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 x39

seventh heaven of the planet Saturn, beholds a ladder leading to
yet higher heights:

Within the crystal, which records the name

(As its remoter circle girds the world)

Of that loved monarch1, in whose happy reign

No ill had power to harm, I saw rear'd up,

In colour like to sun-illumined gold,

A ladder, which my ken pursued in vain,

So lofty was the summit; down whose steps

I saw the splendours in such multitude

Descending, every light in heaven, methought,

Was shed thence2.

The conception has left faint but unmistakable traces of itself in
the trade-marks of earl}- Italian paper-makers (fig. 82)3. And its

dva(3aivovai fio-qOovvTes tois ju.ova.xois' 6 be Kiipios ttjs KXi/xaKos dvu /xerafi) dyyeXwv
■woXvap'id p.iov Kai vecpeXwv Xap./3dvei tov dvafiaivovTa piovaxov e/c tup xeLP&v 8ta tt}s p.Las,
yr/paibv bvra iravv tt)v rjXiKiav Kai lepoTrpeiryj, bid be Trjs dXXrjs errLdereL ini Trjs KopvcprjS tov
ixovaxov o-recpavov dvdocpbpov Kai Xidois 7reTToiKiXp.evov in be tov cnbp.aTos tov Kvpiov
e^epXovTai raCra • " AevTe wpbs pie irdvres oi kottlu>vt€S ko.1 irecpopTio-p-evoL, Kayw avawavaoj
vp-ds." llpbs to. dpiaTepd be tt)s KXip.aKos p.eprj balp-oves dva(3aivovTes Kai KaTa(3aivoi>Tes
avpovres wpbs eavTovs tovs piovaxovs 5ia Trjs j3ias eK tiZ'v evbvpidTwv' Ttvds p.ev tovtwv
<po(3i£ovcriv paKpbdev ' Tivds be p'nrTovcriv KaTaKtcpaXrjs eK ttjs dvwTdTijs /Sadp-ibos' tlvcls be en
tov jxecrov, tlvcls be evdiis ev rrj dvafidaei, Tivds be boKip.d£ovo~iv iva pixpucri KaTw, dWd nr)
bvvdfxevoL KaTa^ecrx^'ovcnv eavTovs' Tives be Kai tol /caret KecpaXrjs ovres o~vpbp.evoi irpbs t<x
Kara; irapd t<2v bai/j-bviov dvTexovaiv bp.ios KpaTOvvres tt\v /cAt/xa/ca oXcus bvvdp.eo~i bid tQv
Xeip&v • eyyvs be ttjs KXipaKos b wap.<pdyos abrjs tos bpaKCov pceyas Kai (poftepbs £xwv ^vtos tov
ffTOLiaTos p.ovaxbv KaTafiaLvovTa wpbs ra /caVw. 'E7ri-ypa|J.|xa. "RXewov /cXi'/xa/ca wpos wbXov
effTpap-Lievriv | 'Op#tDs vbeip.01 dperiov dvafidcreis \ 'PevcrTov /3iou ovv eKfivyuv bcrov rdxos | "Idi
irpbs avTTjv Kai aveXde ep.wbvus ] "Exw be (ppovpovs tovs x°Povs t&v dyyeXwv \ \bxovs bceXdeis
tQv wovrjpuiv dacpLovcov. I "Ottws aveXdiov eis wvXas ovpaviovs | "Efets o~Tecpavov x€'P' T°v
KvpLov."

1 Saturn.

2 Dante Div. Comm. Parad. 21. 22 ft". trans. H. F. Cary.

3 H. Bayley The Lost Language of Symbolism London 1912 i. 32 f. figs. 52—55 after
C. M. Briquet Les Filigranes Dictionnaire historique des Marques du Papier des leur
apparition vers 1282 jusqu'en 1600 Paris etc. 1907 ii. 344 with figs. 5898—5934 (my
fig. 82 is from nos. 5900, 5903, 5934, 5921, 5925, 5929, =933), who says : ' II n'est pas
impossible qu'il y ait un rapport entre le filigr. de l'echelle et les armoiries de la famille
della Scala, mais rien ne l'etablit jusqu'ici.'

The combination of ladder with cross is noteworthy. Writers of mediaeval sequentiae
often describe the cross as a ladder (e.g. J. Kehrein Laleinische Sequenzen des JMittelalters
Mainz 1873 P- ^7 no- 60, 5 haec est scala peccatorum, p. 73 no. 68, 3 tu nos hinc per
modum, scalae | ducas ad coelestia, p. 75 no. 73, 2 haec est scala novae legis, p. 76
no. 75, 9 tu scala, p. 331 no. 473 (Notker Balbulus), 1 ff. scalam ad coelos subrectam
tormentis cinctam, | cuius ima draco servare cautus invigilat iugiter, | ne quis eius vel
primum gradum possit insaucius scandere. | cuius ascensus extracto Aethiops gladio
vetat exitium minitans. | cuius supremis innixus iuvenis splendidus ramum aureolum
retinet. | etc.)—a description readily applicable to the cross with three transverse bars
(R. St. J. Tyrwhitt in Smith—Cheetham Did. Chr. Ant. ii. 497). Again, the ladder that
appears among other emblems of the Passion (Mrs H. Jenner Christian Symbolism
London 1910 p. 58) is presumably symbolic as well as realistic.