So I shall consider it no blemish if you see in my Demeter a mortal woman, and no goddess; nay, it reconciles me in some degree to her weaknesses, to which I by no means close my eyes.
I, too--I confess it--often feel a great desire to give the power of imagination greater play, and I know the divinities in whom I have lost faith as well as any one; for I, too, was once a child, and few have ever prayed to them more fervently, but with the increasing impulse toward liberty came the perception: There are no gods, and whoever bows to the power of the immortals makes himself a slave.

So what I banished from life I will also remove from art, and model nothing which might not meet me to-day or to-morrow." "Then, as an honest man, abstain altogether from making statues of the gods," interrupted his friend.
"That was my intention long ago, as you are aware," the other answered.
"You could not commit a worse robbery upon yourself," cried Myrtilus.

"I know you; nay, perhaps I see farther into your soul than you yourself.
By ingenious fetters you force the mighty winged intellect to content itself within the narrow world of reality.

But the time when you will yourself rend the bonds and find the divinity you have lost, will come, and then, with your mighty power once more free, you will outstrip most of us, and me also if I live to see it." Then he pressed his hand upon his rattling chest and walked slowly to the couch; but Hermon followed, helped him to lie down, and with affectionate solicitude arranged his pillows.
"It is nothing," Myrtilus said soothingly, after a few minutes' silence.
"My undermined strength has been heavily taxed to-day.

The Olympians know how calmly I await death.