Easy Is The Path To Hell

“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.”

 -Virgil, The Aeneid

This poem was written over 2,000 years ago by one of ancient Rome’s most famous poets and its meaning runs deep even to this day.

Poetry is fascinating to me because of how dense it can be.

Four simple lines of poetry can open up a hours of conversations with a friend.

By arranging certain words in a specific order to craft a simple story you can unlock profounds truths.

And that is exactly what Virgil has done is this masterful poem.

“The gates of hell are open day and night;”

There are so many definitions of hell that I won’t even attempt to get into but I know it is a place to avoid at all cost.

I also do not think Virgil is only talking about the after-life version of hell. We can and do experience “hell” on earth.

And the gates are open for us 24/7. All it takes is one bad decision in your life today to start your descent to hell.

“Smooth is the descent, and easy is the way”

Not only is it available for us whenever we would like, it is also a more attractive path… at first.

To do the right thing is hard. It is harder to go workout than it is to watch netflix and eat an entire bag of potato chips.

The descent to hell is filled with easy decisions that never push you out of your comfort zone.

“But to return, and view the cheerful skies,”

But our life does not have to accept the easy descent to hell.

Just like we are able to experience versions of hell on earth we are also able to experience versions of heaven on earth.

The cheerful skies that we are made to live in.

But how do we return?

“In this the task and mighty labor lies.”

This is where the work comes in, the sweet and mighty labor.

This poem is the antithesis of Jesus’s famous words in Matthew 7:14:

“Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Let’s avoid the easy descent to hell. With every decision, thought, effort we put forward lets pursue the narrow path.

The path that is in pursuit of the cheerful skies.

In order to find the cheerful skies we have to go through the storms of labor.

Let’s be storm chasers because the cheerful skies are worth the view.

I hope this poem blesses you as much as it has blessed me.

It is hard find the cheerful skies yet it is so easy to lose them.

Go out and return to the cheerful skies. Do the work. Put in the effort. Fight through the storms. It will be worth it.

Go out and make a difference.