Achilles was the greatest hero of his generation (that of the Trojan War) and is undoubtedly in the absolute top 3 of all Greek mythology.
One often falls into the error of thinking that Achilles was a subject of the great Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Not at all: Achilles was ἄριστος Ἀχαιῶν ‘the best of the Achaeans’ and at no time did he consent to anyone, not even Agamemnon, thinking otherwise.
(This is even seen in the movie with Brad Pitt, in the scene at the beginning, for instance).
It was precisely Agamemnon’s overstepping his bounds that caused Achilles’ terrible wrath (which we will discuss in detail some other time).
Achilles was the ultimate hero and yet he was a procrastinator.
When the Internet was still in its infancy in Spain, the word “procrastinate”, that is, “postpone”, became very fashionable.
However, “procrastinate” seems to add the nuance of postponing out of laziness, indolence, idleness, laziness… while “postpone” is either neutral or planned.
It was not so much that áristos achaión was a procrastinator, but there was a prophecy that warned him that he would die shortly after the Trojan prince Hector died.
Among the Greeks, everyone was wondering: “Why doesn’t Achilles kill Hector, the best of the Trojans, and end the war now? He has had many chances”.
That was really the reason: Achilles avoided killing Hector because he knew that he would be next, according to the oracle. The more he postponed Hector’s death, the more he would postpone his own.
As everyone knows, Achilles only laid down his wrath on Agamemnon when he engendered an even greater and more terrible wrath on Hector for the death of his beloved Patroclus.
Only then did he fight and kill the Trojan prince witheringly.
So it’s okay if you have been procrastinating or postponing your learning Latin. Until now.
Vale!
Paco
P. S. Of course, the oracle was fulfilled, and, soon after, he was killed by an arrow from the bow of Paris and guided by the god Apollo.
