> David Dunham wrote:
>
> > Plenty of heroquests involve fleeing enemies, but I can't
> > recollect any myth where the hero has trouble crossing back
> > to the normal world after a success.
>
> As the Sybil warns Aeneas before their descent into the underworld:
>
> ... facilis descensus Averno
> noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
> sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
> hoc opus, hic labor est.
> (Virgil, Aeneid VI, 126-9).
> Cheers, Nick
I am delighted by this quotation. Two thumbs up.
If I may report a slightly less classic one, Earendil could not
return to his people after he summoned the Valar at the end of the
Silmarillion.
He became a star and never returned to mortal land.
Ciao,
Gian