I'll pick out a few things here and there and make some notes as I read. Mythical info is from the Encyclopedia Mythica:
http://www.pantheon.org
- Possible rough translation of the opening quote (I might be wrong): Fate is the path to invention.
- Takes place in Arcadia, the abode of Pan. There are similarities between Pan and Nyarlothotep. Notice also here how Pan is described as the "dreaded Pan." Nyarlothetop was written in the same year, perhaps indicating a certain train of thought at work here and echoing in several works (The Music of Eric Zann is yet another treatment on the subject written one year later).
- Arcadia is referred to by Virgil as the home of pastoral simplicity and happiness. HPL's interjection of alien elements is a direct contrast and corruption - a dystopian vision - of the utopian Arcadia. Possible echos of Paradise Lost - Garden of Eden - etc.
- "Hermes, the herald of the Olympian gods, is son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, daughter of Atlas and one of the Pleiades . Hermes is also the god of shepherds, land travel, merchants, weights and measures, oratory, literature, athletics and thieves, and known for his cunning and shrewdness. He was also a minor patron of poetry. He was worshiped throughout Greece especially in Arcadia."
- Pallas is a titan, father of Zeus. Slain by Athena, his daughter, for trying to rape her. His skin was made into the Aegis - a mythic shield.
- Tyche is a god of fortune, destiny, or chance, and later prosperity.
- Oida is ancient greek and just a repetition of "I know."
Here's my interpretation now:
Kalos invokes the spirit of Hermes as a muse guiding him in his work, thus the perfection of his art is inspired by this supernatural force. This is a motif in other works of literature, including HPL's own The Music of Eric Zann, which as noted above has other connections with this story as well.
Musides has the same quality of art, but goes out revelling every night - in opposition to Kalos' meditation and invocation of spiritual guidance in the grove.
In creating the statues of Tyche, the two sculptors see each other's work process. This point is given prominent placement in the story, so it seems that it must be important.
My theory is that Kalos discovers the true nature of Musides' supernatural inspiration (surely to match Kalos' divinely guided work he must also have some sort of supernatural muse) because he gets a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how Musides works. After this he invokes his supernatural contacts to orchestrate the sequence of events that follows, destroying Musides, the statue, and the villa where Musides lives.
A key to unlocking many HP Lovecraft stories is often what he doesn't say, rather than what he does say. What he doesn't say here is exactly how Musides, a man who spends all of his free time carousing rather than studying his craft, can match the divinely guided artistry of Kalos. We know who Kalos sold his soul to, but who did Musides sell his soul to? Consider the quite different nature of the two figures (Hermes versus Pallas) for whom the two sculptors are famous for crafting. "I know! I know!" says Kalos post-mortem - and there can be no doubt that this knowledge is precisely why he destroyed the villa, even at the cost of his own life.
Perhaps there's a still a bit of the mythos horror creeping in after all...
