With that Homeric source in mind, we are able to see the associated 'marvel' of the two miniature '
Achillean shields'.
Approaching Rome, Servain confronts his own
Achillean wrath: the revenge-fueled knife murder and decapitation of a Muslim prisoner.
Not only does De Quincey inappropriately take his voice from a dated text he has backhandedly labeled "literature of power" in other writings (by way of Pope's translation), but he cannot even reach the standard of the non-existent
Achillean shout, needing to shout twice and shouting a lesser shout.
The
Achillean Hero in the Plays of Tirso De Molina.
(10) His new
Achillean epic, Statius pronounces, will not only be a supplement to Homer's version (plura vacant, 4), "filling in the gaps" in the story of Achilles' life, but also, more ambitiously, that it will "lead the youth through the whole story of Troy" (tota iuvenem deducere Troia, 7), and this claim sets his projected epic up for a head-on collision with the Iliad, the epic paradigm that officially could not be surpassed.
The elemental force motivating the two protagonists is an
Achillean anger powerful enough to annihilate even the stain, itself an elemental imprint on human nature prior to the mark.
Though Philostratus did not have the benefit of statistical analyses of Homeric and
Achillean language, he did of course have a native speaker's knowledge of ancient Greek, and seems to have come to a similar view of Achilles and his language.
Technically, it is like those Byzantine icons described by the painter John Craxton that make a "fascinating and sophisticated use of reverse perspective where the viewer becomes the vanishing point." (32) It reveals to us, through Manos, in each detail, from the rusted lock and the scents arising from the darkling fields, the distant music and lights, an Egypt that we can recognize as one we know; and it also shows us in Manos himself a generosity of spirit that understands the irrelevance of self-sacrifice, foresees futility, betrayal and death, and nevertheless perseveres in what he believes to be a heroic course, without even the
Achillean promise of future fame.