Even stranger than the story of Cratilo's horse is its disposition in the text, not only central to Persiles, but interrupting without an apparent good cause nothing less than a debate about perfect retired life. In this study, Cratilo's horse is put in the perspective of other horses and in their common actantial function as supports ¿to the knight, to the diegesis. The taming of the horse by Periandro corresponds to the transitivity of classical écriture, while Rocinante, with its loose reins calls upon the intransitive writer. Persiles is work; Don Quijote, adventure.