The gods were vanishing under the clearer light, as modern thought began more consciously to assert its independence.

Yet the unreality of the old mythology is not felt to be any objection to their use as conventional symbols.

Homer's gods, says Pope in his preface, are still the gods of poetry.

Their vitality was nearly extinct; but they were regarded as convenient personifications of abstract qualities, machines for epic poetry, or figures to be used in allegory.

In the absence of a true historical perception, the same view was attributed to Homer.