How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands, (159)
According to the sailors, the gods see a different kind of reality from what humans see—or at least they feel differently about it. We feel like we're surrounded by misery and pain and work. But the gods just smile. They have a different perspective on things. (To be fair, they are gods, after all.) Again, in this poem, it's not about what's true and what's not—it's about how you see things.