Читать книгу The Mythology of Greece and Rome, With Special Reference to Its Use in Art онлайн

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Henceforth the gods, in outward appearance at least, are endowed with forms entirely human; more grand and beautiful and majestic, but still not verging on the monstrous or fantastic.

Not only in beauty and grandeur, but also in strength and vigour, do the gods surpass men. Let but Zeus shake his ambrosial locks, and the whole of Olympus trembles. The other deities are also endowed in proportion with great strength. As corporeal, indeed, they are limited in regard to space, and cannot therefore be omnipresent; but this restriction affects them far less than mortals, for they can compass the greatest distances at lightning speed. In a moment Athene drops from the heights of Olympus down to Ithaca; and Poseidon, the ocean-god, passes in three or four steps from Samothrace to Ægæ in Eubœa. Moreover, the gods can see and hear at a much greater distance than men. In regard to hearing, indeed, they seem to have unlimited powers. Prayers ascend to them from every place, irrespective of their personal presence. In the same manner Zeus, from his high throne in Olympus, sees all that passes among men, and, sitting on the highest summit of Mount Ida, he can follow all the events of the battle that rages before Troy.