Both Uses of
Achilles
in
Don Quixote
- He can set forth the craftiness of Ulysses, the piety of AEneas, the valour of Achilles, the misfortunes of Hector, the treachery of Sinon, the friendship of Euryalus, the generosity of Alexander, the boldness of Caesar, the clemency and truth of Trajan, the fidelity of Zopyrus, the wisdom of Cato, and in short all the faculties that serve to make an illustrious man perfect, now uniting them in one individual, again distributing the
Chpt 1.47-48Achilles = mythical Greek hero of the Iliad; central character and foremost Greek warrior at the siege of Troy
- For by all that is good it is as true as that it is daylight now; and if it be a lie, it must be a lie too that there was a Hector, or Achilles, or Trojan war, or Twelve Peers of France, or Arthur of England, who still lives changed into a raven, and is unceasingly looked for in his kingdom.
Chpt 1.49-50 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(Achilles in Greek mythology) mythical Greek hero of the Iliad; central character and foremost Greek warrior at the siege of TroyAchilles was seen as semi-divine. His mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river when he was a baby, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable--his "Achilles' heel."
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Achilles is also used as a shortened way to identify an achilles tendon or heel cord at the back of the lower leg.