“Well, I shan’t go, at any rate,” said Alice; “besides, that’s not a regular rule: you invented it just now.”
“It’s the oldest rule in the book,” said the King.
“Then it ought to be Number One,” said Alice.
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, LEWIS CARROLL
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 labour lies.
VIRGIL, AENEID, BOOK VI (TRANS. JOHN DRYDEN, 1697)