Odysseus answered:
“May it please your grace, my lord King Agamemnon, the man will not quench his anger; he is even more full of passion and rejects you and your gifts….”
All heard this aghast, in dead silence; it was a heavy blow. They were long silent, but Diomedês broke the silence, as usual:
“May it please your Grace, my lord King Agamemnon! It was a great pity to ask [Achillês] at all or to offer your heaps of treasure. He is always a proud man, and now you have made him prouder than ever.
[
The Illiad, Book IX, Homer, tr. W.H.D. Rouse]
‘No’ – said Darcy, ‘I have made no such pretension. I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch for. – It is, I believe, too little yielding – certainly too little for the convenience of the world. I cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought, nor their offences against myself. My feelings are not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper would perhaps be called resentful. My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.’
‘That is a failing indeed!’ cried Elizabeth.
[
Pride and Prejudice, chapter XI, Jane Austen]
This pairing made me smile.
ReplyDeleteGenius.
♥!
ReplyDeleteOh dear me, Mr. Darcy = Achilles! But I like one and not the other! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a very clever pairing.
The difference between them is that Darcy was able to be change when the woman he loved rebuked him. I don't think Achilles ever had that (his mom certainly never rebuked him in that way) and he was so far gone by the time Agamemnon decided to try to buy him off that it just made him angrier.
DeleteThat is a failing indeed!
ReplyDelete