Horn-gate
.One of the two gates of “Dreams;” the other is of ivory. Visions which issue from the former come true. This whim depends upon two Greek puns; the Greek for horn is keras, and the verb krano or karanoo means “to bring to an issue,” “to fulfil; so again elephas is ivory, and the verb elephairo means “to cheat,” “to deceive.” The verb kraino, however, is derived from kra, “the head,” and means “to bring to a head;” and the verb elephairo is akin to elăchus, “small.”
Anchiʹses dismisses Æneʹas through the ivory gate, on quitting the infernal regions, to indicate the unreality of his vision.
“Sunt geminæ somni portæ, quarum altera fertur
Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exĭtus umbris;
Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto;
Sed falsa ad cœlum mittunt insomnia Manës.”
