“Gods yearn for excitement, and they, like us, can enjoy the thrilling stories and spectacle of war without any risk of death. Like us, they have their own favorite characters, their own preferences and desires. If the gods seem at times cruel, fickle, or indifferent, the same is true of us. Like gods, we love stories about other people’s pain, and we warm our shivering lives with the thrilling deaths that are the subject of the poet’s song.”
