"When we look back someday at the catastrophe that was the Bush administration, we will think of many things: the tragedy of the Iraq war, the shame of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, the erosion of civil liberties. The damage done to the American economy does not make front-page headlines every day, but the repercussions will be felt beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this page."


    Versions of Vergil (part 1)

My favorite passage of the Aeneid, from Book 6, in various translations:

"Son of Anchises, born of blood divine,"
The priestess thus began, "easy the way
Down to Avernus: night and day the gates
Of Dis stand open. But to retrace thy steps
And reach the upper air, --here lies the task,
The difficulty here. A few by Jove,
Beloved, or to ethereal heights upborne
By virtue's force, sons of the gods,
The labor have achieved. Midway thick woods
The passage bar, and, winding all about,
Cocytus' black and sinuous river glides.
But if such strong desire be thine, to float
Twice o'er the Stygian lake; if the mad task
Delights thee, twice to see the gloomy realms
Of Tartarus--then learn what must first be done."


--C P Cranch (1872)

Then thus replied the prophetess divine:
"O goddess-born of great Anchises' line,
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 labour lies.
To few great Jupiter imparts this grace,
And those of shining worth and heavenly race,
Betwixt those regions and our upper light,
Deep forests and impenetrable night
Possess the middle space: th' infernal bounds
Cocytus, with his sable waves, surrounds.
But if so dire a love your soul invades,
As twice below to view the trembling shades;
If you so hard a toil will undertake,
As twice to pass th' innavigable lake:
Receive my counsel."


--Dryden (1697)

Breaking in, the Sibyl said: "Offspring
Of gods by blood, Trojan Anchises' son,
The way downward is easy from Avernus.
Black Dis's door stands open night and day.
But to retrace your steps to heaven's air,
There is the trouble, there is the toil. A few
Whom a benign Jupiter has loved or whom
Fiery heroism has borne to heaven,
Sons of gods, could do it. All midway
Are forests, then Cocytus, thick and black,
Winds through the gloom. But if you feel such love,
And such desire to cross the Stygian water
Twice, to view the night of Tartarus twice--
If this mad effort's to your liking, then
Consider what you must accomplish first."


--Fitzgerald (1981)