The fixth Book of the EN 'E ID. 53 



Elyfium into the upper world : a wild ficlion no doubt, but 

 not more wild than that of making the cave of Avernus the in- 

 let from the upper world into the nether. Homer's gates are 

 the gates of dreams ; Virgil calls his the gates of fleep. The 

 former are not faid to tranfmit any thing but dreams ; of the 

 latter, one tranfmits dreams, and the other real ghojls or JJjades. 

 For thus, though all the commentators are againft me, I muft 

 underftand the words umbris veris ; becaufe in Virgil umbra 

 often fignifies a ghofl, but never in him, nor in any other good 

 writer, (fo far as I know) a dream. If it be afked, what ghofts 

 they were that ufed to pafs this way ; the anfwer is eafy : they 

 were thofe who, after having been a thoufand years in Elyfium, 

 and taken a draught of Lethe, were fent back to the upper 

 world to animate new bodies. If again it were afked, whether 

 fuch beings might not be of fo fubtle a nature as to work their 

 way into the upper world without pafling through a gate; I 

 mould anfwer, that vifible fubftances, which might be purified 

 by fire, or warned in water, and could not get over the river 

 Styx but in a boat, muft be fo far material at leaft, as to be ca- 

 pable of confinement, and confequently of being fet at li- 

 berty. 



The falfa infomnia that go out by the ivory gate may mean, 

 either deceitful dreams, or dreams in general, that is, unfubftantiai 

 things, as oppofed to realities ; which laft I take to be the pre- 

 ferable fignification. Be this, however, as it will, Eneas and 

 the Sybil were neither ghofts nor dreams, but human flefh and 

 blood ; and could no more be fuppofed to partake of the quali- 

 ties alluded to in the name of the gate by which Anchises dif- 

 mifTed them, than a man is fuppofed to be lame for having 

 patted through Cripplegate, or than the Lord Mayor of Lon- 

 don, by entering in proceflion through 'Temple-b^.v , is fuppofed 

 to have become a better churchman than before, or a better 

 lawyer. Through one or other of the gates of fleep the Trojan 

 and his guide muft pafs, or they never could return to the upper 



world 



