Knights in Bronze: The Ciceronian Upbringings of Perceval and Achilles

Abstract: This article examines the connections between twelfth-century school-texts and contemporaneous vernacular literature. It argues for an unmistakable influence in the rhetorical structure of Chrétien de Troyes’ Perceval that comes from Statius’ Achilleid and subsequently originates in both authors’ use of the ‘attributes of character’ as delineated in Cicero’s De Inventione .