complicated by a reminiscence of the Pkaidros9,
marks the close of Lucian's Demosthenes :

'Enough ; the man has gone his way, to live the life they tell of in the Isles
of the heroic Blest, or to walk the paths that, if tales be true, the heaven-bound

1 Acta Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Antverpiae 1725 Julius iv. 300 E (Acta et Miracula
S. Kenelmi 6) Nam fulgida lucis columna de cselo super locum effusa, scepius ostensa est,
S. Baring-Gould The Lives of the Saints Edinburgh 1914 viii. 428.

- Acta Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Antverpiae 1668 Alartius iii. 651 E (Vita [S. Ludgeri]
Auctore Altfrido Episcopo 1. 4. 18) Aliquando etiam ipsam ecclesiam, infra quam
sepulcrum eiusdem Dei famuli receptum est, nocturno tempore columna lucis obtinendo
protexit ; & ad ccelum usque porrecta foris excubantibus conspicua stabat.

:i Bonifacius v. Livin. 5 (lxxxvii. 330 c Migne, cp. Ixxxix. 874 B Migne) qui mox ut
de aqua levaverunt puerum, cum omnibus qui aderant manifesta visione cernebant de-
scendisse columniferum splendorem radiis splendid! solis fulgidiorem, atque capiti benedicti
pueri imminere etc., S. Baring-Gould op. cit. xiii. 302.

4 Acta Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Bruxellis 1780 October iv. 277 c (Vita Ex Capgravio
4) vidit in visione noctis columpnam quasi igneam usque ad lectuli ejus pavimentum
descendere, S. Baring-Gould op. cit. xi. 179.

5 Supra i. 197.

H Orph. frag. 123, 16 f. Abel ap. Euseb. praep. ev. 3. 9. 2 and Stob. eel. 1. 1. 23 p. 30,
5 f. Wachsmuth ravpea 5' a/xepore pude duo xP^"TeLa nepara | olvtoXli] re 5vo~is re. OeQiv 68oi
oi>pa.vi<hvwv. See Rohde Psyche" p. 213 n. 2.

7 Quint. Smyrn. 14. 223 ff. a>s eiTrwv dwopoucre dofj evaXiyiaos avpy, | al\pa 5' is 'HXvtrcov
ireSiou Kiev, f/x' rervKrai \ oxipavov e| vtv6.toio KaTaiftaair] t avooos re \ ddavarois p.aK&-
peaoiv.

8 Supra p. 43 f.