Pico Della Mirandola

story reasserted itself over minds emerging out of barbarism, the 

religious significance which had once belonged to it was lost sight 

of, and it came to be regarded as the subject of a purely artistic or 

poetical treatment. But it was inevitable that from time to time 

minds should arise, deeply enough impressed by its beauty and power 

to ask themselves whether the religion of Greece was indeed a rival 

of the religion of Christ; for the older gods had rehabilitated 

themselves, and men's allegiance was divided. And the fifteenth 

century was an impassioned age, so ardent and serious in its pursuit 

of art that it consecrated everything with which art had to do as a 

religious object. The restored Greek literature had made it familiar, 

at least in Plato, with a style of expression concerning the earlier 

gods, which had about it much of the warmth and unction of a 

Christian hymn. It was too familiar with such language to regard 

mythology as a mere story; and it was too serious to play with a 

religion.

"Let me briefly remind the reader"--says Heine, in the Gods in 

Exile, an essay full of that strange blending of sentiment which is 

characteristic of the traditions of the middle age concerning the 

pagan religions--"how the gods of the older world, at the time of the 

definite triumph of Christianity, that is, in the third century, fell 

into painful embarrassments, which greatly resembled certain tragical 

situations of their earlier life. They now found themselves beset by 

the same troublesome necessities to which they had once before been 

exposed during the primitive ages, in that revolutionary epoch when 

the Titans broke out of the custody of Orcus, and, piling Pelion on 

Ossa, scaled Olympus. Unfortunate Gods! They had then to take flight 

ignominiously, and hide themselves among us here on earth, under all 

sorts of disguises. The larger number betook themselves to Egypt, 

where for greater security they assumed the forms of animals, as is 

generally known. Just in the same way, they had to take flight again, 

and seek entertainment in remote hiding-places, when those 

iconoclastic zealots, the black brood of monks, broke down all the 

temples, and pursued the gods with fire and curses. Many of these 

unfortunate emigrants, now entirely deprived of shelter and ambrosia, 

must needs take to vulgar handicrafts, as a means of earning their 

bread. Under these circumstances, many whose sacred groves had been 

confiscated, let themselves out for hire as wood-cutters in Germany, 

and were forced to drink beer instead of nectar. Apollo seems to have