Vulcan’s Badge, the badge of cuckoldom. Vulcan was the husband of Venus, with whom Mars intrigued.
We know
Better than he have worn Vulcan’s badge.
Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, act ii. sc. 1 (1593).
Vulnerable Parts.
Achilles was vulnerable only in the heel. When his mother, Thetis, dipped him in the river Styx, she held him by the heel, and the water did not touch this part.--A Post-Homeric Story.
Ajax, son of Telamon, could be wounded only behind the neck; some say only in one spot of the breast. As soon as he was born Alcīdês covered him with a lion’s skin, which rendered the whole body invulnerable, except in a part where the skin had been pierced by Herculês.
Antæos was wholly charmed against death so long as he touched the earth.--Lucan, Pharsalia, iv.
Ferracute (3 syl.) was only vulnerable in the navel.--Turpin, Chronicle of Charlemagne.
He is called Ferrau, son of Landfūsa, by Ariosto, in his Orlando Furioso.