e shapes of living things. But Neptune is now far
away, outside of the Greek world, so to speak, among the Ethiopians.
This implies a finite element in the Gods; they are here, there, and
elsewhere; still they have the infinite characteristic also; they
easily pass from somewhere into everywhere, and Ulysses will not escape
Neptune.

Such, then, are the two obstacles, both connected far back with
mythical beings of the sea, wherein we may note the marine character of
the Odyssey, which is a sea-poem, in contrast with the Iliad, which is
a land-poem. The physical environment, in which each of these songs has
its primary setting, is in deep accord with their respective
themes--the one being more objective, singing of the deed, the other
being more subjective, singing of the soul.

And even in the two present obstacles we may note that the one,
Neptune, seems more external--that of the physical sea; while the
other, Calypso, seems more internal--that of the soul held in the
charms of the senses.

_The Assembly of the Gods._ The two obstacles to the return of Ulysses
are now to be considered by the Gods in council assembled. This is,
indeed, the matter of first import; no great action, no great poem is
possible outside of the divine order. This order now appears, having a
voice; the supreme authority of the world is to utter its decree
concerning the work. The poet at the start summons before us the
governing principle of the universe in the persons of the Olympian
deities. On the other hand, note the solitary individual Ulysses, in a
lonely island, with his aspiration for home and country, with his
plan--will it be realized? The two sides must come together somehow;
the plan of the individual must fit into the plan of the Gods; only in
the cooperation of the human and divine is the deed, especially the
great deed, possible. Accordingly we are now to behold far in advance
the sweep of the poem, showing whether the man's purpose and hope be in
harmony with the government of the Gods.

Zeus is the supreme divinity, and he first speaks: "How sorely mortals
blame the Gods!" It is indeed an alienated discordant time like the
primal fall in Eden. But why this blame? "For they say that evils come
from us, the Gods; whereas they, through their own follies, have
sorrows beyond what is ordained." The first words of the highest God
concern the highest problem of the poem and of human life. It is a
wrong theology, at least a wrong