Education and Reference Q&A
Can anyone translate this quote?
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
-Virgil, The Aeneid.
Thank you! and good luck answering. =]
Answers:
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations translates the passage as follows:
"Light is the descent to Avernus! [Hades] Night and sunshine the portals of gloomy Dis stand wide: but to recall thy step and issue to the upper air--there is the toil and at hand the task!"--Aeneid, vi. 126 Source(s): The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press. 1953. p 554.
facilis descensus Averno;
noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
hoc opus, hic labor est.
easy is the approach:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies.
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~classics/poe…
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