Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

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The Pillar of Light
A.D.), foundress of the Ursulines at Brescia, is likewise represented
ascending a ladder with her virgins
Even ordinary mortals might aspire to climb the steps that led
heavenwards. A Christian sarcophagus at Burgos in Spain has Jacob's
ladder for its central subject (fig. 8o)l Herrade of Landsberg, abbess
Fig. 80.
of Hohenburgon Mount Saint-Odile from 1167 to 1195 A.D., included
in her Hortus Deliciariini a symbolic design representing 'The
Ladder of Virtues' (fig. 8i)-'. x\kin to this is the magnificent painting
in tempera {c. 1200 A.D.), which was discoyered in 1870 on the
western wall of the nave in Chaldon Church, Surrey (pi. viii)*. 'The
1 C. Cahier op. cit. i. 328, M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 10, 188.
2 Monumej7ios arquitectonicos de Espana pi. without number (see S. Reinach in the
Rev. Arch. 191 1 ii. 467), Index by D. Eduardo de la Rada y Mendez Madrid [895,
Reinach Kip. Reliefs ii. 190 nos. i— 4.
^ Herrade de Landsberg Hortus Deliciarum edd. A. Straub—G. Keller Strasbourg
1879— 1899 P- 43 Pl- 56 ( = my fig. 81) ' L'echelle des vertus' after C. M. Engelhardt Herrad
von Landsperg, Aebtissin zu Hohenburg, oder St Odilien, ivi Elsass, hn z-wolften Jahrhundert,
und ihr Werk : Hortus deliciarum Stuttgart—Tubingen i8ji8 p. 115 f. pi. 9. The
^^•hole design is inscribed : Hec scala significat ascensum virtutuin et religiosum saticii-
taiis exerciiiic/ii, quo vite corona adipiscitiir. Huic scale pri7)iu7n pluritni innitentes postea
diabolicis sagittis vulnerati retrahuntur, et terrenis impedimentis ac concupiscentiis suis
illecti et abstract! nequiter iiuurvantur. The ladder rises obliquely from earth to heaven.
Beneath its lowest step crouches the devil in the form of a dragon. Above its highest step
the hand of the Lord holds out the crown of life. Two demons shout arrows at the
climbers and successfully overthrow a knight (miles) and his wife [laica), a nun (sancti-
iiwnialis), a clerk (clericus), a monk [monackus), a recluse [inclusus), and a hermit
(heremita), who all fall downwards towards the objects of their desire. Two angels with
sword and shield protect the uppermost figure, that of Virtue ( Virttts, id est caritas), who
advances to take the crown. On one side of the ladder we read : Draco iste iusidiatur
scandetitibus and Has omnes periculose ab alto cadentes potest Dominus medicina peniteutie
iterum ad virtiUum culmcn restituere. The happier alternative is indicated by the inscriptions
Septem : sunt scale quibns ascenditur adregnum celorum : prima castitas, secumia mundi
contemptio, tertia humilitas, quarta obedientia, quinta patientia, sextafides, sepiima caritas
depuro corde and Hec persona virtutis significat omnes sanctos et electos, qui aiigelica custo-
d,a perducuntur ad celestia premia. Virtus autem hec est caritas. Sola enivi virtus caritatis,
que ceteras virtutes continet, ad accipiendam celestis premii coronam perveniet.
^
J. G. Waller ' On a Painting recently discovered in Chaldon Church, Surrey '
in
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