The plot of the Achilleid as we have it describes an arc bounded by Thetis' two failures: her attempt to destroy Paris' fleet, and her attempt to keep her son hidden on Scyros. Accordingly, Statius depicts Thetis as overreaching her powers; the goddess becomes by turns a figure of pathos and of comic ineptitude. The most important manifestation of her haplessness is her frequent misuse of language and rhetorical tropes; and one way of reading this incompetence is that she is trying to usurp modes of behavior inappropriate to her gender. Thetis is the mirror image of Achilles; both have equal difficulty wearing with ease the constricting garb of womanhood. In particular, Thetis' behavior is strangely at odds with what is usual for epic goddesses, and she has difficulty adapting herself to the literary models she tries to evoke, such as the traditional epic roles of protective mother and of avenging nemesis. We begin with Thetis' attempt to recreate the wrath of the Virgilian Juno.

Stormy Weather

The Achilleid begins in medias res, and we discover Thetis in mid-ocean as she observes Paris' fleet sailing back from Sparta with Helen aboard.