The Thing as compared to the Other Thing

[CaryR]

The example of the Wise Virgins who hold their oil lamps up, in contrast to the Foolish Virgins who hold their lamps down, reminds me of something else I found- "Cautes and Cautopates" are a pair of torch-bearers found in Mithraic icons. One always holds a torch pointing upwards, and the other holds a torch pointing down. They're usually found alongside the god Mithras slaying a bull and other associated imagery called the Tauroctony. 

This is completely unrelated to the wise/foolish virgins imagery in context and meaning, but it shares the motif of "pairs of figures with one torch held up and the other held down."