“Smooth lies the road to Pluto's gloomy shade,
And hell's black gates for ever stand displayed,
But 'tis a long unconquerable pain,
To climb to these ethereal realms again.”

— Christopher Pitt

Book VI, line 182
The Æneid of Virgil (1740)

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Christopher Pitt 18

English poet 1699–1748

Related quotes

“The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies.”

John Dryden (1631–1700) English poet and playwright of the XVIIth century

Aeneis, Book VI, lines 192–195.
The Works of Virgil (1697)

“The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies.”
Facilis descensus Averno: Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est.

Virgil Aeneid

Facilis descensus Averno:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
Variant translation:
: It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air—
There's the rub, the task.
Compare:
Long is the way
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, line 432
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 126–129 (as translated by John Dryden)

“to death's abode
Prone lies the path, and facile is the road.
To all who seek them open day and night,
Pluto's black gates with broad access invite.
But to recall the foot, retrace the way
Up the dark steep, and re-assert the day—
This is the labor, this the mighty feat,
Achieved by few, the greatest of the great.”

Charles Symmons (1749–1826) Welsh poet

Book VI, lines 185–192
The Æneis (1817)

“But oh! may Earth her dreadful gulf display,
And gaping snatch me from the golden day;
May I be hurled, by Heaven's almighty fire,
Transfixed with thunder, and involved in fire,
Down to the shades of Hell, from realms of light,
The deep, deep shades of everlasting night.”

Christopher Pitt (1699–1748) English poet

Book III, line 35
The Æneid of Virgil (1740)

“Ye subterranean gods! whose awful sway
The gliding ghosts and silent shades obey:
O Chaos, hear! and Phlegethon profound!
Whose solemn empire stretches wide around!
Give me, ye great tremendous powers! to tell
Of scenes and wonders in the depths of Hell;
Give me your mighty secrets to display
From those black realms of darkness to the day.”

Christopher Pitt (1699–1748) English poet

Book VI, line 371
The Æneid of Virgil (1740)

“Looking at the Temple and the Courts and the mountain road that winds below, we see this picture of human evolution, and the track along which the race is treading, and the Temple that is its goal… along that road round the mountain stands a vast mass of human beings, climbing indeed, but climbing so slowly, rising step after step; sometimes it seems as though for every step forward there is a step backward, and though the trend of the whole mass is upwards it mounts so slowly that the pace is scarcely perceptible. And this aeonian evolution of the race, climbing ever upwards, seems so slow and weary and painful that one wonders how the pilgrims have the heart to climb so long…”

Annie Besant (1847–1933) British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator

p. 10

“There is a road that turning always
Cuts off the country of Again.
Archers stand there on every side
And as it runs time's deer is slain
And lies where it has lain.”

Edwin Muir (1887–1959) British poet, novelist and translator

"The Road" http://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/muire-journeysandplaces/muire-journeysandplaces-00-h.html#The_Road, Journeys and Places (1937)

“Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.”

Larry Wall (1954) American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl

[1992Jul2.222039.26476@netlabs.com, 1992]
Usenet postings, 1992

“But may the Earth first swallow me alive,
Or Jove's dire Thunder sink me down to Hell,
Where Shades, pale Shades, of Night eternal dwell,
E're I with Shame, and those dear Ties dispense:
He who my first Love had, hath born it hence,
And in his Grave for ever let it rest.”

John Ogilby (1600–1676) Scottish academic

The Works of Publius Virgilius Maro (2nd ed. 1654), Virgil's Æneis

“Badness you can get easily, in quantity: the road is smooth, and it lies close by. But in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to it, and rough at first. But when you come to the top, then it is easy, even though it is hard.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 287.

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