The ladder, the dragon, and the shepherd
Perpetua herself is speaking in her prison diary and reports the first vision she asked for about her coming fate.
Then my brother said to me, "My lady sister, you stand high in favor now: you are great enough to ask for a vision, and it will be shown to you whether this means martyrdom or release." I knew that I talked with the Lord, and I had come to know such great kindness from him, so I promised him with confidence, "I will tell you tomorrow." I asked, and this is what was shown to me.
I see a bronze ladder of astonishing length, reaching all the way to heaven. It was narrow, and only one person at a time could climb it. Every kind of iron blade was fixed to its sides: swords, spears, hooks, knives, and javelins, so that anyone who climbed carelessly and without looking upward would be torn, and pieces of flesh would catch on the blades. A dragon of astonishing size lay coiled directly beneath the ladder. It laid ambushes for those climbing and terrified them so that they would not climb. Saturus climbed first. He later gave himself up for us of his own accord, because he had built us up, and he had not been present when we were arrested. He reached the top of the ladder, turned, and said to me, "Perpetua, I am waiting for you. But watch that the dragon does not bite you." I answered, "He will not harm me, in the name of Jesus Christ." As if it feared me, the dragon slowly thrust its head out from beneath the ladder, and as I set foot on the first rung, I stepped on its head and climbed up.
I saw a vast expanse of garden, and in the middle sat a white-haired man of great stature, dressed like a shepherd and milking sheep, with many thousands in white robes standing around him. He raised his head, looked at me, and said to me, "Welcome, child." He called me to him and gave me a mouthful of the cheese he was making from the milk. I took it in cupped hands and ate it, and all those standing around said, "Amen." At the sound of the voice I woke, still chewing something sweet I could not name. I told my brother at once, and we understood that martyrdom lay ahead. From that moment I began to have no hope left in this world.
Latin
Tunc dixit mihi frater meus: Domina soror, iam in magna dignatione es: tanta es ut postules uisionem et ostendatur tibi an passio sit an commeatus. Et ego quae me sciebam fabulari cum domino, cuius beneficia tanta experta eram, fidens repromisi ei dicens: Crastina die tibi renuntiabo. Et postulaui, et ostensum est mihi hoc. Uideo scalam aeream mirae longitudinis, pertingentem usque ad caelum, et angustam, per quam nonnisi singuli ascendere possent; et in lateribus scalae omne genus ferramentorum infixum erat ibi: gladii, lanceae, hami, macherae, ueruta: ut, si quis neglegenter aut non sursum adtendens ascenderet, laniaretur et carnes eius inhaererent ferramentis. Et erat sub ipsa scala draco cubans mirae magnitudinis, qui ascendentibus insidias praestabat et exterrebat ne ascenderent. Ascendit autem Saturus prior, qui postea se propter nos ultro tradiderat, quia ipse nos aedificauerat; et tunc cum adducti sumus praesens non fuerat. Et peruenit in caput scalae, et conuertit se et dixit mihi: Perpetua, sustineo te; sed uide ne te mordeat draco ille. Et dixi ego: Non me nocebit, in nomine Iesu Christi. Et desub ipsa scala, quasi timens me, lente eiecit caput; et quasi primum gradum calcarem, calcaui illi caput, et ascendi. Et uidi spatium immensum horti, et in medio sedentem hominem canum in habitu pastoris, grandem, oues mulgentem: et circumstantes candidati milia multa. Et leuauit caput et aspexit me et dixit mihi: Bene uenisti, tegnon. Et clamauit me, et de caseo quod mulgebat dedit mihi quasi buccellam; et ego accepi iunctis manibus et manducaui; et uniuersi circumstantes dixerunt: Amen. Et ad sonum uocis experrecta sum, commanducans adhuc dulce nescio quid. Et retuli statim fratri meo, et intelleximus passionem esse futuram; et coepi iam nullam spem in saeculo habere.