by Sydney Tan, PsyD

“facilis descensus Averno”

He prayed, such words having been spoken, he grasped the altar
just as the prophetess began to speak: “Born of the blood of the gods,
Trojan son of Anchises, the descent down is easy;
night and day the door to the dark underworld lies open,
but to retrace your step, escape and ascend toward the air,
this is the task, this is the labor. Few, whom impartial
Jupiter loved or those of fiery valor, begotten of the gods,
have been able to carry forth toward the upper air. Held in the
middle of the forests, the Cocytus flowing surrounds the black gulf.
But if so great your passion, if so great your desire,
twice to swim the river Styx, twice to see the black
Tartarus, if it is pleasing to indulge in this mad labor,
hear what must first be done.
                                     -- Virgil, The Aeneid, translated from the Latin by Sydney Tan