Pelides

Homer frequently uses the patronymic Pelides, son of Peleus, the king of Phthia in Thessaly, to refer to Achilles, despite the fact that his mother, Thetis, was the more famous parent and a goddess.

While Achilles' excellence as a warrior and his godlike strength are the proud subject of the Iliad, here, in a manner reminiscent of comic farce or burlesque, Umbricius images the grieving Greek hero of the Trojan War as a Roman footpad who drunkenly preys on lone travelers at night. The episode echoes, perhaps intentionally, Mercury's bullying encounter with the slave Sosia in Act 1, Scene 1 (lines 292-458) of Plautus' Amphitryo.