Virgil & Lucretius / Passages translated by William Stebbing - Virgil; Titus Lucretius Carus

With last words, and many a longing vow

Of love, confessed his child was due to part—

Though truer no Son, kinder no Sire’s heart—

By the ivory door; the horn gate stood

Fast locked and sealed against all flesh and blood.

Though soul there—a thistle-down Man, wind-tost

With life; a night-mare; less real than a ghost!

Æneidos, Bk. IV. vv. 576-577