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The Gods (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠Homer can never truly touch one another, being immortal, so their deeds and men's are so interwoven that one or the other always seems superfluous.

The Gods (n.) in ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an epic must be believed in by the poet; treated as lifeless machinery, whatever they do degrades into the poet's own artificial contrivance.

The Gods (n.) are ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠products of imagination and cannot live in mere nature: they need surroundings produced by art, as artificial as themselves.

The Gods (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠Greece are childless: raised above the poverty of physical life, no goddess appears as a mother — Juno casts Hercules away and the Milky Way is the result.

The Gods (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the Ancients were mere personifications: they did not know themselves, they were only known about — and so even they bowed to destiny.

The Gods (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only be taken seriously once they leave Olympus and come alive as a pathos in a human being — where, despite all their justification, they lead to guilt and wrong.

The Gods (n.) quarrelling ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠among themselves show a comical self-forgetfulness of their eternal nature; their fights are an arbitrary showing-off that melts into harmless play without result.

The Gods (n.) in ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠Homer are the poet's way of making the inside visible: Athene restraining Achilles is the hero's own mind, interpreted objectively.

The Gods (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠Homer show an earnestness that is a ridiculous superfluity, since the heroes do the deed; and the heroes' labour is useless, since the gods manage everything.