讲混沌通识课，难免要引用The Theogony of Hesiod中的Verily at the first Chaos came to be。顺便翻翻Hesiod的另一名篇，Works and Days.

有段话很有意思，大概就是古人所谓“成人不自在，自在不成人”。Badness can be got easily and in shoals: the road to her is smooth, and she lives very near us. But between us and Goodness the gods have placed the sweat of our brows: long and steep is the path that leads to her, and it is rough at the first; but when a man has reached the top, then is she easy to reach, though before that she was hard. (lines 286-292)

更有意思的是，《圣经》中也有类似的说法。Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Metthew 7:13-14)用合和汉译本的翻译，你们要进窄门。因为引到灭亡，那门是宽的，路是大的，进去的人也多。引到永生，那门是窄的，路是小的，找着的人也少。

陡峭之路和狭窄之门，其实都是一个意思。先贤无非是劝勉人们，逆水行舟，知难而进。