facilis descensusn.
/ˈfasɪlɪs dɛˈsɛnsəs/, /ˈfakɪlɪs dɛˈskɛnsəs/, U.S. /ˈfæsɪlᵻs dɛˈsɛnsəs/, /ˈfækɪlᵻs dɛˈskɛnsəs/ With reference to Virgil's use: ‘easiness of the descent’ or an easy descent; esp. the easiness and rapidity of moral decline or falling into bad ways; (also) the way to ruin, the ‘downhill slope’; an instance of this. See facilis descensus Averni phr. Also in extended use.
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1822 Edinb. Mag. & Literary Misc. June 707/1 We had only to undertake a ‘facilis descensus’ of one flight of steps, the dwelling-house and Museum being contained within the same premises.
1827 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 8 Their trade cannot be lured down the Mississippi, merely by the facilis descensus, the easiness of the descent.
1855 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 480/1 From hilarious Chancellor and Speaker what can I do but, by a facilis descensus, with all its consequences, come to Myself!
1899 Amer. Hist. Rev. 4 571 From bolting to defeat a ‘gerrymander’, as the Democrats did in March, 1862,..to ‘doctoring’ election returns..is a facilis descensus which helps to make some periods of Indiana politics intelligible.
1908 E. Kelly Elimination of Tramp i. 4 The man whose disordered brain sets him wandering on the high road,..we either abandon or shove down the facilis descensus by an occasional committal for thirty days that fastens the bonds of vagabondage.
1939 C. S. Lewis Let. 8 May (1966) 165 Romola is a most purgative work on the facilis descensus because the final state of the character is so different from his original state and yet all the transitions are so dreadfully natural.
1992 J. M. Becker Re-formed Jesuits I. i. i. 23 Practically all the changes proposed for the new era were liberating changes... The force implied in Virgil's facilis descensus was at work.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1822