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"Had
he not gained a great victory, and was it not fit that he should step
into his cab with triumph?"
Perhaps Trollope is drawing a parallel between the cab and an ancient
chariot, and between the victorious Mr. Harding and a Roman commander
granted a triumphal procession. Once again, a classical allusion is
being used to playfully aggrandize an everyday situation, in this case,
Mr. Harding, a meek man, taking more control of his life from his
somewhat overbearing daughter and son-in-law. [JM] |
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Priam, Hecuba, and a dozen Hectors
This is an allusion to the story of the Iliad by the ancient
Greek author Homer, in which Priam is the King of Troy, Hecuba is his
wife, and Hector is his son, the most talented of all the warriors of
Troy. Priam and Hecuba had nineteen sons and several daughters; they
are being compared to Mr. and Mrs. Quiverful, who have a large family of
twelve children themselves. Trollope is pointing out the somewhat
humorous point that both Priam and Mr. Quiverful are in the position of
providing food for a lot of mouths, which must be a difficult task, and
thus this allusion.
Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology,
by Jenny March. London: Cassell & Co., 2001.
http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/hecuba.html (site no longer
available)
[MD] |