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Virgil & Lucretius / Passages translated by William Stebbing cover

Virgil & Lucretius / Passages translated by William Stebbing

Chapter 12: The Gates
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About This Book

Translated passages from Virgil and Lucretius gather mythic narrative, pastoral description, and philosophical lyricism: Virgilian selections recount underworld journeys and rural scenes—episodes like Orpheus and Eurydice, portrayals of Elysium and Tartarus, praise of Italy, and visions of a Golden Age—while Lucretian fragments set out natural-philosophical meditations, including a hymn to Venus, reflections on atoms and the fear of death, accounts of seasonality and origins, and observations on love and loss. The volume juxtaposes narrative myth and didactic reflection in concise poetic translations that emphasize mood, moral feeling, and elemental inquiry.

The Gates

Æneidos, Bk. VI. vv. 893-898

Sleep, and his Sister, Death;
Twins ever with Us; and theirs the keys
Of Past and Present, the Above, and the Beneath;
And, as Brother and Sister please,
Forth flutter Falsehood. Truth,
Changed, according as they pass the Gate
Of Horn or of Ivory into Joy or Ruth,
Even dreamed kindness into Hate!