"Easy is the Descent to Avernus."

Avernus (Greek aornos, "without birds") is a lake situated amidst woods and mountains, and formed in the crater of an extinct volcano, north of the Bay of Naples.

The name, meaning "without birds," was given to it because of the belief that its sulphurous vapors would kill any bird that inhaled them.

This lake is described by the poet Virgil as the entrance to the infernal regions, hence the Latin proverb meaning "Easy is the descent to Avernus; but the coming back is another thing;" or, to speak plainly, we understand the proverb to mean that it is more easy to acquire a bad habit than to abandon it.

The Latin phrase originated with Virgil. His words are:--